In my first week back on the training track, things such as DNA testing, Ice Baths, and special computer software programs, as well as rehabilitation tools, have all been handed out to the girls to provide players with an insight into their genetic makeup, as well as aid them in the process of becoming the best netballers that they can be.
All of this is thanks to Sports Science and Sports Technology.
But is this a bunch of hocus pocus or does it really benefit athletes? And does this impact on sport in more than one way?
Both sports science and sports technology is a multimillion dollar industry which attempts to apply scientific principles and techniques in order to improve the sporting performances of teams and athletes to achieve the best results possible.
Whilst some of these principles are warranted, I wonder if other principles could be questioned as to whether they actually do benefit an athlete in the way that it is supposed to or if it just ends up changing an athlete’s mindset so that they believe something is of benefit, when in fact nothing has actually changed?
Suppose a swimmer was handed a swimsuit and was told by their coach that is was the Speedo LZR Racer suit, when in fact it wasn’t, and ended up resulting in an improved split time, would it instead allow you to look at an athlete’s state of mind rather than the so called science and technology behind a particular racing garment?
Or is something such as this swimsuit, which resulted in 108 World Records being broken in 2008, truly the result of sports science and technology having a big impact on an athlete’s performance?
As science and technology start to have a greater impact on sports, it also creates debate as to whether or not it is creating an unfair advantage to those countries and teams who are able to access these particular resources.
The costs involved in using and having access to sports technology is becoming extremely high and as a result is disadvantaging those who do not have the funds to access the resources and therefore bringing about an uneven playing field.
By the end of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, spectators were almost questioning the credibility of swimmers and their World Record times due to the suits that they were wearing, despite the fact that these athletes were spending hours a day slogging it out in the pool and in the gym in the lead up to the Games.
When these athletes break world records or win an event, people should not have to question whether they won due to the particular garment that was being worn.
When performance enhancing drugs are already a major issue across several sporting codes, is there really a need to create performance enhancing garments or special sporting venues that benefit athletes in a so called ‘legal’ manner?
And because of this, are we at risk of losing the raw competitiveness of athletes against each other and the elements all due to science and technology?
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