5.3 Examine the role technology can play to improve performance

1. Technology and performance

Technology refers to the tools, systems, materials and digital platforms used to improve training, analyse performance, and guide decisions. This includes hardware, such as wearables, GPS units, cameras and force-measuring devices, software, such as athlete management systems and video analysis platforms, and equipment advances, such as modern running shoes, improved track surfaces and assistive devices.

Technology is rarely useful as a single device on its own. Its value comes from how well it helps coaches and athletes collect information, interpret it, and act on it. A device may collect useful data, but performance only improves when that information leads to better training, better technique, better workload management or better decision-making.

Technology can improve performance in three broad ways. First, it can improve the quality of practice, so training becomes more specific, repeatable and targeted. Second, it can improve the equipment or environment in which performance occurs, making movement more economical, controlled or accessible. Third, it can improve recording and monitoring, so training load, technique and readiness can be tracked over time rather than guessed.

Technology does not improve performance automatically. It improves performance when it helps coaches and athletes make better decisions. This may involve changing a training drill, adjusting workload, improving technique, choosing more suitable equipment, or identifying fatigue before performance drops. It is most powerful when it makes training and feedback more individualised, rather than applying the same approach to every athlete regardless of their role, movement profile, fatigue level or performance goals.

2. Training innovations

Training innovations are new or improved ways of delivering practice so that athletes can learn, rehearse, adapt and perform more effectively. These innovations matter because they can improve the quality of training without always increasing the physical cost of training.

2.1 Virtual reality

Virtual reality places the athlete inside a simulated environment. This allows them to rehearse situations that would otherwise be difficult to repeat often, safely or consistently in real training. VR is especially useful when the athlete needs to improve perception, anticipation, decision-making or tactical responses.

Because the environment can be controlled and repeated, athletes can face the same scenario multiple times and refine how they respond without the full physical demands of live play. This can make practice more targeted. The athlete can focus on reading cues, recognising patterns and making decisions under pressure, while the coach can control what is presented and how often it occurs.

VR is particularly valuable in sports where real-game repetition is limited by time, fatigue, injury risk or the availability of skilled opposition.

Example: A professional cricket batter uses VR to repeatedly face a simulated wrist-spinner in the week before a match. The batter practises picking up release cues, line and length earlier than they could through ordinary video alone. This can improve anticipation and shot selection without requiring the same physical load as facing large volumes of live bowling in the nets.

2.2 Augmented reality

Augmented reality overlays information onto the real environment while the athlete is still performing the movement. This makes it useful when feedback needs to happen in context, not only afterwards. In training, AR can provide cues about pacing, positioning, movement timing or tactical decisions while the athlete is still engaged in the task.

AR can improve performance because it shortens the gap between error and correction. Instead of waiting until the end of a drill for feedback, the athlete can receive information during the action itself and adjust immediately. This can improve technique consistency, tactical awareness and the accuracy of movement execution.

Example: A middle-distance runner completes interval training while receiving live pacing information through an AR display. The athlete can see immediately if the pace is drifting too fast or too slow and adjust before the rep is lost. This makes training intensity more precise and helps the athlete practise the exact rhythm required for competition.

2.3 Why training innovations matter

Training innovations matter because they can improve the quality, specificity and efficiency of practice. They are most useful when they allow athletes to rehearse an important performance demand more clearly or more often than traditional methods alone.

They also support individualisation, because the scenario, cue, workload or feedback can be adjusted to the needs of a specific athlete rather than delivered in exactly the same way to the whole squad.

However, training innovations are not automatically better than traditional methods. The technology still has to match the skill or tactical problem being trained. If it is used only because it is new, rather than because it improves learning, decision-making or performance, the benefit will be limited.

3. Equipment advances

Equipment advances improve performance when changes in design, materials or fit help the athlete move more efficiently, more safely or more effectively. The benefit may seem small in one movement, but across repeated steps, contacts, turns or strokes it can become highly significant.

3.1 Running shoes

Modern running shoes can affect performance through cushioning, stability, traction, comfort and, in some cases, energy return. The most important performance idea is that improved shoe design may reduce the energy cost of each stride or help maintain technique more effectively across long distances. If this happens, the athlete may be able to sustain pace more efficiently.

This is why running shoes are not just a comfort issue. In endurance performance, even a small improvement per stride can become meaningful across thousands of steps.

Example: An elite marathon runner changes from an older training model to a race shoe with more responsive foam and a stiffer forefoot structure. This can improve running economy and help the athlete maintain pace more efficiently late in the race.

3.2 Track surfaces

Track surfaces influence performance through traction, consistency and impact characteristics. A more consistent synthetic surface allows athletes to apply force more predictably than an uneven or weather-affected surface. This can improve speed, rhythm and confidence in movement execution.

Track surfaces can also affect how much stress is transferred through the body. A surface that is too hard may increase impact stress, while one that is too soft may reduce stability and increase muscular demand. This means the best surface is not simply the fastest-looking one, but one that supports efficient force application and repeatable performance.

Example: A 400 m runner training on a modern synthetic track is able to complete race-pace repetitions with more consistent footing than on a worn grass surface after rain. The improved surface supports stronger force application, better rhythm and more consistent performance across the session.

3.3 Assistive devices

Assistive devices improve both performance and access by reducing barriers to movement or sensory information. In performance settings, they can allow the athlete’s skill, decision-making and training to be expressed more effectively.

A lightweight sports wheelchair can improve acceleration and turning by improving stability and reducing unnecessary energy loss. An audible ball can support athletes with vision impairment by making ball position easier to detect through sound, allowing performance to depend more on movement skill and tactics than on sensory disadvantage.

Example: A wheelchair basketball player uses a custom-fitted chair with improved stability in rapid turns. This can reduce unwanted movement during acceleration, improve push-rim contact, and support more consistent sprint efforts across a match.

3.4 Why equipment advances matter

Equipment advances matter because performance is shaped not only by the athlete, but also by the interaction between the athlete and the equipment or surface being used. Better equipment can improve efficiency, control, consistency and, in some cases, safety.

Equipment advances can also support greater individualisation, because equipment can be fitted, selected or adjusted to the needs of a particular athlete, event or role. However, better equipment does not automatically fix poor technique. Some sports also regulate equipment to protect fairness and integrity, especially when a design gives athletes an advantage that may go beyond normal performance improvement.

4. Recording and monitoring training and performance

Recording and monitoring training and performance involves collecting information across time so that coaches and athletes can track what has been done, how the athlete is responding, and whether training needs to change. Performance improves when training becomes more measurable and more adjustable.

Monitoring allows coaches to look for trends, not just one-off results. This is important because one hard session or one poor night of sleep may not mean much on its own, but patterns across days and weeks can reveal whether the athlete is adapting well or beginning to struggle.

Monitoring is most useful when it supports individualised decisions. For instance, one athlete may need a lower training load, another may need a technique focus, and another may need extra recovery. Technology allows coaches to make these decisions with more evidence instead of treating the whole group in exactly the same way.

4.1 GPS and external load

GPS is commonly used to record external load, meaning what the athlete physically did in the environment. This may include total distance, high-speed running distance, sprint efforts, accelerations, decelerations and peak speed.

In running-based sports, GPS helps coaches judge whether the weekly load matches the athlete’s role and whether sudden spikes are occurring. This matters because large, sudden increases in load can affect movement quality, fatigue and readiness to perform.

Example: An NRL outside back records an unusually large increase in high-speed running across one week of training. The coaching staff reduce top-speed exposure in the next session and adjust the drill design. This protects movement quality and helps the athlete stay available for competition rather than tipping into excessive fatigue.

4.2 Sensor-enabled shoes and technique monitoring

Sensor-enabled shoes and related movement sensors can provide technique-related information such as cadence, ground contact time and left-right symmetry. Their value is that they can reveal subtle changes in movement quality before performance decline becomes obvious.

Technique often changes when athletes are fatigued, compensating, or carrying a minor issue. If those changes are picked up early, training can be modified before the athlete loses more movement efficiency or develops a larger problem.

Example: A competitive distance runner shows a steady increase in left-right contact time difference across two weeks of hard training. This can flag an emerging movement issue early, allowing training to be adjusted before it affects race performance more seriously.

4.3 Video analysis and high-speed cameras

Video analysis and high-speed cameras improve performance by making movement easier to examine than it is in real time. Some technical errors happen too quickly for the coach or athlete to see accurately during the action itself. Slowing the movement down, replaying it, or comparing it side by side with previous attempts allows those details to become visible.

This is especially useful in sports with highly technical or fast movements, where small changes in timing, body position or sequencing can produce meaningful performance differences. Video analysis can therefore improve performance by making feedback more precise and by allowing athletes to connect what they felt with what actually happened.

Example: A national-level tennis player has a serve that loses speed late in matches. High-speed video shows that as fatigue builds, trunk rotation slows and ball contact occurs slightly later. This identifies a subtle technical breakdown that is difficult to see live, allowing the coach to target the specific cause of performance decline.

4.4 Athlete management systems and trend tracking

Monitoring becomes more useful when data from different sources is brought together and used to guide decisions. Athlete management systems allow coaches and support staff to combine information such as GPS load, session ratings, soreness, sleep and readiness markers into one place so patterns can be interpreted more clearly.

This matters because performance is usually improved through consistency across weeks and months, not through one isolated session. Monitoring can improve performance by helping coaches:

1. adjust training volume or intensity
2. protect skill quality when fatigue is accumulating
3. compare current performance to previous baselines
4. plan recovery and return-to-performance more effectively

Example: A professional football squad combines GPS data, session ratings, sleep reports and soreness scores across the week. When one player shows rising fatigue and reduced sleep across several days, the staff modify the training plan before performance drops further. In this situation, recording and monitoring improve performance through better planning, not just more data.

4.5 How monitoring technology guides performance decisions

The purpose of monitoring technology is not just to collect numbers. Its value comes from showing patterns that help coaches and athletes make better decisions about training load, technique, recovery and readiness to perform.

5. Limits, fairness and good use of technology

Technology can improve performance, but its effect depends on how well it is chosen, interpreted and used. The strongest programmes use technology to support judgement, not replace it.

6. Why technology matters for improved performance

Technology matters because it can make training more specific, equipment more effective, and performance management more precise. Training innovations can improve the quality of learning and decision-making. Equipment advances can improve efficiency, control and accessibility. Recording and monitoring can improve decisions about training, recovery and readiness.

Technology improves performance most clearly when it creates a useful chain of change:

1. the technology collects, changes or enhances something important
2. the coach or athlete uses that information or change to make a better decision
3. training or performance becomes more targeted, efficient or consistent
4. performance improves across time

Example: A semi-professional midfielder uses a combination of VR for tactical rehearsal, improved boots and playing surface for consistent movement quality, and GPS monitoring to manage weekly load. These technologies work together to improve learning, execution and training decisions, helping the athlete sustain performance more consistently across the season.