There’s been a lot of news this year about wearables and professional sports but the data mostly enlightens coaches and players, leaving fans out of the loop. VERT took that next step, becoming the first wearable tech useds, providing jump height data in the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship games in real-time on ESPN2.
VERT is worn around a player’s waist and provides biometric info and well as jump count and height data, giving coaches insight into which players might be getting tired and who is still playing at peak form. The data is synced to the VERTcast telemetry system, which passes it along to coaches, players, and fans.
The sports network people were pretty pleased:. “We are looking forward to incorporating the data that VERT aggregates into our coverage of the NCAA championship in order to better educate the volleyball fandom on the true athleticism of these student athletes,” said Meg Aronowitz, ESPN and SEC Network coordination producer.
When you can make players and coaches, sportscasters, and fans happy all at the same time? That’s a true trifecta.