There were anecdotes aplenty from our all-star panel of Craig Wing, Clyde Rathbone, Brian Smith and Mary Konstantopoulos at the exclusive Roar event this past Sunday at Samsung’s QLED Live Experience in Sydney.
In a 90-minute discussion that covered a range of topics, the panel was generous with their insights into how sport has changed in recent years … and where it’s heading. After following the path of light through the quantum dot to incredible colour to showcase Samsung’s brand new QLED TV, the panel entertained a great turn out of Roarers in attendance.
Highlights of the panel included…
Craig Wing outlining the dramatic changes to training practices in his career: “Probably the biggest changes I noticed throughout my career, which started way back in the 90s, where the biggest use of technology was a VCR recorded and the whiteboard,” he said about his early days in the NRL.
“You’d watch some sketchy old video of the game before, a couple of clips if you had time, and then the coach would draw some plays on the whiteboard and that was it.”
Former Wallabies and Brumbies winger Clyde Rathbone outlining a similar experience in rugby union: “In 2002, there were maybe a few field sessions and a weight session… nothing was quantified, very little was measured.
“When I returned to the game in 2013, the transformation in how much structure and technology had filtered down into rugby was just massive.”
Rathbone even revealed that players had to bring a urine sample to training with them each morning, and by the time they had their dietitian-approved breakfast, trainers would already have the information needed to customise the days training program around them.
“You would bring in your urine sample that would test your hydration levels. You’d sit down at a laptop and fill out 30 or 40 questions. They were really trying to gauge how you were feeling physically, so it was an initial screen for the physios to look at before you actually went out and trained.”
Former NRL coach Brian Smith saying that he hopes to see things go even further, with players using virtual reality to transport themselves into match situations, improving their decision-making skills from the comfort of their training facilities.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a discussion about the future of sport without looking at the rise (and rise) of women’s sport in Australia.
Mary Konstantopoulos went to great lengths to not just point out the skill of our female athletes and the quality of Australia’s women’s competitions, but also the difficulties faced by the women playing the sports they love.
“They’re juggling not only families, not only study in some cases, not only working full time, but also representing our country at an elite level. If that’s not something worth getting behind, then I don’t really know what is.”
There were a host of other topics covered at the event, which was expertly hosted by MC and comedian Sam McCool. You can check out the full panel discussion on our Facebook page.
We’ll also be posting some of the notable moments from the event on Roar TV, so keep an eye out for them too.
The Future Of Sport: an event by The Roar and Samsung was part of Samsung’s QLED Live Experience in Sydney. The QLED TV is the latest innovation in Samsung’s range of TVs, featuring outstanding colour, brightness, detail and contrast. Naturally, it’s the perfect TV to watch all your favourite sporting action on.
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