On September 17, 2020, a day on the theme of sport will take place in the Laval Virtual World. How is virtual reality implemented in sports training? How do athletes take advantage of immersive technologies to increase their performance? A programme of conferences and an exhibition area will shed light on the uses of VR/AV in sport.
Sport and virtual reality: what possibilities?
Since the start of the health crisis, many sectors of activity have been affected. Sport in particular has suffered the consequences of this unprecedented context. Many events have been cancelled, including major events such as the Olympic Games and the European Football Cup, originally scheduled for the summer of 2020. Frustration was very present among athletes, but also among spectators.
Nevertheless, this difficult period has enabled us to think about new perspectives to imagine innovative solutions. Virtual and augmented reality, as well as artificial intelligence and Big Data, are proving to be interesting for creating a new practice of sport. All these technologies erase the notion of distance and allow athletes to train differently (mental preparation, performance calculation, etc.). On the other hand, it is an opportunity for spectators to continue to enjoy the excitement by offering them virtual events or brand new sports.
Sport Unlimitech, a partner of choice
The Laval Virtual Days Sport on September 17 are organised with the support of Sport Unlimitech. Sport Unlimitech is “the 1st festival dedicated to Sports Tech in Europe“. Each year, the event brings together 7,000 experts in the field of sports for 3 days. It is therefore a partner of choice for these Laval Virtual Days, which combine sport and innovation.
Yoann Duval, Managing Director of Sport Unlimitech, will also lead the round-table discussion on the question of the revival of the sports sector after the impact of COVID-19. He will be joined by Pascal Gentil, a taekwondo athlete and Olympic medallist. The president, Frédéric Michalak, a former international rugby player, will also do us the honour of concluding the entire conference programme, which promises to be rich.
Athletes and XR experts to talk about innovation
Aude Reygade, Director of CREPS Pays de la Loire, gave an introduction to the conference on the desire to include new technologies in the development of the projects of the institution. The CREPS participates in particular in the training and support of high-level sportsmen and women. Chloé Louis, Communication and Marketing Project Manager at Immersive.io, will address the topic: “Experiencing sports events differently”.
To talk about VR/AR in the performance of sport, we invited Franck Multon, director of research at Inria (National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology) as well as Mathieu Lacome, Director of Research & Development at the Paris Saint-Germain club. He will focus more particularly on the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence in the service of performance.
Laval Virtual‘s experts will also be present. Marie Leblanc, Head of Services, will present several use cases of virtual and augmented reality in the field of sport. Alexandre Bouchet, Director of the CLARTE research laboratory, will give us feedback through an original project combining sport and immersive technologies.
A new 100% virtual event
The Laval Virtual Days are events that bring the VR/AR community together and inspire (future) users. Laval Virtual organises these events with the aim of evangelising immersive techniques to a professional audience.
In recent months, the Laval Virtual Days have adopted a digital format. Last June, an evening was organised on the theme of virtual worlds. The Laval Virtual Days Sport will be held in the same way in the Laval Virtual World. The conferences will be followed by a moment of networking and discovery of several exhibitors.
