It may be too late to make the England squad for this year’s World Cup, but a new smart football could get you in shape for the next one
Football
London: It may be too late to make the England squad for this year’s World Cup, but a new smart football could get you in shape for the next one.
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Representation pic/thinkstock
Built-in sensors in the Adidas Smart Ball monitor how hard it is struck, tracks flight trajectories and reveals impact points for penalties and corners.
It syncs with the firm’s micoach app via Bluetooth, and helps players learn and master various kicking and control skills. For example, the data is used to teach users how to bend free kicks, take better penalties, generate more power, and avoid injury.
Each time the ball is kicked, the app reveals the speed, amount of spin, which foot kicked the ball and its flight path. The £250 (Rs 25,000) ball is on sale now in the US and Europe from Adidas and Apple stores and has a wireless charger.
Elsewhere on the miCoach Smart Ball app, the dedicated training section features tutorials to help master more advanced techniques, including the ‘knuckleball’.
Knuckleball is a technique developed by baseball player Eddie Cicotte. His method involved holding the ball between his knuckles with the intention of avoiding the rotational spin created by throwing a ball normally.