TAMPA, Fla. — Yannick Yoshizawa is a former #1 singles player for the USF men's tennis program. Now, as vice president of tennis for Sense Arena, he's introducing his alma mater to new method of training: virtual reality.
It's state-of-the-art technology that means players don't need a full court to get a full training session.
"All the way from reaction, to decision-making, and anticipation," Yoshizawa (USF, '12) explained. "That’s what we really focus on and allow athletes to get those extra reps for them to be able to be ready for their moment on court."
Men's head coach Ashley Fisher admitted he was very curious when he heard about the new virtual system, but he said we live in a digital society, and it wasn't a hard sell to college kids who grew up with this technology.
"Just the fact that it’s a game. We love the sport. We train hard. But asking guys to do an extra 30 minutes here and there, that’s hard," Fisher said. "But if you can make that something new, engaging, it’s a game. It’s going to be way more appealing."
The news VR program lets players train in a variety of ways. Users can customize everything from which type of shots they want to work on to wind speed, court surface, crowd noise, and much more.
Bulls tennis player Bruno Oliveira tried the headset/racket combo and said his mind couldn't tell the difference between the training program and being on an actual tennis court.
"You actually feel the goosebumps. You feel like you’re in the arena," the junior said." Your brain feels like it’s been there multiple times before. So when you step there, there’s no surprise."
The device also offers cognitive, mental exercises. Most athletes said that side of the game is just as important, if not more than, physical training.
"Already this season, we’ve faced a lot of adversity. We’ve had some tough matches where, maybe, if we’d been more prepared in certain areas, we would’ve done a better job," said junior Erik Grevelius. "You know, you can always get better at everything. I think the mental aspect is something we definitely want to work more on. This will definitely help for that."
Yoshizawa said Sense Arena planned to roll out new advancements in the next few months. One of which is for players to have virtual matches regardless of where they're standing. He said they'll continue to work with neuroscience professors, psychologists, coaches, and professional players to keep boosting the performance of the product.
"It’s a constant improvement. When we launched November 2nd, we knew that we could already help athletes, but it’s not a final stop," Yannick added. "Every couple months, we release new features in a platform that we know is going to continue to help improve athletes’ performance."
Players using the device won't need a full-sized tennis court, but they will need some space if and when they plan to use it at home. It appears there are already friendly wagers on who is going to be the first to cause some property damage.
"We just saw Bruno [Oliveira] kinda break the equipment! So I think Bruno, for sure," Grevelius joked.
Oliveira isn't so sure.
"The Swedish Viking, over here, is for sure going to break all of our glasses!" he joked, referring to Grevelius. "He’s throwing me under the bus!"
