In the world today, we rely so heavily on the use of technology. Our surrounding lives are capsuled within a variety of tools and utilities that are considered technological. The uprise of the internet and social media has impacted people in so many ways that a life without our smart phone or computer might be imaginable for some. We as a country are so fortunate to have access to such a variety of technological advancements within our social lives and work lives. As with a change like this, the uprise in technology, there will be negative effects tied into the matter, yet the positive outcomes allow us to recreate and build a new future.

In the world of sports, technology, especially recently in the past decade, has allowed athletes to train and practice at a more productive and advanced rate, improving oneself among a sport. As a tennis and soccer player, I have interacted and played around with training features involving technology. The use of video in sports has always been a factor when time for improvement and preparation comes. For me, one of my first encounters with technology while playing a sport was for tennis. On my coaches iphone, there was an application that allowed you to film certain movements and edit and analyse them. Some ways I used this application was for reviewing my tennis strokes. My coach would film me performing, say a forehand, and after I hit the ball we would sit down at the bench and review. Through this video, my coach was able to perform a variety of editing tools, such as the ability to draw lines, which enabled me to see how my body alignment and timing with my stroke was, and where it should be. Another editing tool that I used a lot was just the simple forward and rewind, with of course a variety of speeds to view the video such as slow motion. Having the ability to take a closer look at my foot placement in perspective to my body weight and movement, was a good tool to slow down the video to see a slow motion video of my stroke. A key feature that I also enjoyed using through the application was its ability to estimate the flight path of my ball. I was able to view the flight of my ball when using different kinds of contact speeds, contact points, and spins. When looking back on my usage of the application, I learned a lot about my tennis game. I was able to fix small incorrections to my swing, allowing me to improve overall.

Through the use of this application on my iphone, it became clear to me that technology is here as a resource to help improve athletes. I was able to train in a more technical aspect which helped me grasp small improvements to my game.  Also, having the ability to visualize myself to reflect and compare my strokes, to what I see and hear makes learning a bodily movement easier to learn. It’s the fact that athletes like myself, can learn and develop new ways of training through the use of technology, like the video editing app I used, and not only improve individual talent but improve the sport overall, is astonishing to me.