VIRTUAL REALITY IN FOOTBALL:

Football has become a global sport that interests both the young and the old all over the world. It has become more competitive as two opposing players have to play in a 90 minutes game to determine the winning and the losing team. This has necessitated real and rigorous training to guide players to be the best at the games.

Today, Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have greatly impacted the way people work, communicate and consume content on the web. For instance, Sky Worlds offer all Sky VIP customers the chance to be immersed in the virtual experience of the in-stadium thrill of live football matches of Premier League.

What is virtual reality?

Virtual Reality, shortened as VR, are computer-generated stimulation, three-dimensional images that enable stimulated experience in a virtual or pretend environment. It is an interaction with a computer in which the user is placed in 3D worlds using equipment such as gloves with sensors, helmet with screens in them that produces images, sounds, and other sensations to create this other place.

The Use of Virtual Reality in Football

Some of the experts and analysts in football believe that VR technology will become a mainstay of training, coaching, recruitment and scouting practices. Let’s take a look at how virtual reality can be used in Football;

• Virtual Reality is used during training by players which can serve as their playbook. They wear the headset to aid them view diverse scenes of opponent movement across the field, Practice runs with a padded defender to attack the weak side, monitor their footwork and general performance during the training drills on the field.

• Virtual reality enables footballers to practice and perform more in the virtual space than what they can do in real life training sessions. This will easily help them to overcome performance pressure and anxiety for the overall development of their cognitive behavior.

• Virtual reality devices enable sport fans to be immersed in the in-stadium actions without leaving the comfort of their homes or relaxation spots. With this, sport enthusiasts can go into the virtual space to experience being a character instead of only controlling the on-screen character.

• Scouts can use virtual reality to discover the right location or right target of a QB. It will provide them an in-depth analysis, provide unique data sets, identify mechanical and physical flaws than using the traditional methods when dealing with talented players.

• Football coaches can easily be able to identify the position of players during training and on the field and with the use of personalized virtuality, mistakes can easily be corrected instead of using the field and defensive methods formation.

Virtual Reality and the Future of football

Indeed, football makes use of emerging technologies in dealing with various aspects of the sport. Virtual reality has not been embraced fully and utilized to its full potential in football.

Virtual Reality can make the recruitment exercise easier by making college campuses seem much closer to recruits. Scouts and recruiters can use the VR to monitor the players/ team in the stadiums, locker rooms, weight room as well as other places and aspects of the immersive experience without leaving their offices or boarding a plane to get to the physical site.

Virtual reality can be used to create digital assets for the football industry. This will transform the real elements such as the stadiums, players, museums, tours and goals into virtual experiences that can be accessed from all over the digital world. This can in turn generate a revenue stream.

Football industry agents with the use of virtual transformation can act as an innovation facilitator to new formats, assets and monetization formulas meant for the virtual world. This can generate a new revenue stream for football players, football institutions and other players in the field.

Moreso, there are many possibilities and opportunities in the use of Virtual Reality. VR and its sister technologies such as augmented reality and mixed reality present diverse angles in the usage. In football, there will be an emergence of pleasant surprises in the future as virtual reality will enable people to immerse themselves in pretend real- life experiences that are interesting and exciting. It will definitely transform the Football industry.

Conclusion

Virtual reality will definitely change football in the near future. Football teams are using VR technology and devices in training to improve playing methods, on-field positioning and possession, and situational awareness under pressure or anxiety. Even Football Scouts are engaging the use of virtual reality to evaluate and discover talented players for recruitment.

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