Former NFL quarterback Charlie Batch and his sports medicine company Impellia, which focuses on injury prevention, rehabilitation and performance optimization, are exploring “wide-scale implementation” with Michigan Athletics and its 900-plus student-athletes, it was announced Tuesday.
The two entities will be working together to analyze product data while the Pittsburgh-based startup Impellia receives feedback from University of Michigan staff and players around its software and sensor-based technologies. The exploratory partnership could see Impellia license its products to all 31 Division I Michigan athletics teams in the future.
“We’re excited about the opportunities this mutually-beneficial endeavor will present,” Batch said in a statement. “The core of Impellia’s mission is to play a significant role in the future of sports medicine technologies and their impact on player health, and this partnership presents us with a concrete opportunity to do just that.”
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
Added Darryl Conway, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student Health & Welfare said in a statement: “The University of Michigan is committed to providing student-athletes with the most advanced tools that will allow them to maintain optimal health while performing at their peak levels. Specialized technologies are increasingly significant in these areas and we are pleased to partner with Impellia on innovative and groundbreaking technologies for the benefit of our students.”
According to Impellia co-founder Richard Walker, the relationship with the University of Michigan Athletic Department will allow his team to “gain valuable, first-rate feedback on our portfolio of sports medicine technologies from a wide range of athletic contexts and activities,” including team and Olympic sports.
Impellia, which was launched in 2015, also recently participated in the first University of Michigan Exercise & Sport Science Initiative (ESSI) Symposium last September where Batch sat on a data analytics and science panel. ESSI is new sports science and research program at the University that concentrates on optimizing athlete performance and health.