The Dutch company’s footage, generated in real-time, resembles popular video game FIFA
Premier League teams are using virtual reality to mentally train the next generation of star players for the demands of top-flight football.
Several of the nation’s leading sides have adopted the tech of Dutch company Beyond Sports, which delivers a computer-generated version of matches and allows players to view the action from any place on the field. It also works with Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven and national teams.
The footage, generated in real-time from data collected around the arena, resembles that of popular video game FIFA and does not place hefty demands on bandwidth or storage.
“The No.10 can now see the game from the No.9’s position and understand what he did wrong or right. They can become anybody on the pitch,” business director Sander J Schouten told BusinessCloud.
“What we’ve seen in the field is coaches change their opinions on certain situations after ‘becoming’ that person. The perspective you see from the sideline is not the same as on the pitch itself.
“We then started using game situations in a more general way, giving users three potential answers – pass to player A, B or C – at the end of a piece of footage which might last 10 seconds. We found that this updated spatial awareness rapidly and helped players to learn what to do in a given situation.
“Normally, the coach explains what he wants you to do in a three-dimensional situation on a whiteboard in 2D, which is really hard for the brain to cope with.”
Beyond Sports, which cannot divulge the English teams it is working with, gave VR its broadcasting debut in February when Feyenoord met PSV in the Eredivisie: Fox Sports cut to the CGI both during the game and in the post-match analysis.
The below video is in the Dutch language
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Source: Business Cloud