Catalyst (ABC TV): Eye Tracker

[Daughter of the West]

Did anyone see Catalyst on ABC this evening?

There was a story tonight called Eye Tracker, talking about technologies being developed to be able to test players decision making skills using simulation. They were talking to sports scientists from Victoria University, and Zeph Skinner was the "lab rat", basically kicking to a screen that broadcast players moving about the field waiting to receive the ball (and defenders on them). The results of who Zeph and the presenter kicked the ball to were then compared to who they should have ideally kicked to.

By wearing a pair of (excuse my lack of technical language) funky glasses that track eye movement at any point, the coach could see where the player was looking at any point in time, whether they were following the best options leading, whether they dropped their head when preparing to kick etc.

The next challenge is to develop a simulation that can change and respond based on the player being tested, as defenders and the opposition are going to position themselves differently depending on who's doing the kicking.

Pretty interesting stuff.

[Driver Leader]

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3515097.htm

[bornadog]

Thanks DOTW and DW, very intersting stuff.

[jazzadogs]

Thanks guys, that was really interesting. Glad Zeph got a better score than the presenter!!

[stefoid]

Thanks for the heads up and the link.

Zeph is a lovely soft kick. I think he needs the reverse training on knowing where to run and having the tank to get there.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Amazing stuff, it would be interesting to see elite midfielder in 360 degree room any only use hands. I feel the kicking is easier as you only have the front on view.

I wonder if the dogs are the only one to have access to this stuff or is it something that everyone will have access to come draft time?

[Desipura]

Amazing stuff, it would be interesting to see elite midfielder in 360 degree room any only use hands. I feel the kicking is easier as you only have the front on view.

I wonder if the dogs are the only one to have access to this stuff or is it something that everyone will have access to come draft time?
I doubt very much that we would be the only ones having access to this. We re not at the forefront of technology at the best of times.

[Sockeye Salmon]

I wonder if the dogs are the only one to have access to this stuff or is it something that everyone will have access to come draft time?

Pfft. Collingwood bought them all one each.

[stefoid]

Pfft. Collingwood bought them all one each.

Nah, Collingwood just pays 12 real footy players for each of their players to kick to.

[LostDoggy]

Re: the eye tracker, I first saw it 7 years ago when I spent half a year in Cologne in the mid-2000s. My kind-of German girlfriend at the time was a professional triathlete and was also a sports research PhD at the German Sports University in Cologne, which is generally acknowledged as a world leading sports science institution, and works on pretty cutting-edge crap.

She was on the team that developed this eye-tracker thingy -- the two simulations I saw ran were one: a very early prototype worn by a couple of world-champion trampolinists, who did crazy somersaults etc. while the camera tracked their eye movements. It provided a lot of data on balance and body positioning. A few months later they ran the same simulation with soccer players from Borussia Dortmund doing a bunch of stuff (like take penalties, one-on-ones, stepovers etc.) to understand what happens when an elite player does a bunch of tricks or actions. This was a few months before the 2006 World Cup, and Joachim Low (then the assistant coach of the national team) was there with a bunch of Dortmund players who were part of the German national team set-up as well, and I remember the mood to be distinctly downbeat!

ps. I remember Jens Lehmann, the German goalkeeper in the 2006 world cup, saying that he used information from this and a couple of other simulations to practice for reacting to penalty kicks, where he was incredibly successful (he also had a little chit sheet with every opposition penalty takers' preferences that he would refer to prior to shootouts). I also remember Paul Robinson, the English goalkeeper at the time, saying to the press that 'penalties are a lottery aren't they' and admitting that he guessed which way to dive (and was incredibly UNsuccessful), and I thought that it was a great illustration of the (then) difference in attitude to causality and preparation in sport between the Germans and English. Of course, since then, the English have spent a bunch of money on sports science and have largely caught up in many sports (but probably not soccer).

[stefoid]

I imagine players in team sports would rely on their peripheral vision a lot for awareness of others around them, rather than specifically having to 'take a look' to see if someone is there