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Vols Football Goes High Tech
8/23/2007
The University of Tennessee Volunteers football team has upped its game by being the first to apply the the PlayAction Simulator from XOS Technologies.Powered by EA Sports, the system provides training consistent with EA's Madden NFL Football and NCAA Football game engines.
Leveraging the XOS PlayAction Publisher, UT's head football coach, Phillip Fulmer, and offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe can upload custom playbooks into EA’s video game to help the team develop tactical skills via the familiar medium.
“...We couldn’t be more pumped about it,” Fulmer said. “UT football has a long and storied tradition of success, and, because we look to pioneer groundbreaking concepts before anyone else, we’ll proudly continue that history.”
While the video game requires essentially no learning curve from the players (who mostly likely have well developed thumb muscles playing Madden Football), the software also includes teaching and reporting tools to help coaches analyze and track team skill development.
That blending of entertainment with the traditional coaching workflow, along with additional functionality, such as customizable playbooks, diagrams, and testing sequences, should help athletic departments better prepare for specific opponents, according to Albert Tsai, XOS Technologies' vice president of advanced research.
In addition to the PlayAction Simulator, XOS Coaching Solutions offers a SportsMotion studio that lets athletes put their bodies into the video game by using head-mounted displays and body sensors to track their movements to let them analyze their strength and conditioning. That's really putting your head in the game!
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David Kopf is a freelance technology writer and marketing consultant. He can be reached at david@dkcopy.com.
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