Cloud-based software gives aspiring athletes a sporting chance

FRAME BY FRAME: Video analysis software developed by Dunedin firm Siliconcoach allows these cricketers to analyse their technique.

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Software that helps fine-tune the All Blacks scrum and tweak the techniques of cricketing superstars is now being made available online to sports enthusiasts everywhere.

Dunedin firm Siliconcoach's technology helps coaches and athletes analyse techniques captured on video with a range of editing, drawing and measurement tools, says general manager Graeme Burborough.

"In its most simplistic form, a lot of human movement happens fast, such as when you're swinging a golf-club ... you put the video into our software and can advance frame by frame.

"You can also put two videos side by side so you can look at yourself compared to what you were like previously or compared to an expert – it could be Dan Carter kicking a rugby ball."

The software – which lets users annotate voice over video – can calculate an athlete's speed and acceleration, and one version of it can be used to create presentations.

The company has launched an online software service, called The Zone, which lets users upload and analyse video, share it with others and create online discussion threads about it, Mr Burborough says.

It expects the service will appeal to community sports teams as it is simple to operate and at $50 per individual a year, or $500 a year for up to 20 users, it is cheaper than the firm's other products.

"We see the web side of things as an exciting area for us," Mr Burborough says.

"We see it not only as a way of being able to strengthen relationships with existing users but also a platform where we can build a relationship with new users."

The Zone is also being picked up by secondary schools, about 40 per cent of which are using different versions of Siliconcoach's software.

"If you were a student in year 12 wanting to look at biomechanics you could log on to your school's "zone" and there'd be lessons to go through.

"We've also now got a number of sporting organisations setting up their own zones, including Athletics New Zealand, Softball NZ, and the Academy of Sport here in Dunedin is using one for their Paralympic team."

All Blacks scrum coach Mike Cron uses Siliconcoach's software, as do the national test cricket teams of New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh, he says.

The software helped fit this year's Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and runner-up Andy Schleck to their bikes, and Siliconcoach has developed a customised bike-fitting version for retailer Specialized Bikes, which uses it in 4000 outlets worldwide.

The company has 14 staff and annual revenue is in the millions of dollars but under $6m, Mr Burborough says.

It sells its software in about 50 countries and 80 per cent of its revenue is from exports.

Technique analysis is becoming more important in professional sport, he says.

"In the past a lot of emphasis on sporting technique has been on strength and conditioning programmes and dieting.

"Technique analysis is pretty much who we are and that is still untapped territory."

- © Fairfax NZ News