The adage goes “the brain is the strongest muscle.” HeadTrainer, Inc. have taken that to a whole new level, by releasing an app on Sunday that provides a series of exercises for the athlete brain. Developed with a team of neuroscientists and sports psychologists at the Duke Sports Science Institute, HeadTrainer provides youth athletes with different “daily workouts” designed to improve cognitive functions related to sports. The app aims to train young athletes in five specific areas: focus/concentration, visual-spatial awareness, decision-making, memory and processing speed.
The workouts are designed to correlate as closely as possible to “real-world” situations in sports. After playing an exercise in HeadTrainer, a player will receive a score. This score then tells the player how they stack up against all other players within their age group. As the score increases, a player can move up in their “HT IQ level,” which consists of five categories: rookie, pro, all star, super star and legend.
When players reach certain milestones within the game, they receive positive encouragement via messages and videos from professional athletes.
HeadTrainer is supported by a number of professional athletes, those being baseball player Jose Bautista, surfer Alana Blanchard, race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., golfer Rickie Fowler, women’s soccer forward Alex Morgan, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. According to ESPN, athletes who have backed the app are receiving cash compensation in addition to equity within the company.
The app is free on both Apple and android systems, but has an in-game subscription for more advanced workouts that cost $4.99 a month.