The Ball Roll system combines a high performance camera with software that analyses the “roll” of the ball. This gives us lots of information such as: launch angle, how far the ball rolls, at what point the ball reaches true roll, whether the ball has hook or cut spin and much more.

It’s hard to believe, but when we putt a lot of things happen to the ball that are not wanted and that are not be seen with the naked eye. The results obtained from the system help us to analyse the putt in a unique way to find out at what point errors occur. Is it the putter, the technology, or both?

Simply put:
The Quintic Ball Roll System allows us to see what happens to the ball because that’s what counts! The ball must be in the hole!

In contrast to all other systems, there are no redundant sensors which may influence the putter and give the player a strange feeling!

This system was developed by Dr. Paul Hurrion. He is currently, among other things, putting coach for Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and many other top players and Major winners.

Dr. Paul Hurrion has provided personal instruction in the use of the system and how to correctly interpret the data!

Read more at… www.puttklinik.de

They have developed some hi-tech software which they claim can be used to help coach anyone to hit an unstoppable strike from 12 yards…

SoccerBible was invited to put the software on the spot at Chichester University’s Sports Science department. Former Queens Park Rangers striker and dead-ball specialist Kevin Gallen was on hand to give a pro’s verdict.

First, Dr Hurrion explained his theory for the perfect PK: “If the ball is struck at or above 25 metres per second (approx 56 miles per hour) into an area within a one-metre radius of the corner of the goal frame, the penalty is un-saveable. No keeper in the world can keep it out.”

Read more at… http://www.soccerbible.com/news/general/archive/2012/03/05/quintic-penalty-shootout.aspx

Analyse the ball from set pieces… penalties, free kicks and corners.

For more information contact info@quintic.com or watch the youtube video

In autumn 2011 Quintic conducted a biomechanical gait analysis of the new FIT Shoe Range by Next. There are currently 5 styles of shoe in the Davina FIT range: the trainer, the pump, the ballerina, the wedge and the flat workwear shoe… with the pointed shoe and the sandal soon to be added.

The study, which used females who met the proposed target market for the Davina FIT shoe, compared each style of FIT Shoe to a typical equivalent shoe, as well as barefoot. An RSscan pressure plate was used to analyse the forces and pressures applied through the shoes and electromyography (EMG) data was collected for eight leg muscles in order to examine the differences in muscle activity.

Reduced loading rates were found for all shoes except the wedge, which may be explained by the changed gait characteristics of the foot when the heel is raised. Other key findings were…

The pump – 12% reduction in heel impact forces
The trainer – 25% less pressure on the ball of the foot
The wedge – 5% increase in calf activation (vs. barefoot)
The flat – 8% increase in calf and 12% increase in hamstring activation
The pointed shoe – reduced pressure under 3 areas of the foot
The sandal – reduced pressure under 6 areas of the foot

The shoes were launched on the 6th December 2011 and are now available from… www.next.co.uk/women/the-fit-shoe

‘Take the pressure out of your day with our new Davina Collection featuring our dual density cushioned midsole technology that reduces the stress on your load bearing joints.’

I wrote a previous article about using the equipment that we all have around us and the cameras on our mobile phones are more than adequate for most of our coaching needs. So if you want to boost your feedback to your players and add a coaching application to your phone or iPad then take a look at these options that i have tried out recently.

iPhone: Cricket Coach Plus and Cricket Coach Free

Both are excellent packages that enable the user to film a player from different angles, synchronise the footage together (particularly good for bowlers) and insert angles, lines and shapes on the screen to highlight points to your players. You can then email the footage to your players for review.

iPad: Cricket Coach Plus HD

This is the bigger brother of the two applications for the iPhone and offers greater clarity on the excellent iPad screen. The increased screen size is very good when giving instant feedback to the players on the side of the ground or at the back of a net session.

SwingReader or Excelade

Initially designed for golf analysis yet offers excellent feedback for all sports. Does everything that Cricket Coach Plus HD does yet incorporates a means of high

Igniting stills of the footage and applying text which can then be emailed to the player along with the video footage. I have received encouraging feedback on the reports that were sent through to the players that I worked with last week using the applications.

Computer

The best two software packages that I have worked with on my laptop are Quintic and SiliconCoach which offer an incredible number of analysis and report options. These systems are ideal for coaches who use video analysis on a regular basis and have a bigger budget as the laptop and high quality video camera will also need to be purchased to complete the system.

Posted by Mark Garaway

http://www.pitchvision.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-video-analysis-gear-and-software

Saeed Ajmal was tested in 2009 in Australia and we have used the same methods for many bowlers across the world. The process is very robust. We use a big enough sports hall so the bowler can make his typical run-up and bowl a full-length delivery. It is important to replicate what it is like in the middle as best we can.

There are stumps to aim at but no batsman and we use synchronised footage of the player bowling in a match to check that they are not just going through the motions or altering their style. They have to replicate the speed of a delivery from a match, the deviation and the revolutions of the ball.

When being tested, the bowler is topless and has reflective markers all over his bowling arm, so the 3D, high-speed cameras can film him from every angle. On TV, what you see is an optical illusion because the pictures are only 2D so the angle you see is often very different from the reality. We then check if the arm is bent more than the permitted 15 degrees, which we decided was appropriate as anything under that would be hard to see with the naked eye.

Of course, until technology is good enough to have X-ray cameras from the boundary at a live game we can’t ever be 100 per cent sure that our testing is perfect. I’m sure in 10 years’ time there will be the technology to test as the game is happening.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2088019/Saeed-Ajmal-bowling-tested-3D-angles–Dr-Paul-Hurrion.html#ixzz1kfWd7YYk

Dax Sowrey, coach at Undercliffe CC, gives his report of a debut appearance at the Conference for Yorkshire cricket coaches.

This really appealed to me as I want to progress onto Club Coach and hopefully Level3 and video analysis is one of the disciplines needed to achieve that goal. So twenty-odd of us squeezed into one of the smaller rooms to hear Dr Paul discuss the use of the Quintic software to analyse individual performance and technique. This was with a view to identifying problematic areas in the technique that might cause stresses and strains and potential career threatening injuries.

The software was great but I have to say I was more interested in what Dr Paul had to say. He wasn’t there (in his own words) to sell us the software but to actually discuss biomechanics. It was fascinating. He held the whole audience in awe. There were gasps and groans aplenty watching some of the high frame slow motion video clips of well known fast bowlers and their actions.

The amount of abuse that occurs due to having an incorrect technique is frightening! The problem now is that it is all well and good being able to identify that an athlete has an issue with their technique but after a certain age it is irreversible and those athletes know they are playing on borrowed time.

I was left with the overwhelming impression that I could make a difference. Through positive coaching and utilising all the technology and resources available, that potential short term careers could be extended and in fact that the players could become better athletes and achieve even greater feats. I have always said that speed doesn’t always bring power when bowling and Dr Paul proved this with the Quintic video analysis software.

In fact, he pointed out that 85% of our cricket Academy hopefuls are not using their bodies’ power effectively due to too much speed in their run up to the crease. They are travelling too fast for their bodies to handle the stresses and this causes a multitude of effects to occur, notably increased impact stresses on the legs and spine but also a decrease in power and accuracy when releasing the ball. Use of the Quintic technology allowed you to identify an optimum approach speed but also to identify the exact moment that a technique needed to be modified.

After all this, the day came to an end which seemed like quite an anti-climax. So much information had been imparted on multiple levels my head was buzzing but I would have liked there to have been a closing group discussion just to tie up all that had taken place during the day.

I think that I would like to go to the National Conference when it is finalised. The information and tools I gleaned from the YCBCA conference will be put to good use and hopefully will benefit not only my students, my coaching and gameplay but more importantly the game of cricket.

For the full article, please visit : http://www.yorkshirecricketboard.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=528:ycb-coaches-conference-2011&catid=310:ycb-seminar&Itemid=32

Meet the man who insists he can finally end England’s penalty shoot-out agony. Dr Paul Hurrion is a sports biomechanics expert who advises golf superstars Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington. And now UK-based Hurrion has turned his attentions and hi-tech wizardary to football.

Hurrion, 39, has pioneered cameras and computer software to track a football’s speed, launch angle and spin at dead-ball situations. The sports-mad boffin has successfully tested his programme on none other than Cristiano Ronaldo – the world’s most expensive player. Hurrion is now preparing to licence his system to Premier League clubs and the FA after getting a thumbs up from £80million Real Madrid galatico Ronaldo.

With Hurrion’s help, players and coaches will be able to work out optimum deliveries for corners, free-kicks and penalties to improve consistency and accuracy. And it is hoped an end is now within tantalising reach for England’s penalty shoot-out woes ahead of Euro 2012 next summer.

Hurrion explained: “It has always frustrated me seeing a corner never clear the front man or a penalty missed due to a poor strike or contact with the ball. “If you strike a penalty with enough speed, spin and with the correct launch angle, even if a goalkeeper knew where it was going, he couldn’t get to it in time. “Granted, there is the pressure that goes with taking a penalty – that is the psychology.

“But wouldn’t it be nice in training to know your optimum stats and by knowing what you have to do, it certainly makes it easier to repeat without any hassle. “Given the physical condition of footballers, if they are not hitting the ball at 28-32 meters per second or 65-75 plus miles per hour, the quality of the strike can’t have been correct. “And with just a five degrees launch angle, the ball will go into the top corner from a penalty. “With the amount of other dead-ball situations it could also make a big difference all over the pitch. “When players hit the ball now, they kind of know if it’s good but they don’t really know for sure. If you could quantify it, it would undoubtedly help”.

“For example, I would ask a player to take 10 penalties, the software would give you the average speed and analyse from the kicks, how consistent is the player? “You could could tell who hits them quick enough, and who doesn’t and go right through from England internationals to an academy players.”

But Hurrion has started at the top by getting a certain Ronaldo to test the equipment recently in Madrid. And the Portuguese ace’s performances have already set an early benchmark for free-kicks after studying his stats.

Hurrion added: “Ronaldo could see the differences in speed and spin between strikes. “Eventually he hit the shot and was able to call out some figures and they got pretty damn close to the actual recording. “His dipping shot he calls the ‘knuckleball’ because it comes out with very low spin values which is very difficult to stop due to the ball dipping and swerving. “We got some very good data from him, he liked it and asked to be kept updated as and when we are fully operational.” Now Hurrion is close to finalising the figures to prove what is an ideal penalty, free-kick, corner and even goal-kick.

He hopes it will end future nightmares and embarrassments for the likes of Chris Waddle, Gareth Southgate, David Batty, Darius Vassell and Jamie Carragher who fluffed crucial spot-kicks for England in respective exits at Italia 90, Euro 96, France 98, Euro 2004 and Germany 2006.

Hurrion, whose company is called Quintic and work in golf, athletics, rugby and cricket, said: “We always thought we could have an application for football. “There is some quite complex maths involved to work out the figures. “It is developed to a level where people are testing the software such as Manchester City academy.

“Along with Chichester University, they are helping define the coach friendliness of how it works and coming up with figures of what is acceptable at various levels and age groups.”

And the good news is Hurrion is in no rush to market his product in Germany. “That would have to be a commercial decision,” he added. “Perhaps we could add on a few zeros for them!”

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/EXCLUSIVE-Sports-biomechanics-expert-Dr-Paul-Hurrion-claims-he-can-cure-England-s-penalty-shoot-out-curse-in-time-for-Euro-2012-article828595.html

Together with his putting coach and now business partner Dr Paul Hurrion, NGF Director Jeroen Stevens, The National Golf Director, Hans Blaauw and many other guests, Robert-Jan Derksen today offically opened the latest in putting science and technology at ‘The Academy’ Nunspeet, Holland.

As already announced some months ago at the KLM Dutch Open, ‘The Academy’ works closely with the NGF to improve their structure in coaching putting to the Dutch top amateur golfers. In recent months, work has been completed on the facility to produce a ‘state of the art’ putting academy, was finally unveiled to the press and selected guests.

The Academy is based on the technique that Paul uses in his own ‘Hurrion Quintic’ putting laboratory, located in Birmingham, England. By using multi high speed cameras, Quintic ball roll, Force platform and special computer analysis software allow the coach to observe even the smallest detail in your putting stroke, which the naked eye can not see…

Paul Hurrion is an expert in putting and sports biomechanics and works with the like of Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Oliver Wilson, Paul McGinley, Philip Price…  After recent months of intensive supervision, Paul has trained NGF coach, Hayo Bensdorp in his putting physilophy and technology. Hayo is really looking forward to becoming the putting coach of ‘THE ACADEMY’ and to get started with his new pupils.

Paul and Robert-Jan performed the opening by the flag with the logo of The Academy at the entrance of ‘The Academy’ within Nunspeet Golf Club. 

“I am extremely proud of our Academy and assume that we will soon all together will witness the enhanced level of our putt-Dutch top golfers”, says Robert-Jan.

Robert-Jan Derksen, THE ACADEMY, Sophiaweg 412, 6523
NJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Telephone +31 (0) 24 360 3418, Telefax +31 (0) 24 388 8576, GSM manager Jan Derksen: +31 653 15 09 21
THEACADEMY@robertjanderksen.com : www.theacademy-rjd.eu

Cricket coaches across the Caribbean with an interest in specializing in fast bowling will have an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of the discipline. The West Indies Cricket Board is hosting a Fast Bowling Coaches Workshop at the Sagicor High Performance Center in Barbados on September 8th and 9th.

World renowned Biomechanist Dr Paul Hurrion, will join West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson and Sagicor HPC Bowling Coach and West Indies Under 19 Head Coach Roddy Estwick in delivering the two day workshop along with other specialists.

The workshop will address several areas critical to the fast bowling discipline including Biomechanical Principles, Assessing Actions, Video Analysis, Understanding Swing and Fitness for Bowling among several other areas.

WICB is funding the full participation of two coaches from each Territorial Board. However given the interest from other coaches the WICB has decided to also open the workshop to a select number of additional coaches.

Selected coaches will be responsible for their travel and accommodation. There will be no participation charge for the workshop.

The workshop will take place on September 8th and 9th and applications are open to coaches from across the Caribbean.

This Fast Bowling Coaches Workshop follows workshops for Territorial Development Officers and Youth Coaches, Umpires and Match Referees and development workshops for Under 15 and Under 19 players in the WICB Regional Under 15 and Under 19 Tournaments.

Fidel Edwards – West Indies (Fast Bowling)