After investing a huge sum of £100,000 on virtual reality for the training of its players, Arsenal is set to let go of it. The reason being that it is making the players sick instead of enhancing their performance.
They spent the huge amount in an effort to amplify the team’s performance. Unfortunately it proved to be otherwise as the players repetitively complained of motion sickness by the devices.
The virtual reality set up was designed for the squad by a Dutch company named Beyond Sports. They organized a ‘smart room’ with television sets, a small pitch and virtual reality headsets.
The purpose of the ‘smart room’ and the virtual reality technology was to help a player view the pitch and the player at any point of the +90 minutes of the match from any and every angle. This would give the players a chance to enhance their performance by reviewing their reaction time and decision making skills. The data collected from Premier League is used to recreate it into 3D.
Through the ‘Hand of God’ tool, the players and the coaches select any one on the pitch and view his performance from various angles on the headset. This includes viewing the pitch through the player’s eyes as well. Coaches and players can also freeze frame to focus on certain areas of the match and the player’s performance.
Beyond Sports stated about the technology, “will make you a better player by training you to see where the ball should go, without the extra load on the body, which is great for injured players, who can keep on training.”
Arsenal’s senior players are opposed to the VR technology but the club will keep it for its younger players to aid in their performance.
A spokesperson representing Beyond Reality said, “Youth Academy players will also be able to train at the speed of the first team, making them ready for the first team a lot earlier.”
So let’s see what will be the future of VR in the upcoming months with Arsenal FC.