Technology a Game Changer for Johansen, IU Diving
12/24/2018 7:00:00 AM | General, Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For Drew Johansen, the future is now. Indiana's diving coach has too much to do, too many plans for the Hoosiers, and even for Team USA and the Olympics, to stick with the status quo.
Besides, technology rocks.
Case in point – IU's state-of-the-art video replay system, courtesy of Sideline Sport, that has Johansen as pumped as a child at Christmas.
"To me," he says, "it's a game changer."
He has proof to back up that claim.
Flash back to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The video replay system helped IU put two divers on the U.S. Olympic squad -- Michael Hixon and Jessica Parratto -- and helped Team USA -- with Johansen as diving head coach -- win three of the 12 medals in the men's competition.
Hixon teamed with Sam Dorman to win a bronze medal in synchronized 3-meter springboard. David Boudia medaled in the 10-meter platform and partnered with Steele Johnson to medal in synchronized 10-meter platform.
Yes, China ruled with 10 medals in the men's competition and six for the women, but that misses the point, which is the U.S. took a big jump in performance. Johansen credits the system as a big reason why.
"It was a difference maker in Team USA winning the medals they did," he says.
To ensure it would, he brought it to Rio.
"The entire Olympic team used it. It made a difference in winning medals, and in the practice sessions."
This cutting-edge approach is nothing new to IU athletics. Athletic Director Fred Glass encourages Hoosier coaches to push the technological envelope to gain competitive advantages.
No coach embraces that more than Johansen, who won national and Big Ten diving coach-of-the-year honors last season, and who has guided Hixon and Parratto to NCAA titles.
"What it's done already has been ground breaking," he says about the video replay system. "We'll continue to develop and fine tune it thanks to the support IU gives to make it all work -- the equipment, the cameras, and all the install we did.
"Fred's vision of being a vanguard in the industry is certainly being met in the diving world."
Hixon and Parratto are glad it is. Hixon has talked about how the system lets athletes use their minds as well as their bodies. Parratto has called it a key to getting instant feedback.
First, a little history.
Johansen says diving coaches once used DVRs and a TV set to get dive replays to the pool deck. Images were often blurry and came from limited angles.
He wanted something better – and got it.
"I started reaching out to companies to find an alternative or create a system that could give us a better image, a high Hi-Def image."
There were sports examples to draw from. The NFL does a video replay system to stream plays to the sidelines. It was also being done by high school football programs in Oklahoma and Texas. A camera recorded a play in the press box, and it was instantly sent to a sideline device so coaches could see it.
That led Johansen to Sideline Scout, a leader in video replay technology.
"The owner (Steven Smallwood) told me, if you think something is too hard or impossible, whatever you want, I want to make it happen."
And so he did.
"We adapted the software to accommodate diving," Johansen says.
Five seconds after divers complete a dive, a video is sent to their university-supplied iPads. This is especially effective in practice.
"When they leave practice," Johansen says, "they just grab their iPad and their whole workout is right in their hands.
"I can text them to watch these three particular dives and tell me what you think. They'll come in prepared for the next workout. It's pretty amazing."
Amazing consists of providing all sorts of data on each dive. It's technical stuff that involves spreadsheets and numbers along with video so that, Johansen says, "As we come across great or poor diving, we can access that video and technology, and analyze why it's great or why it's poor."
Johansen says as many as five different camera angles can be used, but for practice IU settles on three – above water, under water and "maybe a head on or a profile."
"It's installed in our pool, but it's also completely portable, so it can go on the road. We take it as an advantage in competition."
In other words, the video system can be used in meets even if opponents don't have access to them.
"There are no rules against the collection of video in the NCAA for swimming and diving," Johansen says.
That's different than in college football, which doesn't allow living streaming to the sidelines.
As far as the next step, could computers replace human judges in evaluating dives during competitions?
Absolutely, Johansen says.
"I do believe we could have our sport judged by a computer. It could be judged by an algorithm. Nothing against judges, but everybody sees things differently. The more objective we can make it, the better."
For those who want to tap into their inner geek (as in computer nerd), this is grand-slam home run good.
"I know there are software applications that can give digitized feedback in real time," Johansen says. "That means it could tell me how fast my arms were swinging. When a diver does a dive, not only do we get the image, but we also get the forces, the accelerations, the trajectories, the angles from when they left the board.
"We can get into the more scientific analysis of the sport, and it can be done in real time. That's where we're headed."
Is there any concern this could become data overload and adversely affect performance?
"We have had periods of that," Johansen says. "We're building that into the software.
"There are times I don't want them to get the image. I want them to focus on my correction and our interactions. One of the upgrades is the coaches having control on whether or not the image is sent to them."
For instance, if the coach sees a flaw in a dive, he can coach a correction without the diver seeing the video.
"The value in the analysis of the video is for the coach," Johansen says. "What's learned is for the coach to tell the diver so he can, in his own way, figure out how to make that change. Once you're in a competition, the connection between the coach and the athlete is the focus."
IU continues to operate on the cutting edge. Johansen says the Hoosiers' current version is two steps ahead of what is on the market.
"We're feeding (Sideline Scout) the ideas and they're building the platform and we test them. It's been a great partnership."
That partnership continues to deliver IU success, and there is no reason why that success can't continue, Johansen says, for the Hoosiers and Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"A picture is worth a thousand words. With this system, if we can get an image to the coach and the athlete at the right time, that's a difference maker."
Besides, technology rocks.
Case in point – IU's state-of-the-art video replay system, courtesy of Sideline Sport, that has Johansen as pumped as a child at Christmas.
"To me," he says, "it's a game changer."
He has proof to back up that claim.
Flash back to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The video replay system helped IU put two divers on the U.S. Olympic squad -- Michael Hixon and Jessica Parratto -- and helped Team USA -- with Johansen as diving head coach -- win three of the 12 medals in the men's competition.
Hixon teamed with Sam Dorman to win a bronze medal in synchronized 3-meter springboard. David Boudia medaled in the 10-meter platform and partnered with Steele Johnson to medal in synchronized 10-meter platform.
Yes, China ruled with 10 medals in the men's competition and six for the women, but that misses the point, which is the U.S. took a big jump in performance. Johansen credits the system as a big reason why.
"It was a difference maker in Team USA winning the medals they did," he says.
To ensure it would, he brought it to Rio.
"The entire Olympic team used it. It made a difference in winning medals, and in the practice sessions."
This cutting-edge approach is nothing new to IU athletics. Athletic Director Fred Glass encourages Hoosier coaches to push the technological envelope to gain competitive advantages.
No coach embraces that more than Johansen, who won national and Big Ten diving coach-of-the-year honors last season, and who has guided Hixon and Parratto to NCAA titles.
"What it's done already has been ground breaking," he says about the video replay system. "We'll continue to develop and fine tune it thanks to the support IU gives to make it all work -- the equipment, the cameras, and all the install we did.
"Fred's vision of being a vanguard in the industry is certainly being met in the diving world."
Hixon and Parratto are glad it is. Hixon has talked about how the system lets athletes use their minds as well as their bodies. Parratto has called it a key to getting instant feedback.
First, a little history.
Johansen says diving coaches once used DVRs and a TV set to get dive replays to the pool deck. Images were often blurry and came from limited angles.
He wanted something better – and got it.
"I started reaching out to companies to find an alternative or create a system that could give us a better image, a high Hi-Def image."
There were sports examples to draw from. The NFL does a video replay system to stream plays to the sidelines. It was also being done by high school football programs in Oklahoma and Texas. A camera recorded a play in the press box, and it was instantly sent to a sideline device so coaches could see it.
That led Johansen to Sideline Scout, a leader in video replay technology.
"The owner (Steven Smallwood) told me, if you think something is too hard or impossible, whatever you want, I want to make it happen."
And so he did.
"We adapted the software to accommodate diving," Johansen says.
Five seconds after divers complete a dive, a video is sent to their university-supplied iPads. This is especially effective in practice.
"When they leave practice," Johansen says, "they just grab their iPad and their whole workout is right in their hands.
"I can text them to watch these three particular dives and tell me what you think. They'll come in prepared for the next workout. It's pretty amazing."
Amazing consists of providing all sorts of data on each dive. It's technical stuff that involves spreadsheets and numbers along with video so that, Johansen says, "As we come across great or poor diving, we can access that video and technology, and analyze why it's great or why it's poor."
Johansen says as many as five different camera angles can be used, but for practice IU settles on three – above water, under water and "maybe a head on or a profile."
"It's installed in our pool, but it's also completely portable, so it can go on the road. We take it as an advantage in competition."
In other words, the video system can be used in meets even if opponents don't have access to them.
"There are no rules against the collection of video in the NCAA for swimming and diving," Johansen says.
That's different than in college football, which doesn't allow living streaming to the sidelines.
As far as the next step, could computers replace human judges in evaluating dives during competitions?
Absolutely, Johansen says.
"I do believe we could have our sport judged by a computer. It could be judged by an algorithm. Nothing against judges, but everybody sees things differently. The more objective we can make it, the better."
For those who want to tap into their inner geek (as in computer nerd), this is grand-slam home run good.
"I know there are software applications that can give digitized feedback in real time," Johansen says. "That means it could tell me how fast my arms were swinging. When a diver does a dive, not only do we get the image, but we also get the forces, the accelerations, the trajectories, the angles from when they left the board.
"We can get into the more scientific analysis of the sport, and it can be done in real time. That's where we're headed."
Is there any concern this could become data overload and adversely affect performance?
"We have had periods of that," Johansen says. "We're building that into the software.
"There are times I don't want them to get the image. I want them to focus on my correction and our interactions. One of the upgrades is the coaches having control on whether or not the image is sent to them."
For instance, if the coach sees a flaw in a dive, he can coach a correction without the diver seeing the video.
"The value in the analysis of the video is for the coach," Johansen says. "What's learned is for the coach to tell the diver so he can, in his own way, figure out how to make that change. Once you're in a competition, the connection between the coach and the athlete is the focus."
IU continues to operate on the cutting edge. Johansen says the Hoosiers' current version is two steps ahead of what is on the market.
"We're feeding (Sideline Scout) the ideas and they're building the platform and we test them. It's been a great partnership."
That partnership continues to deliver IU success, and there is no reason why that success can't continue, Johansen says, for the Hoosiers and Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"A picture is worth a thousand words. With this system, if we can get an image to the coach and the athlete at the right time, that's a difference maker."
Players Mentioned
Diving
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Diving
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