Introducing extreme Jump Trainer
In this project we are exploring a new and
innovative formal sports training, a type of sports training
that does not require expert coaches, expensive camps,
clinics and private lessons, boring repetitive exercises, more
expensive training. Rather, this project is delving into
a style of sports training that could revolutionize how young
athletes are trained by combining biomechanical analysis and an interactive
video game experience. This project is creating a training
environment that is fun, cheap, works around your
schedule, happens in the comfort of your own home
and fosters effective advanced biomechanical training. To demonstrate
the concept of this style of training, we chose
to focus on vertical jump training. We chose this
activity because of its relevance to a large number of
sports such as basketball, volleyball, football and track
and field. We wanted to demonstrate that this style
of training can positively impact a large group of young
athletes and their sports development, vertical jump training stood
out as an ideal activity. In traditional jump training,
an athlete works one on one with a coach in
a gym or weight room. The athlete is put through
a variety of drills and exercises that target different components
of jumping ability, such as technique, balance,
agility, speed, and proprioception. The drills
themselves are simplistic and repetitive and the training needs to
occur several times a week over a course of several
weeks before any noticeable improvement is seen, this style
of training works very well but requires a lot of
time and effort before seeing any results. Now,
imagine if those same training results could be achieved for
a fun, engaging experience and experience where a traditional
sports activity, in this case side by side jumping
is turned into a game where biomechanical feedback and suggestions
for improvement are given after each exercise, where motivation
is provided through a challenging video game, where athletes
are inspired to improve their technique to achieve a higher
score and reach new levels. This type of training
could give a young athlete preparing for a big tryout
an edge over other competitors, could allow a young
athlete who doesn't have access to the top coaches
an opportunity to reach their full potential, could provide kids
who might otherwise shy away from sports the motivation
to stay involved. Here's how the application works,
A Microsoft connect is connected to a pc and then
the skeleton information is streamed to our game application using
using OpenNI and Fast. The game
which was created using the Vizard virtual reality tool kit
features an avatar that moves according to the user.
The avatar is infused into a side side jumping activity
when the user jumps the avatar jumps. If the
athlete exceeds a certain distance threshold, the avatar jumps
to the other rock. If the user does not
jump far enough, the avatar falls into the lava.
If the user waits too long in between jumps,
the avatar sinks into the lava. During each activity,
the biomechanics are recorded and compared against an ideal
model. Training tips are displayed to the user after
each activity, suggesting ways to improve for following rounds.
For example, someone who isn't driving their arms
during the Crouch phase would get a training tip telling
them to use their arms more as well as a
graphic comparing their actions to the ideal model. Then
in following rounds, the user could change their technique
and once again see how their actions compared to the
ideal model. Over continued use with the application,
the user would see improvements in their jumping
around mechanics. This application is just the beginning.
There are massive possibilities for extending this concept. Further
different applications can be made for different physical activities and
sports applications could also be developed to specifically address young
users who may be ready to give up on sports
and physical activity. The bottom mechanical training could be
extended greatly, perhaps even to allow customization by high
level coaches and athletes. These concepts could also be
applied to physical therapy to make the mundane rehabilitation exercises
more exciting to the patients during injury recovery. Thanks
, I hope you enjoyed this project