Physical fitness history spans back to the dawn of man. At that time, formal exercise wasn't necessary because prehistoric man's way of life involved a great deal of exercise. During this era in physical fitness history, primitive man was constantly on the move as a hunter/gatherer. Most tribes also led a nomadic lifestyle. Because of this, there was no need to pursue physical fitness. As man’s innovation advanced, their natural activity levels decreased. We are constantly looking for ways to make life even easier; that is, from the view point of conserving energy. Technology which involves the methods, systems, and devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes has now advanced at a high rate including Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The introduction of technology into sports has transformed sporting goods, instructional materials, and biological technology thus revolutionizing the sports domain. The phrase “information and communications technology” (ICT) refers to the expansive technological instruments and facilities used only to generate and disperse, store, and manage knowledge. The hasty expansion of technologies, having a diverse impact on society as a whole is becoming more and more apparent, and we find ourselves in a constant state of transition and improvement.
The modern world is driven by information and communication technology (ICT), influencing engineering, Sports, management, health, tourism, economics, and communication. All are related because either ICT is a tool or using ICT to solve problems is a common practice. In addition to the application of modern ICT technologies like Artificial Neural networks in social media.
ICT expands the digital environment and enhances accessibility in the field of physical education and sport. It allows users to link up with and communicate about the globe as a whole in addition to allowing them to gain knowledge, it transforms and modifies the way physical education and sports are taught. ICT is very helpful in sports for a variety of reasons, including the fact that video officials use ICT to help them see things that would be difficult to observe otherwise. The outcomes are more precise and well-organized thanks to the usage of ICT
In the current decade, technology supported training and teaching methods have brought revolutions to sports training and physical education. The approach offers innovative and modern way to overcome the usual limitations and difficulties in traditional training and teaching methods. The methodological changes can be visible in every part of modern-day training and teaching in sports and physical education. Now a day’s uses of ICT have significant effect on training program preparation as well as on the outcome of the training program. Modern technology like sensor based wireless devices, high speed internet, innovative software, video sharing platform, social networking sites have been highly contributing to the innovation in sports training as well as to class room teaching.
The easily available technological devices make it easier for the trainer and coaches to design and planning innovative and effective training programs on the other hand it also helps the physical educators to prepare effective and easily understandable teaching lessons. The Rapid development in use of technology in sports have set the level of performance at height. Using these advanced technologies and innovative trainings, performance level continues to grow exponentially in the field of sports and physical education. ICT is generally used to describe a wide range of technological tools and resources used to produce, distribute, store, and manage information. These technological tools include all kind of computer system, software and applications and networking elements which together facilitates people to communicate within the digital world.
Usages of some of the popular ICT tools in modern day sports training and physical education are Field based ICT tools: These are the kind of ICT tools which are used in on ground/field situations. One of the major field-based ICT tools is GPS based tracking devices. Now adays using these devices data can be easily obtained and analyse for performance improvement. Dedicated sports specific GPS based devices have been developed to improve and monitor the performance of the players. Most of the outdoor activities, like hiking, fishing, paragliding etc. rely on precision navigation. Using these devices, a player can be tracked irrespective of on land or in water or in air. Long distance runners use these devices to navigate their routes.
Swimmers use these devices in open water long distance swimming competitions, where there is a high chance of getting distracted from the actual path. In team sports like soccer, rugby, kabaddi, hockey etc. multiple GPS devices are used to track every team member throughout the whole training sessions or even in match situations. In every outdoor racing sport, GPS is a mandatory device to be attached with the player. It helps the officials to keep track of the players as well as for the players, it helps to track their route and progresses are only specific and confined to a single sensor and some of them are combination of multiple sensors. Use of video camera is the best method to record performance of the players on the field.
The recorded video can be broadcasted live or uploaded later on. The same video can also be used for match and performance analysis. Recent advanced technology used high-tech video recorder to record any performance and can directly convert them to three-dimensional data using high level software. In top level competitions, the necessity of precision in officiating is of utmost importance. In cricket hot spot technology is used to gain information and make precise decision. In football goal line technology is used to detect when the ball crosses the goal line. In sports like badminton and lawn tennis, hawk-eye technology is used to make correct decision.
Laboratory based ICT tools: Laboratory based ICT tools can’t be used in real game or match situations. They have to be set up permanently is laboratory based controlled environment. Most of the sports research tool falls under this category. Pressure plate and force plate are good example of such kind of ICT tools. Wired EMG devices are also considered as laboratory-based ICT devices. Some threedimensional analysis kits are also immovable and once they are set up inside a laboratory, sports actions have to be performed under its control condition. Such kind of devices which are needed to be set up in laboratory only, are called as laboratory-based ICT tools.
Classroom based ICT tools: Classroom based ICT tools for sports training or physical education are similar to the tools used in real classroom set up. Computer/laptop projector is an important tool in this set up. Apart from it, various community based social tool like Google Classroom, Khan Academy etc. are also part of classroom-based ICT tools. Various screen sharing tools like Skype, TeamViewer, Display Note etc. can share exactly the same as it displays on one’s screen.
Software and applications: The usages of software and applications in sports and physical education can further be classified according to their performed task. Most of the biomechanical analysis software are integrated with number of video cameras. Some of this software are manual in nature and some of them are automatic. Three-dimensional biomechanical analysis software is much more complicated compared to the two-dimensional analysis software. Now days, match analysis software are very important to achieve desired goal for most of the team games or sports. Another important software type is tournament management software. These kinds of software are mainly used to manage tournaments. Tournament planner is a popular and widely used tournament management software
Multimedia files and documents sharing platforms: It is not easy for a trainer or a teacher to repeat everything for everybody. Neither it is possible for him to deliver his lecture or training physically to every location. Here the multimedia and document sharing platform comes in handy. Multimedia and document sharing platforms let a user to share different kind of files to his audiences. Google drive, Dropbox, Microsoft one drive are some of the popular file sharing platforms
ICT based training methods have brought revolution to sports training. The revolution can be easily observed and recognized in modern training programs, training strategies, assessment strategies and in the way of relationship between trainer and trainees. Use of ICT makes it possible to bring the science of sports to the ground and is helping to connect physical activities with mental activities. ICT is not only helping the sports persons in practical field, but also help to educate them in theoretical works. It helps players to better understand their own body.
ICT brings motivation and enthusiasm to sportsperson’s mind and is helping to convert the dull and boring training sessions into attractive and interesting one. It is found as one of the most effective ways for overall development of sports person. ICT helps the trainers to easily collect and store training related data. Players can easily access their database and can see their progress report. Based on the stored and recorded data, prediction and hypothesis can be formulated relating to performance of that sports person.
Using ICT players can get live feedback of their performance on the ground itself. They can analyse their performance using available software and applications and appropriate remedial can be taken for wrong technique or tactics. There are many advantages of using ICT in the field of sports training but the primary advantage remains the general improvement in performance and it can only be achieved by applying ICT in an innovative way.
