This Incredible Oculus Sim Lets Soccer Players Relive Games

Beyond Sports

For many athletes, watching game film is a necessary chore. Reviewing their past performance while coaches point out flaws and missteps is hardly the highlight of the week.

While they may not be able to cut down on the coaches’ critiques, a Dutch company has made looking at game tape amazingly better, tapping into the power of virtual reality to pull players out of the film room and drop them back into the game, Last Action Hero-style.

Engineers from Alkmaar-based Triple IT have created an Oculus Rift application that takes data from in-stadium cameras and other tracking systems and creates a VR replay of a soccer match. When players from AFC Ajax put on an Oculus Rift headset, they see a recreation of the Amsterdam Arena, with details down to the video board hanging high at one end of the field.

Using simple controls, the wearer can fast-forward to specific points of the game and replay them from his own perspective. Even more mind-blowingly, a player can switch to the perspective of a teammate and see what he saw at any given moment. No more “I was wide open, why didn’t you pass to me?” moments. Just put on the headset and you’re in the shoes of the passer, seeing the game through his eyes.

That moment of shared understanding, even if it comes while looking at a past match, can lead to a more trusting relationship between teammates, said Robert Overweg, director of concept and strategy at Beyond Sports, the product that Triple IT is promoting to teams.

“It’s a little bit of a trippy experience, but it’s also really interesting that you can become someone else,” Overweg said. “It really enhances the empathy level of the players.”

Within a week of getting an Oculus headset last summer, Technology Lead Jordi Bruin and team had a demo running using film from a older match. They showed it to some staff members with the Dutch national soccer team and got an immediately enthusiastic response. Even hard-to-please national team manager Louis van Gaal was impressed and encouraged Overweg’s group to continue iterating on their idea. The Oranje worked with the demo up through the World Cup this summer, and Ajax, the Netherlands’ best-known club, has been using the simulation software since April.