Realife Tech: Prioritising fan safety for venues

As we slowly navigate our way out of lockdown, one of the challenges for stadiums is fan safety, ensuring that it’s implemented for sports reopening past COVID-19. 

It’s a key consideration for venues and would see some differences compared to before the pandemic hit. Brent Kocher, Chief Revenue Officer at Realife Tech, believes that increased fan engagement will be pivotal as spectators and venues work together to see new safety solutions used to its full potential. 

Collectively, the majority of sports fans would love for the games to continue despite restrictions on fan attendance – a June 2020 study by ESPN showed that 78 per cent of fans were in favour of play being resumed. It was a double-digit increase on a previous poll back in April. 

Australian sporting codes Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) have already welcomed sports fans back for their respective Grand Finals albeit in a limited capacity, so other venues both here and overseas will be sure to follow suit as spectators are eased back soon. 

For it to be successful, discussions need to be had about some COVID safety measures to be included and the joint effort by stadiums and visitors to hold key events for enjoyment with health the main focus. 

While we still don’t know the full answers about if and when we get back to full capacity, the slow return of fans in partial attendance will serve as testing opportunities for policies and procedures in the future. Technology solutions can be used during this process as fans make the transition back to sporting grounds. Fan engagement allows not only them to be informed, but engaged in an active role to keep themselves safe, as well as players, staff and teams.

Technology solutions have been created so it becomes a more seamless and stress-free experience for fans who are the focus of increased engagement, factoring in their safety to lessen the potential health risks both inside and outside the venue. 

Going to a game used to be a carefree experience, but nowadays it is a completely different story. Before, all the spectators had to worry about was finding their ticketed seats and snacks or drinks they would like to buy. Now, it has become a case of spectators considering what time slot they’re scheduled to enter through the gate, where their seats are uniquely allocated and how far they would be, nominating a time to go and grab something to eat or drink, and a chosen time they wish to exit. 

 

Realife Tech aims to create the best possible experience for fans adhering to COVID guidelines. 

“At Realife Tech, we’ve developed a “Covid Safety Hub”, a range of mobile-based features that guide fans through new venue policies and procedures, with messaging delivered before, during, and after events.” Chief Revenue Officer Brent Kocher said. 

“The tech features location-based safety alerts that share real-time information with fans, helping to control high traffic areas, reduce lines at entries and exits, and loosen crowd congestion.  

“Fans who engage with this platform can adjust their actions depending on social distancing needs around them; for example, if the area they’d like to visit within the stadium is reaching capacity, or if the bathroom near them has a long line that would make distancing from others difficult, they can choose to avoid those areas and take another route to their desired destination.”  

Venues will need to adapt to contactless changes for matchday between staff and fans entering the venue. It means usual interactions will be limited, including touch-free ticketing scanning and contactless ordering and click-and-collect type process of getting food, beverage and merchandise items.  

Stadiums and venues can look into the single view of the customer across their journey, making this a significant learning opportunity for data collection – from multiple platforms and systems, including apps, ticketing, Wi-Fi, point-of-sale, digital advertising screens and access control points. 

Delving into the customer journey can assist venues with their future offerings and communications to provide a more extensive experience that will become seamless moving forward. It addresses both the current challenges and customer needs.  

With fan engagement at the forefront, it means there will be consistent communication between spectators about the right processes, through dedicated technology solutions. They can then feel more empowered to make decisions and be a key difference as part of their daily lives. It means that while we’re still a while off fully-packed crowds, it doesn’t mean we have to settle with empty stadiums. 

To see what Realife Tech has to offer, you can find out more here.

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Uplift Labs: Redefining movement analytics in sports

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Uplift Labs was created by co-founders Sukemasa Kabayama, Jonathan Wills, and Rahul Rajan. Each brings years of experience in tech innovation, uniting their expertise to build a cutting-edge startup dedicated to improving human movement.

Mission

Uplift Labs is driven by a mission to enhance human movement performance across all aspects of life.

Their AI-powered technology delivers advanced analytics designed to optimise performance while reducing the risk of injury across sports, fitness, and daily activities.

With a strong focus on movement and health, Uplift places human interaction at the forefront of coaching and training, helping people move better in all areas of life.

Key Partnerships

Uplift Labs collaborates with a range of leading organisations to push the boundaries of movement technology, including:

LAFC

AWS Startups

Nvidia Inception Program

Driveline Baseball

Athletes Unlimited

Investment Profile

Uplift Labs is backed by a prestigious group of institutional and individual investors. This includes prominent professional athletes such as Seth and Callie Curry, David DeCastro, Eric Gagné, Marc Gasol, Andrew Luck, and Renee Montgomery, as well as celebrated Olympic medallists including Kosei Inoue, Kosuke Kitajima, and Yuki Ota.

With a unique combination of cutting-edge AI, strategic partnerships, and world-class support, Uplift Labs is poised to transform how movement is understood, trained, and optimised.

Solutions

The company’s solutions are split into three categories of Sports performance, Sports medicine and Sports media. This is Uplift’s vision on how to tackle these issues in sports.

Sports Performance

Gather accurate and reliable data for comprehensive movement analysis.

Track 28 key points to generate kinematics and movement-specific events and metrics across entire athletic movements.

Optimise your athletes’ movement performance.

Elevate your assessment of athletic movements and unlock athletes’ full potential by analysing functional movements using only iOS devices.

Make data and insights accessible and easy to understand.

Evaluate player movements in a variety of ways across your organisation, from detailed kinematic data to directional reporting and 3D visualisations.

Sports Medicine

Quantify movement health to improve baselines, boost performance, and reduce injury risk.

Establish baseline movement abilities to track improvements and identify potential risk factors.

Perform detailed movement assessments.

Evaluate players or patients and generate reports with valuable, actionable insights. Using iPhones or iPads, our solution reliably captures biomechanical and kinematic data in any environment.

Prioritise player health by minimising injury risks.

Maximise performance and reduce risks by collecting detailed movement data that highlights deficiencies and identifies opportunities for improvement.

Support rehabilitation and recovery with objective measurements.

Use individualised movement analyses, reports, and visualisations to develop informed return-to-play programming and rehabilitation plans. Provide precise Individual Patient reports to guide recovery.

Sports Media

Captivate fans with biomechanical data overlays during live games.

Boost fan engagement by presenting exciting content that overlays biomechanical data, offering a new perspective on elite athletic performance.

Deliver valuable insights in real-time.

Integrate Uplift with your media production pipeline to analyse player movement and provide instant, ready-to-use insights during live commentary or replays.

Enhance the fan experience with clear, engaging visuals.

Offer simple, engaging data on athlete performance and skills to help fans connect with the action. Provide fresh insights for commentary and graphics, helping fans better understand movement analysis in the context of their favourite sports.

Conclusion

As soccer continues to evolve, technology like Uplift Labs’ AI-powered movement analysis is becoming increasingly vital for the sport’s future.

By providing accurate, real-time data and actionable insights, Uplift empowers clubs, players, and medical staff to optimise performance, prevent injuries, and enhance player health.

The ability to track and analyse movement in such detail not only elevates athletic development but also opens new avenues for fan engagement and storytelling.

Making Football Fairer: Dreamstock DSFootball Platform

Player scouting is one of the most challenging and vitally important tasks a club has to manage, without fresh and skillful new players a club will struggle to compete with its peers.

However, scouting can take a significant amount of time, manpower and research, leaving clubs with less resources at a significant disadvantage.

Additionally, for young players aiming for a professional career in football it can be extremely difficult to get noticed, especially if they are unable to frequently travel to far away tryouts.

To bridge the gap, Japanese organisation Dreamstock aims to reshape traditional scouting procedures via technology.

Launched in 2017, Dreamstock operates one of the largest online player selection platforms in the world – DSFootball.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock strive to achieve three goals on the path to make football fairer for upcoming talents:

  • Create connections between club and players.
  • Generate opportunities through technology and innovation.
  • Transform the scouting market with transparency

DSFootball Platform 

Available in two packages, DSFootball is a multifaceted platform designed to aid both clubs and players. The first package is designed for grassroots clubs and academy players, while the second is a premium version tailored for professional clubs and players.

Through the DSFootball app, players create a profile that details their physical attributes, location, position and footballing history. Additionally, they can upload video clips of their performances to entice clubs to contact them.

For clubs, the DSFootball platform allows them to search for the perfect players to fit their unique needs by filtering their searches.

The platform houses a vast and expansive youth database for players across the U13, U15, U17 and U20 age groups, presenting the aforementioned player profiles to clubs.

These profiles showcase the important player information scouts need to know, so they can determine if potential players are suitable for them or note. Most importantly, the profiles showcase valuable game footage and clips, allowing scouts and coaches to see the potential of players without travelling to see them in person.

Through the DSFootball platform, clubs can individually contact interesting players via their profiles, or they can launch scouting events and tryouts to assess players in person. Furthermore, DSFootball allows for direct contact to player representatives to foster important connections and conversations.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock provides a way for clubs to access and scout players they normally never would have been able to under traditional methods, as it drastically reducing barriers for upcoming young players.

In providing each of these services, DSFootball acts as a one-stop-shop for clubs, significantly reducing the amount of hassle they are subjected to.

Global Impact 

Developing from its two headquarters in Brazil and Japan, Dreamstock has achieved significant success in its short lifespan via the DSFootball platform. With the company and its platform having grown active in over 36 countries, encompassing more than 200 clubs and 50 leagues.

Through their work, Dreamstock has fostered key partnerships with premier competitions such as the Bundesliga, Serie A, Eredivisie and even Australia’s very own A-League.

As a product, DSFootball has been revolutionary. With over one million registered players on DSFootball, Dreamstock has created a premier destination for clubs to select future stars from, connecting players to clubs at a faster and more expansive rate than ever before.

For players, DSFootball has proven to be an excellent way to develop personally and attract attention from clubs. Of the one million plus registered players on the DSFootball platform, more than 100,000 are active participants in selection.

There is no sign of Dreamstock slowing down either, attaining over two million website views each month, illustrating a continued desire for the platform.

For more information on Dreamstock and the DSFootball platform, click here.

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