The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

I gather that there is a large sporting event taking place in Beijing, China over the next couple of weeks…Back in June I was interviewed by a journalist for an “Olympics Special Issue” of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s magazine. I was asked about the role “ExerGames” might play in sport and in particular how they might help athletes.

Having seen a video of the USA Olympic Bobsleigh team training on a simulation that was an inch perfect representation of the track (literally as it was based on the CAD design measurements), ExerGames are never going to compete with technical simulations. However I did suggest that they could be used for psychological training of athletes. It would allow them to experience a number of different scenarios in order to increase their resilience and develop coping strategies in response to provocative events e.g. controversial refereeing decision, hostile crowd, change of tactics.

The above point didn’t make it into the article, but rather there is an excellent overview (with more of a UK slant) of the field of ExerGames and where it is likely to be heading in the future. It is a good read and is available online here. Just in case you don’t quite make it to the end, here is my closing quote:

We could see worldwide competitions with grassroots participation because you don’t need multi-million pound facilities or lots of staff. A networked sporting competition would be accessible to anyone with a console and an Internet connection.