Fighter pilots and people playing team sports have more in common than you may have thought.
In fact, the cognitive functions players need on the soccer pitch, the ice rink and the basketball court are very similar to those fighter pilots use during aerial combat.
Cutting edge athletes in these sports are beginning to train their brains the same way the US and Israeli Air Forces have for years. They are using a tool called IntelliGym, a software program that helps hone all aspects of hockey sense including anticipation, and spatial awareness.
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Early Success With Hockey
IntelliGym has been embraced by a number of Champions Hockey League clubs, as well as NCAA teams and USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Thousands of competitive new players now use the system every year.
“When we originally developed the program we partnered with USA Hockey. However, we now have a really wide swath of players, ages and levels using the tool, which is great news because everyone can benefit from it,” said Danny Dankner, Chief Executive of Applied Cognitive Engineering, the company that designed the Hockey IntelliGym.
The results and impact on ice speak for themselves. Since integrating the IntelliGym into regular training USA Hockey’s youth teams have dominated, winning an astounding 24 gold medals in international competitions, including 6 IIHF world championships.
But setting aside just on-ice improvements, IntelliGym has other benefits, which are crucial considering that 99% of the players using this program will never play professional hockey. Bodychecking is the most common cause of hockey injuries, accounting for 86% of total on-ice incidents. The majority of injured players say that their injury was caused by being hit unexpectedly – in other words, a lack of awareness.
IntelliGym training was found to reduce head and neck injuries by over 25%. This was shown in a study run with the USA National Team Development Program over the course of five years.
Into Soccer
Based on the success on ice, Applied Cognitive Engineering is now developing a soccer product and a number of top European clubs have jumped on board.
The development of the IntelliGym for soccer has been partially funded by a €2M grant from the EU innovation fund, awarded under the disruptive technology program.
Werder Bremen from the Bundesliga, Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eindhoven from the Dutch Eredivise and Red Bull Zalzburg from Austria – long known as one of the most progressive clubs in Europe – have recently become the first to test drive the Football IntelliGym to hone talent in their youth ranks.
“IntelliGym transfers well to soccer. It is to be used in a similar way to weight-training: ideally twice per week, 30 minutes at a time, and never more than one training session per day. The difference in on-pitch performance is often apparent after eight to ten hours of cumulative brain workout,” said Dankner.
Roei Shalev is the CEO of For The Win, a Sports-Tech investment venture in Israel. You can reach him at www.forthewin.tech, on Twitter @sportstechinvst and LinkedIn.