Newsletter: March 2006
Welcome | Technical Support | Coaches Corner | Case Study | Product Updates
Welcome to the first Newsletter for the New Year. I take this opportunity to wish everyone a successful 2006.
To all our customers coming to Melbourne, Australia for the Commonwealth Games good luck in your competitions. We are proud to say that we have 12 nations competing in 10 different sports, using Sportstec products.
As always we truly value your feedback and input so please let us know if you have any ideas or topics you would like to see covered in this forum.
Regards,
Philip Jackson, Managing Director
In this months issue:
Technical Support
Since Apple released the new Intel Processor, we have been flooded with questions regarding this migration from the PowerPC chip to the Intel chip and how this impacts on Sportstec products. In this issue we hope to answer some of those questions.To read more click here.
Coach’s corner
In the following months we intend to share with you some great applications that can now be enjoyed thanks to the SportsCode 6 upgrade. This will be the first of the series looking at the new ‘Drawing Movie’ feature. Click here to read and learn more.
Case Study
Learn from one of Sydney’s leading strength and conditioning coach about how he thinks outside the square and utilises technology in order to get the best out of his athletes. To read more click here.
Product Updates
To find out what the current available versions of all Sportstec products are click here.
Technical Support
Using iDVD
SportsCode with an Intel inside
Since the last newsletter, the hot topic has been the introduction of the new Apple line up of computers with the Intel processor inside. Sportstec has been flooded with questions regarding this migration from the PowerPC chip to the Intel chip. We hope this will answer some of those questions.
What is Sportstec doing to make this transition?
When Apple announced their intentions to move away from the IBM chip to the Intel chip in June 2005, Sportstec immediately began to plan the transition from the PowerPC machines to the Intel ones. It was difficult to say at first, how things would shake out, but we now have a clear picture.
Work on converting the code cranked up in early October when we received our development intel computer. We expected Apple to begin shipping their new products in early June 2006. However in January of this year, Apple announced they were ready to ship ahead of schedule. As a result our developers went into overdrive through the month of January to get an Intel version of SportsCode ready for testing and release. In the first week of February when the Intel iMac started shipping Sportstec’s testers began the lengthy beta testing process.
The code written and compiled for SportsCode underwent a complete transformation, changing the code in literally tens of thousands of places. After 3 weeks of testing, Sportstec is proud to say that we have a stable “Universal Binary” beta version up and running.
Will SportsCode run on both Apple’s Intel chip and PowerPC chip?
Yes, Sportstec has taken the “Universal Binary” approach, we will deliver a single application that contains within it both Intel and PowerPC versions of our software. You won’t have Intel versions and PowerPC versions floating around, making it easy to click on the wrong one (and making it impossible to drag-and-drop software from an Intel Mac to a PowerPC one). You’ll install it, double-click on the program, and your computer will use the right code for its processor.
Is my PowerPC Mac obsolete?
No, your Mac is not obsolete. However, like any technology when you take it out of the store it is very quickly replaced by the next new thing.
It is also worth noting that as computers age, they become a bit slower and a bit fussier. As technology advances, computers get faster and as a result software developers like Sportstec take advantage of the computers new capabilities to enhance the features of the software. As a result older less powerful Macs will have a harder time running the latest versions of software.
Sportstec will do its best to make sure your hardware investment will last. We recommend cycling computers out every 3-4 years to insure that your systems will run smoothly and can take advantage of the cutting edge technology.
Do I purchase a new intel Mac now?
This depends on what your needs are and what your current Macs are. Keep in mind many applications that you currently use may not be available on the new platform. Also, according to Apple the PowerPC won’t be completely eradicated from the company’s product line until late 2007. If you bought a new Mac today, you can be pretty confident that it would serve you well for several years and probably won’t become obsolete any faster than it would normally.
However, the first Intel-based Macs will have some quirks, we have noticed this already. Apple will be constantly updating the operating system to fix these problems until it is “bug free”
What is Rosetta?
Rosetta is a new technology that will run PowerPC compiled Mac programs on the new intel machines. Rosetta works by translating the code into an Intel processor compatible format. This method will help ease the transition to the new Intel platform. What does this really mean? It means that programs will run slower while using this technology.
Will SportsCode 6.X.X ‘non intel’ version run in Rosetta? Technically speaking, yes, but the performance of the software is greatly reduced. As you all know working with video requires a lot of CPU and hard drive power. The added translation reduces the computers performance that much more. If you use programs such as Word or Excel, Rosetta will work fine until universal versions are released for these common software solutions.
Why did Apple make this move?
Apple chose this development because they could not get the G5 chip to run in the Powerbooks. TheG5 chip developed by IBM required too much cooling for it to fit in the Powerbook form.
Will my new SportsCode system suffer from viruses like Windows does?
Essentially no. The viruses and spyware you experience on Windows are just that, they are attacks on the Windows operating system, which happen to run on Intel processors. If a Mac were to be infested by viruses and spyware, those infestations would happen regardless of what processor was running that particular Mac. This is not to say that a Mac couldn’t get viruses and spyware. The Mac is free from viruses and spyware because it’s more secure than Windows and because it’s a much less common system than Windows.
Will any PC be able to run Mac OS X for Intel?
Apple says no. We bet that some enterprising hacker may get this to work, but it would be a tortuous process and more than likely be very unstable. You certainly won’t be able to go out and buy OS X, stick the install DVD in a Dell PC, and have it just work. Apple intends Mac OS X to only run on Apple hardware.
Will SportsCode run on any Intel-based Windows system?
No, SportsCode has not been designed to run on a Windows platform. We believe the Mac OS is the best operating system for working with video. It has proven to be a very stable environment to work in. We have no plans to offer a Windows version.
Will my Intel-based Mac be able to run Windows?
It seems likely, although Apple won’t support it. Someone will probably figure a way to install Windows on a Mac system so that you can choose to boot into either OS X or Windows. In addition, consider a future version of Virtual PC that lets you run PC applications at full speed, on a window within your Mac or on a second monitor. There are some intriguing possibilities here for Mac users who must use Windows applications some of the time.
Coaches Corner
ICreating an Electronic Playbook of Training Drill
Products: SportsCode Elite and SportsCode Elite Review
Description: In the following months we intend to share with you some great applications that can now be enjoyed thanks to the SportsCode 6 upgrade. This will be the first of the series looking at the new ‘Drawing Movie’ feature.
This is a great tool where you can easily create a graphical animation of your teams set plays or training drills. The Drawing Movie tool saves your animation as a QuickTime movie allowing you to easily database and distribute these movies through DVD’s.
Step by Step Guide
Note: In this example I will create a new training drill.
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Go to File in the main toolbar and then select New Drawing
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Select a background colour
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Use your drawing toolbar to mark out a field and create the starting point of your drill. As I have shown below.
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Use text to help identify objects or players
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If you have several drills or plays from this same starting position we suggest saving your drawing now as a template. To do this Go to File, then select Save As.
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This is the drill I am going to use:
- Now click on the Organizer button on the Drawing Window tool bar. This will paste this drawing onto a movie organiser. You should now see this window:
- The next step is to move the player marker through to the first obstacle. I have removed the text guides and put instructions at the top of my drawing window. Using the arrow I show the direction I want the player to move in.
- Click the Organiser icon again. You will now see two drawings in your Movie organiser.
- Move your marker through the drill, and click on the Organiser icon at each stage of the drill.
- I have moved my marker through to the finish line and my Movie Organizer now looks like this.
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Now we can save this Movie Organiser as ‘drill 1’ (Go to File – Save As). Once saved we can then go back to our original blank template and go through and create our second drill.
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To watch the animation as a movie you will need to attach a movie into your MO to give you the dimensions for the movie to play in. (for instance the clip associated with that particular play from the game, or film of that drill).
Case Study
SportsCode: Stepping out side of the box! - Hayden Knowles
 Innovative Sydney strength and conditioning coach Hayden Knowles has become expert at thinking outside the square and refining the components of technology in order to get the best out his athletes.
Knowles’ primary responsibility is to get his charges physically prepared for a range of sporting feats but it is the way he goes about it that sets him apart and makes him an invaluable link to the coach proper.
His work as the strength and conditioning coach with the Parramatta Eels National Rugby League (NRL) team, where he has been since 1999, involves extensive use of the SportsCode technology system. But Knowles has stepped away from using it purely as an analysis tool to a more technical one, where he now widely uses SportsCode for areas such as skill acquisition and speed drills.
"I use it for monitoring my players at moving at training,’’ he said. "If I want to analyse their training movements that’s what I use it for. My job is to make sure the players are physically ready so I may film some guys running and maybe do some sprint technique analysis or agility technique or that type of thing and relate it to their game.
"Sometimes we get a piece of game footage and analyse that and then work out how we can improve it just in practice.’’
Knowles’ ability with sports science has also been courted by boxing where he is now heavily involved with super middleweight Danny Green, where the use of SportsCode has helped provide the answers to many longstanding problems. Dissecting the action from a variety of suitably selected sparring partners, the program identifies and queues up any move Green and his coach want to examine.
"With Danny Green we basically analyse his sparring sessions like you would analyse an actual fight so we’re probably taking the game analysis one step further in analysing training,’’ Knowles said.
"For example, the boxer employs sparring partners that fight very similar to his upcoming opponent. We can then create edits out of his opponent and have all his opponent’s movements coded and then we’ll work out how he’s going to fight against that. We then code the training, put it all together and see how he’s looking."
"I’m not the boxing coach, I just believe in the SportsCode system as a coaching tool. It’s a tool of the coach’s trade if you like and I have just provided that to the coach. I don’t profess to have the eye to how he should fight Anthony Mundine when he fights him in two months time. All I do is provide him with the tool, I film the training, I help him analyse it, that’s all it is – a tool of the trade.’’
The reaction to computer science by the boxer and his Cuban coach Ismael Salas has been unanimous – they love it.
"This upcoming fight (against Mundine) is going to be the biggest fight in the history of Australian boxing and they’re using it (SportsCode) to prepare,’’ Knowles said. "They will watch every single punch his opponent’s ever thrown, they’ll watch his movements and while it doesn’t guarantee the winning on the night it does make sure that they’re thoroughly prepared.’’
Having tinkered with other systems, Knowles is fulsome in his praise of SportsCode and what it offers.
"SportsCode’s years ahead,’’ he said. "There’s lots of different packages out there but SportsCode have it all in one.’’
Knowles is even more excited about the parent company SportsTec’s latest innovation, Cronus -- an athlete management system.
"Every club has their ways of managing teams and keeping track of things but what I have seen of Cronus it’s the complete package – it has the medical side, the training side, the coaching side, even the contractual side. It could be used across the whole club with everyone from the general manager down having a use for it,’’ he said.
Product Updates
To download the latest versions of Sportstec software go to http://www.sportstecsupport.com
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