This past weekend we went to the 2014 Deer Valley Freestyle World Cup to see some of our customers live at the aerials event. The action at Deer Valley was impressive with athletes from around the World competing for the podium at this event as well as vying for spots on their respective country’s Olympic teams.
The picture below provides some perspective on how big the aerials jumps really are. These jumps are 3.5 meters (+11 feet) high. Athletes hit the jumps at speeds of up to 65 kmh and go over 15 meters (50 feet) in the air.
Two of the national teams at Deer Valley are Insight Replay customers, making it an exciting event for us. Both teams have come to rely on their Reveal packs for training and during competitions. During training, Reveal provides immediate video feedback to athletes and coaches. Immediate video feedback gives athletes and coaches the information they need as quickly as possible while improving communication between athletes and coaches. Video can also be a critical communication tool if there are significant language barriers between members of a team (i.e. – the coach and athletes speak different languages).
On competition days the emphasis is on strategy and execution. Teams use Reveal to review jumps and help guide strategy from one round of the competition to the next. It was fascinating to see first hand how different coaches use Reveal to suit the specific styles and needs of their teams.
The above picture is of the live video at the venue showing a US aerials athlete reviewing his jump on an iPad as soon as he took off his skis in the finish corral. The picture below is taken on the knoll, where one of the US coaches reviews video with an athlete between jumps.
One of the most satisfying comments from our customers in Deer Valley was to hear how Reveal saves a significant amount of time for coaches and athletes each day. Reveal integrates video review into routine training flow so at the end of each day athletes have already watched their videos and reviewed them with a coach.
