Measurement and Tech in High Performance Ice Hockey with Ryan Smyth

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Technology & tests a sports technologist recommends for measuring high performance hockey on and off the ice.
• The most important pieces to have, for budgets high to low.
• What problems technology works to solve and the challenges they face.

Resources + Links:

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Check out Anthony's Books

Physical Preparations for Ice Hockey: Biological Principles and Practical Solutions

The Gain, Go, and Grow Manual: Programming for High Performance Hockey Players

Show Notes:

What sports technology do you need to know about? Today, we want to introduce Ryan Smyth, sports scientist & technologist as well as the CEO of Park Sports Facility, one of Canada's first athlete testing & sports science companies! Ryan is a treasure trove of sports technological knowledge and know-how. While he's here, we'll discuss technology in length to figure out what problems it works to solve, which pieces are most important, how to track data sets for high performance athletes, and more. We'll also talk about what technology you should invest in for both high and low budgets, so you can get better measurements for your athletes. What tests can you run to mimic gameplay? Which are best to run on and off the ice? What are tech pieces an expert considers to be overvalued? Step into the future of technology with us as we find out the best way to measure high performance hockey!

00:00 Meet Ryan Smyth, sports scientist, sports technologist at Kinduct, and CEO of Park Sports Facility!

01:55 What is the Park Sports Facility, and what work do you do with Kinduct as a sports technologist?

05:45 What are the problems technology faces in high performance hockey?

07:30 What are the best teams?

10:55 How do you critically evaluate your testing battery?

12:55 Assessing reliability in technology.

16:05 What tests do you recommend for high performance hockey?

18:30 How do you communicate with athletes and coaches?

20:50 How do you communicate with coaches?

23:20 From your experience, what are the most useful on ice tests?

28:40 Have you tested with pucks? If so, what are the differences in performance?

31:40 What brands do you recommend for timing gates?

33:30 What are your thoughts and experiences with video analysis?

36:25 How do you use the My Sprint app?

38:30 Tech product line on a budget.

43:05 What are three pieces of tech you couldn't live without?

45:50 What pieces of tech do you think are overvalued?

47:20 How did you use GPS information?

52:15 Can we find the perfect answer?

54:15 What would be important to measure off the ice if you were in charge of the NHL Combine? What about on ice?