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stem in sports: technology
subject athlete has a set of electronic sensors
strapped to his body at key points, including
joints and key muscle groups. The camera re-
cording the action highlights those sensors,
creating a skeleton-like view of the person.
That view can then be studied and examined
by the athlete and the coach to look for ways
to make the athlete better. Regular video is
used, of course, but the motion capture’s abil-
ity to cut the motion down to its key parts
makes it more effective as a coaching tool.
Motion capture has been used in swim-
ming with the help of underwater cameras.
Tennis players and golfers can help tune their
swing and also custom fit their rackets and
clubs with “mocap,” as it is sometimes called.
And doctors even use it to test before-and-
after motion of athletes recovering from inju-
ries. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a
motion capture image might turn into a thou-
sand wins.
Social Connections
W
hile
specialized
cameras
capture
an
ath
-
letes’ motion, social media helps
capture the emotion of sports. In the
early days of sports, the only way a fan could
“hear” from a star athlete would be through
the words of a newspaper. Even when books
or articles were “by” a star, the words would
usually come from a reporter. Radio began