Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly a viable option for training across sporting codes. Competitive leagues around the world are leveraging the technology to help athletes improve their technique and preparedness for game days. This is particularly true for contact sports like football which can be physically demanding, both in play and in practice. VR training can prove to be a game-changer for football — and to an extent, already has.
The NFL has been using VR in recent years to support several facets of the game, from coaching to athlete training, recruitment, and fan engagement. Here’s how athletes, particularly key players like quarterbacks, are using VR training to level up their game.
How VR Helps With Football Training
1. Highly Realistic Environments
One of the issues with recreating a training environment without actual players is the lack of situational impetus for athletes. There’s only so much that cone workouts and solo drills can do for you as a professional player.
VR solves this problem by providing users with highly realistic training environments that closely mimic real-life situations they’re likely to face in a game. This is especially true with a partner like King Crow Studios which offers the highest fidelity graphics possible. Virtual simulations have a lifelike quality to them and are fully interactive to provide players the sort of training experience they can expect facing down a real team of footballers.
2. Fine-Tune Skills
The key to becoming a standout athlete in any sport is repetition, repetition, and more repetition. This sort of thing can be hard to do given that football training can take a toll on players’ bodies. All sorts of factors come into play, such as inclement weather and availability of players to practice against or even coaches to monitor progress.
With VR football training, an athlete has the freedom to put in as many hours and reps as they want to fine-tune their skills and accelerate their training regimen. This helps ensure they’re fully prepared and are able to perform at their best come game time.
Teams like the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, and more are already using VR technology during practice to help players improve their on-field positioning and situational awareness under pressure.
3. Coaching
VR is as much a boon for coaches as it is for athletes. They can use VR during football training to test out new tactics and help players master the new plays without risk of injury. In particular, VR training is a great way for them to analyze a quarterback’s decision-making skills by examining how accurately they can read an offensive or defensive play and their responses to it.
In a monitored study involving student football athletes and a proprietary VR program, the trainees were exposed to football gameplays created by their coaches over a three-day training session. The result showed an average 30% overall improvement in assessment scores compared to a traditional training session.
4. Safe Practice Environment
One of the biggest advantages of football training using VR is that players get to practice in risk-free environments. Over 50% of all NFL injuries to players occur during practice sessions as opposed to games. And 2023 was the worst year in NFL history for quarterback injuries.
Clearly a less demanding solution is necessary to help players train and for teams to ensure their star performers are up for every game possible. VR technology can be that solution. Competitive VR simulations have been shown to provoke the same sort of neural responses in a trainee’s mind as they would experience during a game. This means they can hone their skills and improve core activities while avoiding unnecessary injuries.
5. Performance Insights
VR football and quarterback training programs, such as those provided by King Crow Studios, have a definitive advantage over conventional training regimens in that they offer detailed performance insights on a player’s performance.
You can analyze everything, from their response times to speed and throw accuracy, and quantify in real terms how much they’ve progressed or regressed. It’s a great way for coaches to systematically compare player performances and choose the best starter for game days. It also opens up remote training avenues for players, such as those undergoing rehab or in the off-season, while still providing coaches performance feedback.
See Transformative Training Outcomes With King Crow Studios
King Crow Studios is an SBIR Phase-III award-winning firm and a leader in the VR training space. Our programs have helped enterprises, organizations, and institutions nationwide slash training time by up to 95%, improve knowledge retention by up to 75%, while reducing errors and operational costs.
See fully customized VR football and quarterback training modules that can be set up with minimal development time. Schedule a demo or speak to an expert today.