Can you get better by "gambling"?
Gaming is only for nerds! Homebodies. You only sit in front of the computer because you're too lazy to go outside! I'd rather do real sport.
Every person who loves gaming has probably heard such phrases. Many athletes, on the other hand, have probably said this themselves. But these two views are increasingly converging.
It is not only since the Corona pandemic that Esports has become more popular. Even before that, online games like "Fortnite" or "League of Legends" gained enormous attention. Battles are sometimes broadcast live on TV.
And some world-class football clubs set up their own teams to participate in EA Sports' "Fifa" leagues worldwide. It was only a matter of time before the first clubs started thinking about whether and how to integrate console gaming into their training schedules.
TSG Hoffenheim can be described as a kind of pioneer in this respect. The academy of the Bundesliga football club has been pursuing the principle of gamification for several years.
Training reaction time with video games
Gamification, what is that? Wikipedia says: Gamification is the application of game typical elements in a non-game context.
Translated, this means improving the skills needed for sport by means of video games.
For example, playing games trains peripheral vision or information processing in the brain. Gambling also promotes improved concentration or faster decision-making in unforeseen situations.
An essential characteristic that is used almost constantly both in gaming and on the football pitch is reaction speed. For field players, this comes into play in the timing of the tackle, defensive players block an opponent's shot attempt and as a striker you can react faster when the ball bounces off the goalkeeper.
However, a quick reaction is certainly most important for the keeper. With a brilliant save, the team's backstop can decide a game in his favour or not. In goalkeeper training, the effect on the computer is therefore particularly high.
TSG Hoffenheim as pioneers in gamification
TSG Hoffenheim is firmly convinced that gamification in football promises increased success. "All the things we need on the pitch can also be trained with action video games - scientific studies have shown this several times," says Prof. Dr. Jan Mayer, sports psychologist at TSG and advocate of integrating everyday life, primarily the younger games, into training.
"You can definitely make the players faster in the head," Mayer explained on the Kraichgauer's club website back in 2015. "We do tests at the beginning to see, for example, how good the players are in peripheral vision. If we then notice that there is a need for improvement, we offer the opportunity to work on it," Mayer describes further.
On the training ground, Hoffenheim have set up the so-called "Helix" especially for this purpose. This is a room with a projection surface that is bent by 180 degrees and measures about 8 by 2.50 metres. Here, training sessions are held, some of them several times a week, from the professionals to the young players in the academy.
Every few months, the players are tested again to determine their progress. Both the DFB and clubs in the English Premier League have already taken inspiration from this concept.
"Fifa" combines football and gaming
Several games can play a role in the development of skills that are also crucial on the football pitch.
In Hoffenheim, these are also seemingly banal games in which the aim is to train the "executive functions" - as they are called in the jargon. This includes information processing, thinking ahead and decision-making. Games of skill or first-person shooters can also be beneficial. In the latter, the all-important speed of action and peripheral vision are called for.
A video game that naturally combines football and gaming is "Fifa". The football simulator enjoys great popularity, especially among young footballers. They play on their smartphones on the bus or in the plane. It is not uncommon for the console to travel with them.
While experts are always discussing whether "Fifa" or "Pro Evolution Soccer" is the more realistic game, "Fifa" has long since made it out of the living room and onto the big stage. Major tournaments are held, from the Bundesliga to the Champions League, everything is also available virtually.
Even Ibrahimovic gets inspiration from video games
TSG Hoffenheim is taking advantage of its popularity with the "smartphone generation". Hobby and profession are combined.
No player has to have a guilty conscience about being caught by the coach playing games. On the contrary:
It is openly discussed who is the best gamer in the team.
So it's no wonder that these innovative training approaches meet with great approval among the active players. Mesut Özil, for example, founded his own Esports team, the French world champion Antoine Griezmann has already been photographed several times cheering in a manner inspired by the Battle Royale game "Fortnite".
And Zlatan Ibrahimovic writes in his biography about solutions on the pitch that he discovered while playing "Fifa". Football on the console requires many qualities that are also needed on the real pitch.
"All these training effects that we want to achieve through gamification are trained in combination in 'Fifa'," says Mayer.
Research in gamification only at the beginning
Looking into the future, we can expect gamification to become increasingly important in football. Already now, under the given circumstances that make it difficult, especially for amateur athletes, to train together on the pitch, learning important skills on the console could become very important.
Research in this area is only just beginning. Of course, aspects such as gaming addiction, lack of exercise and neglecting social contacts or limiting social development, especially in children, should not be disregarded.
There are a lot of critical voices on this.
However, controlled training according to a fixed plan á la Hoffenheim is always better than uncontrolled gambling at any time of the day or night.
And let's be honest: Which computer-interested person who has ever played Fifa with his or her friends wouldn't find it cool if gaming were to become justified in the future among the broad masses of sports enthusiasts?
Nerd and couch potato or not.
Achievements, performance tests and co.
Our training app will soon evolve as well
We have not been idle in the last few months either, and thanks to an honest training community and countless conversations with professional clubs, we have been inspired in terms of "gamification".
That's why achievements will soon provide more motivation in training and performance tests will allow you to compare yourself with others.
However, we don't want to reveal too much at this point.
You can be curious!
Be fearless. Be Focused. B42
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