Category Archives: Tech of Sports

From the shoes we wear on our feet to the high definition televisions in our living room, wearable devices, the sports universe is a breeding ground for technology. Writer and Photographer Rick Limpert will examine this each week on The Tech of Sports – With guests which include athletes, inventors and journalists that cover the intersection of sports and technology.

Gabby Thomas, Olympian, Lenovo’s ‘Just Watch Us’ Campaign

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Rick is joined by Gabby Thomas this week. Thomas won both a silver and bronze in Tokyo and is the third fastest woman all-time in the 200 meters.

A graduate of Harvard University, she studied neurobiology and global health as an undergraduate. While at Harvard, Thomas won 22 conference titles across her three years of athletics in six different events, setting the school and Ivy League records in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and the indoor 60 meters. She is now doing postgraduate work at the University of Texas.

Gabby is partnering with Lenovo for a new campaign.

Lenovo’s “Just Watch Us” Campaign for ThinkPad Z.

Just Watch Us will position the new ThinkPad Z as the technology that has arrived at the most opportune time in history to help create change: a tool that will not only allow Gen Z +Y to excel in the new world of work, but to power their ideas that will imagine, create and define the future. This campaign will activate a call for the trailblazers to rethink and reimagine what’s next; they will be the face, the voice, and inspiration of the campaign.

Gabby is a Lenovo user and her passion for health and technology, including how she is using smarter technology to drive health equity outcomes and reform the healthcare industry to better serve historically disadvantaged communities.

Have a listen and best of luck to Gabby.

Paul Shirley, Author, ‘The Process is the Product’ and Basketball Opinions

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Rick is joined by Paul Shirley this week as he has a new book!

The Process is the Product.

Here’s the lesson Paul Shirley has learned: it doesn’t matter if it’s professional sports, writing, public speaking, engineering, or acting—there will never be enough money, fame, or success to justify all the work if you can’t enjoy the work itself. You have to fall in love with the process.

In The Process Is The Product, Paul shares the stories of failure and rebirth that have taught him this lesson with one goal in mind: helping you fall in love with your process so you can find meaning, finish projects, and accomplish the goals you set for yourself.

Featuring plenty of humor, humility, and outside sources, this is a book designed to equip readers with the tools to break big projects into smaller tasks while learning to love the work along the way.

Shirley talks his current book, his past book and some of the surprising early season success of the 2021-22 Iowa State Men’s Basketball Team. They are enjoying the “process.”

Shirley played for 17 professional basketball teams in a nine-year career, including stops in Spain, Greece, Russia, and with three teams in the NBA. He’s the author of two works of nonfiction: Can I Keep My Jersey? and Stories I Tell On Dates.

Holly Sonders, Golf Personality, Model, Social Media

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Rick is joined this week on “Tech of Sports” by former Golf Channel and FOX Sports broadcaster, Holly Sonders. Her story is an incredible one, rising to fame through golf broadcasting and becoming one of the first “womenpreneurs” in the Sports and modeling world through social media.

Holly is candid and insightful as the former college golfer talks about NIL deals, how she is using social media as a female entrepreneur creating a multi-million dollar business online. Her new love interest with Celebrity Boxer Oscar de la Hoya and how she helped him when he had COVID and was hospitalized a few months ago.

She’s in the tech space as her new NFT just dropped is already priced at over $10k, which includes exclusive access to the NFT community and never before released photos.

That and some great Golf Channel stories. It’s great to catch up with Holly.

 

 

Dave Heeren, NBA Statistician, New Book ‘Seventy-Five: Best NBA Players and Teams Rated by Statistician who has Seen Games Since 1947’

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Great to be joined by the legendary Dave Heeren this week. Dave has seen NBA games since 1947 and has a new book out taking statistics and the TENDEX Method into account to rank the top-75 NBA players of all-time.

The book is Seventy-Five.

Dave is an award-winning journalist and author of 18 books. He invented his pioneer statistics system (later known as TENDEX) during his sophomore year at the University of Delaware. He has served as a statistician for the NY Knicks, a sports editor, news editor and editor-in-chief. His other books include five Basketball Abstract books, Basic Ball and The Sporting Stings. His TENDEX system has been used officially on every continent that had major professional basketball leagues between 1988 and 2013, and has been used to rate players by the Australian pro league and every European league.

Throughout the 2021-2022 season, the NBA will commemorate its 75th anniversary, and the latest book, Seventy-Five, from prolific sports reporter and pioneer NBA statistician Dave Heeren is a slam dunk for every basketball fan’s wish list.

Heeren is known worldwide for his TENDEX rating system — the gold standard for ranking players, projecting drafts and rating the best teams in the NBA. He has also witnessed all 75 years of the NBA through his work as a team statistician for the New York Knicks, writing books, doing columns for The Sporting News and just his love of the game since he was a child.

Seventy-Five provides an in-depth, entertaining journey through 75 years of the NBA, with information of interest to basketball fans everywhere, including:

– A look-back at all 75 years with TENDEX (statistical) input, including insights dating to the Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain prime years;

– How, during a 30-year period, TENDEX rated two-thirds of the elite NBA draft choices more accurately than the NBA’s multi-million dollar scouting system;

– Dozens of fascinating facts and humor-infused anecdotes;

– The four legendary players in a near tie for greatest of all time according to TENDEX;

– The greatest NBA teams of all-time, greatest shooters, rebounders, playmakers, defensive players, most durable players and most athletic players according to TENDEX formulae;

– A chart rating in order the top 75 players of all time;

– … and more!

I personally enjoyed this chat with Dave, I hope you will too.

 

Jack Oswald, Founder of Cancha Bags

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Rick is joined by Jack Oswald of Cancha Bags this week.

After nearly a decade of traveling the world on the men’s pro tennis circuit, Oswald grew tired of experiencing the downfalls of traditional tennis bags: broken zips, loose stitching, uncomfortable straps and a ‘one-size fits all’ mentality that let him and others down time and time again.

With a creative idea and entrepreneurial spirit, Oswald set out to create a uniquely adaptable, highly durable and customizable tennis and sports bag that could be used not only for avid and competitive tennis players but also for the outdoor adventurer.

The result of Jack’s labor of love, inspired by deep frustration? The Cancha Racquet Bag holds up to four racquets and was designed using a unique modular attachment system. Cancha, appropriately, means ‘court’ in Spanish but Jack adds, “Cancha also translates into activity and is an action word used to describe a go-getter. That’s the type of adjective that fits perfectly with the Cancha brand.”

“I wondered why no brands out there came up with a durable racquet bag that would see you through at least a whole season,” said Jack, 26, a resident of Great Britain. “I imagined a bag which, through its uniquely adaptable and customizable design, would be totally personal to each user and act as the perfect tool to help them achieve their goals.”

The design of the Cancha bag is unique for another reason; there are no large logos placed on the bag. “People can tell our bags from a mile away,” said Jack. “The design speaks for itself and we keep the logos to a minimum.”

Features of the Cancha bag include:

§ Durable and flexible material giving maximum protection from the elements;

§ Accessory pockets for those little but important items;

§ Removable shoulder straps;

§ Lightweight, making it easy for juniors and adults alike;

§ Modular system for maximum adaptability;

§ Wet-dry bag accessory for soiled shirts and shorts;

Born in Virginia, Jack spent 14 years in the United States and competed in national and international tournaments as a junior before his family moved to Europe. Fluent in three languages (French, Spanish and English), he holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Stirling (2021) and has also spent time as a hitting partner to ATP pros like Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene.

“I am very interested in the lives of those grinding it out on the lower levels of the pro circuit,” Jack says. “My days traveling to the $10,000 Futures-level tournaments helped me learn what a player really needs from a great tennis bag.”

To shop all Cancha products, go to: https://canchabags.com/collections/all. For more information, visit: https://canchabags.com.

 

Sara Colletti, from the LIFTSWEAT Method

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Happy holidays and that means eating and maybe missing some of your regular workouts.

Sara Colletti, from the LIFTSWEAT Method is on ‘Tech of Sports’ this week to help.

Hear Sara on quick fitness hacks and coming up with creative ways to add more movement into your day, no matter how much time you have including:
Exercises to practice in between Zoom meetings

How to avoid overeating when working from home

Tricks on how to sneak movement into your workday

The LIFTSWEAT Method hosts a free Breath & Abs community class on Tuesdays at 12:30pm. A quick 30 minutes to regroup and de-stress during a busy work week.

Sara Colletti from the LIFTSWEAT Method shares her knowledge of pre/postnatal fitness. “This is the most exciting time in a new mama’s life! From safely enduring labor to new mommy activities, I am here to help train proper body mechanics for all of your new movement patterns. From placing a baby in a crib with a perfect hinge, to making bath time less stressful on your body. Also great for dads and grandparents!!”. She can expand on:
Importance of pelvic floor recruitment when training for your pregnancy.

How to activate your core in your 2nd and 3rd trimester
How to practice interval training specific to birth prep
How to modify during your group fitness class for different stages of pregnancy

Links:

www.sweatinthehamptons.com

www.hamptonswellnessonwheels.com

Instagram @lift.sweat

Sara Colletti has been helping clients change their mindset, love their bodies and practice progressive movement since 2013. In 2012 Sara started her fitness career at Focus Integrative Fitness where she studied Kinesiology, Biomechanics, Bioenergetics, as well as the tools to become a successful Personal Trainer. This amazing experience introduced her to her first position as a fitness professional at Equinox in Roslyn, NY. After a short year of moving up the tier system, Sara was needed to help her grandfather on the East End of Long Island. This was the hardest yet most rewarding decision she had ever made. By 2016 she created her first company, Hamptons Wellness on Wheels, an in-home Personal Training company that is thriving to this day. Her next venture was creating the LIFTSWEAT Method with co-owner Ross Youmans, an online platform where they share their method on movement and progressive exercise. Sara specializes in pre/postnatal training, group fitness and functional movement.