Computer Coaching : A Multimedia Training System Developed by Graphix Zone Helps Wrestlers Come to Grips
On one part of the computer screen is a video image depicting a beefy wrestler lunging for the legs of a competitor as a crowd cheers in the background. Another part shows two computer-animated figures, rendered in three dimensions. The robot-like figures mimic wrestlers’ motions and illustrate the perfect takedown.
Is this the future of sports training? The folks at Graphix Zone, an Irvine computer graphics company, would like to think so.
A team of computer experts and wrestling coaches developed the multi-image wrestling training system over three months. The system allows a wrestler or coach to visually study particular moves and stances of a particular competitor.
The system uses so-called multimedia computing technology--the combined use of video, compact-disc sound, computer animation and graphics.
“This is the tip of the iceberg for multimedia,” said Charles Cortright, president of Graphix Zone. “While the rest of the world is waiting for multimedia technology to spread, we are showing there are applications you can do today.”
The Graphix Zone designers used existing multimedia technology: an Apple Macintosh computer, a laser-disc system, electronic gear that converts video and sound into computer data, a TV monitor, and a multimedia programming kit called MacroMind Director.
Glenn Freeman, a Graphix Zone programmer, sat down with wrestling coaches and decided which basic moves to animate. He converted the wrestling videotapes into a laser-disc format, and used the computer tools to splice the tape together. The most difficult part was creating the three-dimensional animated figures with the help of some special computer software.
The system is interactive. With a click of a computer mouse, the screen changes the viewing angle so a person can see where the animated wrestler places his hands on the competitor’s leg. The computer models can show well-executed takedowns, escapes, stances and counter-moves.
The images can also be viewed in slow motion, and a particular frame of video footage can be magnified. A couple more clicks of the mouse, and the competitor’s weight, competitive record and other statistics flash on the screen.
John Azevedo, a former Olympic wrestler and wrestling coach for Calvary Chapel High School in Santa Ana, hasn’t seen the program but says computers could help student wrestlers visualize certain techniques.
“Wrestling is very technical, and the hardest part is knowing all the options and countermoves to a particular move,” he said. “You can’t replace old-fashioned hard work with a computer, but I think there is a place for it just like there is a place for training using videotapes.”
The Graphix Zone project was commissioned by a customer who is affiliated with amateur wrestling. The Irvine firm hopes to interest the U.S. Olympic wrestling team, university coaches and pro wrestlers in purchasing the system, which it plans to put on the market in several months. The idea could also be adapted to other sports, such as golf, football and tennis, Cortright said.
“Training and education is where multimedia will have the biggest impact,” said Nick Arnett, president of Multimedia Computing Corp., a research firm in Santa Clara. “It would be especially good with wrestling, which is difficult to describe in words. It’s a much more powerful way to communicate.”
Arnett said price is the biggest drawback to more widespread use of multimedia technology. The Graphix Zone system would have to be customized for each user, and the equipment alone would cost from $5,000 to $15,000.
That price, said Azevedo, puts the system out of reach of most high school wrestling teams. He said his typical budget for a year, including uniforms and travel, is around $5,000.
Cortright said an advantage of the system is its “point-and-click” simplicity, which he says makes it far more effective than traditional videotape training programs. Videotape can be inconvenient because a person must often screen hours of tape to locate the desired sequence.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Paul Serio, wrestling coach at Corona del Mar High School, who served as a consultant on the Graphix Zone system. “Wrestling is often hard to describe without showing how it should be done, much more so than other sports.”
He said the basic animation sequences would be useful for teaching high school students, and the competitor statistics would be useful for college programs. But Serio noted that the system could be well out of his price range unless he could adapt it to existing school computers.
“This project is going to blow some minds at the Olympics,” said Bruce Cummings, vice president of software maker MacroMind Inc. in San Francisco. “It is the state of the art in multimedia applications.”
Angela Aber, vice president of marketing for Graphix Zone, said the production of multimedia systems could occupy a major part of the business for Graphix Zone, a private firm with 14 employees.
The company was founded in 1989 in Garden Grove moved to a larger space in Irvine last November to be nearer its corporate clients.
The new emphasis on multimedia technology marks a switch for Graphix Zone, which develops custom computer systems for corporations and provides computer-related services like laser printing. Aber said she expects a lot of competition.
“Software developers all over the country are getting into multimedia,” Aber said.
