Software That Can Measure Your Athleticism Just by Watching You Jump

What can you tell from a jump? Quite a bit, according to Sparta Performance Science, the Menlo Park, California, athletics-lab-meets-software-startup that developed the tech.
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Jack Hughes

What can you tell from a jump? Quite a bit, according to Sparta Performance Science, the Menlo Park, California, athletics-lab-meets-software-startup that developed the tech. The single best measure of raw performance, it turns out, is how much force an athlete can put into the ground—it determines everything from sprinting ability to the velocity of a pitcher's fastball.

So Sparta developed an analytics system based on making subjects jump on a force-detecting plate. Proprietary software records and analyzes the jump microsecond by microsecond. When crunched, this data shows where athletes are weak and where they're strong. “It's changed how I look at exercise, because we can now customize workouts for each individual,” says Andrea Hudy, assistant athletics director for sports performance at the University of Kansas, which licenses the software for use in basketball and other sports.

In addition to the Jayhawks and Cavaliers, baseball's Colorado Rockies, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, and the University of Notre Dame all use the system. “We're now used in every major American sport,” says Sparta founder Phil Wagner. And things are, presumably, only looking up.

1 second:
The start of the jump.

1.2 seconds:
On the downward motion of the jump, the amount of pressure initially drops because the athlete is in free fall.

1.6 seconds:
The athlete is starting to put power into the ground. How much depends on the ankle, knee, and quadriceps. This is the loading phase. Bad loading = a need to strengthen the lower joints.

1.8 seconds:
The athlete has reached the bottom of the jump and is changing direction, starting to move upward. Whether he maintains or loses power here depends on his core. Those who show little or no dip are capable of quick changes of direction, which is why this is called the explode phase. This particular athlete loses a fair amount of force, which may put him at risk for a back injury. Prescription: core exercises.

1.8 to 2 seconds:
In the drive phase, the athlete builds a significant amount of force as he pushes upward with the glutes and hamstrings. This suggests he'll be a fast straight-line runner, something you want in a wide receiver, 100-meter sprinter, or (as is the case here) center fielder.

2.1 seconds:
Athlete leaves the ground.