Kiwi ingenuity comes into play overseas

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post

FIELD DATA: VX Sport chief executive Richard Snow shows off his firm's GPS tracking system which monitors athletic activity.

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They may be New Zealand's sporting rivals but England's cricket team and Japan's rugby team have turned to Kiwi ingenuity to boost their training – using technology developed by Lower Hutt firm VX Sport.

The firm's GPS units and software can be used to monitor the training and performance of athletes and teams – providing detailed data on heart rate, speed, distance, location and can even measure "body force" such as step rate and hip sway.

Chief executive Richard Snow says the firm has spent $2 million developing the product, which is designed to be vastly more sophisticated than sports watches but easier to use.

"We wanted to make it really simple ... a lot of technology that is dumped on the market is just hopeless."

The Hurricanes, Wellington Lions, New Zealand Academy of Sport, and South Africa's Stellenbosch University are also using VX Sports' technology but its potential goes beyond professional sport, Mr Snow says.

A high school in Australia has picked up 20 units for its sports teams, and the company has sold one evaluation unit to the Australian Defence Force.

It has also had "promising discussions" with the New Zealand Defence Force.

The product also has potential health benefits.

VX Sport trialled the technology with an international rugby team and found its body force sensors can identify irregularities in motion and potential injuries, Mr Snow says. It could be used to monitor people with cardiac problems as they exercise.

VX Sport is developing the product so it can relay data to the software in real-time. At the moment, the data is only visible once the GPS units are plugged into a computer.

The technology could eventually be used in televised sports, allowing viewers to see the heart rates and speeds of players.

The company is on the hunt for an international investor and distributor – such as a running shoe manufacturer – to help the firm meet its potential, Mr Snow says.

"We see the world market as being many thousands of units or many tens of thousands of units."

- © Fairfax NZ News