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Advancing the Athelete
Innovations Within the Sporting Goods Industry
by Patrick Donahue
Professional Athletes are reaching unimagined heights in sports today. Guys like Tiger Woods are putting up lower scores at Augusta than I can put up at my local Indy Mini-Putt courses. I watch Bode Miller regularly top 75 and even 80 mph going down the slopes of Kitzbühel and Chamonix. Swimmers have recently been smashing world records like the East Germans of the 1980s. Much of this (I wish I could say, “All of this …” but recent events in MLB and at the Tour De France make me hesitate) is the result of technological advances in equipment.
Technical Professionals have become as large a part of the Professional Athlete as coaches and many companies tout the technological innovation of their products as much if not more than the athletes they sponsor. So for those of us that realized at an early age that we were not going to be the next Mike Greenwell or Jonny Moseley, we turned our sights to contributing in other ways. Namely, engineering. (Yes Mike Greenwell, I am a lifelong Red Sox fan and hey, we now know he should have won the MVP in 1988. As for Mosley, I have a passion for skiing.)
This thought process has driven many talented engineers and innovators to forgo the standard uses of a technical degree and use them to become the technical innovators in their beloved sports. The fact that these engineers are developing sporting goods and that the athletes using them are very talented often overshadows the fact that the technology is extremely complex and contributes significantly to an athlete’s performance.
This has become very evident in the swimming. I mentioned in the opening paragraph that professional swimmers are shattering world records at every meet. This is the result of Speedo’s new suit, the Fastskin LZR Racer®. Speedo incorporated Computational Fluid Dynamic modeling into the design process for the new suit. This led to the layering of various fabrics to streamline a swimmers body and reduce drag in the water. The result has been adamant upheaval from competitors in the industry claiming that the suit does not meet regulations. When in fact it appears Speedo just caught all of their competitors on their heels.
The goal of every company is to not get caught on their heels. Companies realize it is significantly more expensive and risky to play catch-up. One company that is playing rabbit for all of the others is Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. of Morgan Hill, Calif. Specialized has a core of engineers that are not only innovative in their own right but they embrace the Biking Culture which has led to some of the most progressive production bikes in the world. The level of innovation and the engineers’ love of bikes are not mutually exclusive. Specialized’s founder, Mike Sinyard, has used his engineers’ talents to significantly advance the use of carbon fiber for structural support, elastomeric materials for vibration damping, and dual-density polystyrene foams in personal protection equipment. This is not to mention, the body geometry studies that have been performed with Drs. Andy Pruitt, Ed.D.; Frank Sommer, M.D.; and Roger Minkow, M.D. Specialized has collaborated with these gentlemen to understand male and female vascular and neurological anatomy in order to optimize body positions on a bicycle.
And it is not only the sporting goods industry that has recognized the complexity of sporting goods products. Defense contractors Specialty Materials, Inc. and Advanced Composites, Inc. recognized the ubiquity of bicycles and designed frames of their own using their own technology. Specialty Materials uses a bicycle frame made with their Boron Filament materials and production process to demonstrate their product and part capabilities. Advanced Composites took this method a step further. Recognizing the potential market for a bike frame made with their IsoTruss® technology, Advanced Composites started Delta 7 Sports.
The innovation does not stop there. Examples exist in every sport. K2 Skis collaborated with Midé Technology Corporation to incorporate piezoelectric ceramics in ski cores to actively dampen vibration; Impact Innovative Products, LLC uses shear thickening polymer materials to reduce the effects of impacts; there are hydrocarbons in ski wax; biometric measuring devices in running shoes; accelerometers in football helmets. The list can go on and on.
The main point is to recognize the level of innovation occurring with the development of products within the sporting goods industry. These innovations protect us from injury and augment our abilities. Whether it is the weekend warrior driving a golf ball 300 yards on the 18th hole, a Fred sprinting to the end of their first century ride, or me hitting a home run in our softball league, it is technological innovation that helps us be Mike Greenwell for a moment.
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