Artificial intelligence has become an integral part of sports at all levels. It is used daily as a way to improve athletic performance.
In professional sports, AI is used to predict injuries. According to an article by World Scouting Center Sport, AI uses data to spot patterns that put an athlete at risk. That data is then used by coaches to proactively change the player’s workload, training or rest when needed to keep her healthy and to avoid the likelihood of injury.
The National Football League uses Amazon Web Services’ “digital athlete program” to simulate football scenarios and create a virtual model that understands injury mechanisms and predicts the athlete’s risk.
This is done by using machine learning and computer vision to process the data from high speed stadium cameras and combine them with injury data over many years.
After the NFL started using AI technology in 2024 there was a recorded 17% decrease in concussions from the year before.
This technology has changed the way that coaches, players and medical staff view a players’ workload. According to World Scouting Center Sports, “When players are able to stay healthy they can have longer careers and teams have major financial savings.”
Beyond players’ health, AI is also used to help remove human error caused by in-game officials. AI can be used in sport to help correct officials when making calls in the game. The ultimate goal is to avoid errors that could ultimately cost teams games.
According to Fox News, in Major League Baseball, the Automated Ball Strike Challenge System uses advanced cameras to track every pitch. The purpose of this technology is to remove the need of umpires guessing when calling pitches.
The system is mixed, where umpires call the pitches; however, when a player feels like the call is wrong he is able to challenge the call. “The umpires still run the game, but technology keeps them honest,” stated Fox News journalist Kurk Knutsson.
“As pitches are tracked by cameras around the field, that data is transmitted quickly and reliably to the ABS system operator in the press box, who can then deliver the results back to the field within seconds,” Knutsson said. Each team gets two challenges and if it’s wrong the team loses a challenge.
While some like this use of AI and some don’t, it’s a part of the game that isn’t going away. “It simply gives players a voice when something looks wrong. And in a sport built on inches, that voice could change everything,” Knutsson adds.
AI use is used at the high school level as well. Xavier uses a live streaming platform called Hudl. This type of AI takes game footage and turns it into player stats and post-game reports.
Xavier’s Basketball program uses technology to help provide players and coaches statistics of all the points made during the game and what time the player made the shot. It also calculates the teams’ shooting percentages and rebound percentages. This allows players and coaches to evaluate their performances and the areas that need improvement.
In volleyball, AI tracks the ball and keeps track of how each point is earned. The team is able to see who earned the point and when it happened in the game. It is a perfect way for players and coaches to keep track of individual players as well as the team’s overall performance.
The flag football team uses Hudl to generate reports from the game. AI then uses the reports to get player statistics and the plays that each team ran in the game. This helps coaches better understand where their teams excel and where improvements are needed.
AI is present in high school sports, but it is also continuing to be explored for the future. According to athletic director Tui Selvaratnam, “The AIA athletic directors are experimenting with AI as a way to do scheduling.”This technology can turn hours of time making schedules into a task that can be done in minutes.
AI is becoming the new norm in sports and will continue to change the way coaches, athletes and fans experience athletics. While technology can never replace the athlete, it provides important information and insight right at the fingertips.
