Backfield In Motion - Tampa Tribune

[radbag]

Backfield In Motion

By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 29, 2007

GAINESVILLE - So this is how they built a better Tim Tebow.

On Feb. 28, the University of Florida quarterback stood ready to throw in a long, rectangular room wearing only black Spandex and 22 round balls of reflective tape - each about half the size of a golf ball - placed at strategic points between his neck and his feet. When he finished his dropback, his feet would land on a pair of plates designed to measure force he exerted on the ground.

Eleven red lights glowed as Tebow drifted toward the plates. He brought the ball to his ear, pulled it back and fired.

In a small room next door, UF senior biomedical engineer Bryan Conrad and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen sat in front of a pair of computer monitors. The glowing red light had been produced by 11 motion-capture cameras, which picked up on the 22 markers attached to Tebow's body. The cameras, which can film as many as 500 frames a second, fed the image into a computer, which created a three-dimensional model of Tebow's motion. Later, Conrad would run the data through another program and hand Mullen a thick packet that included statistics such as 'elbow angle at initial extension' and 'maximum elbow extension angular velocity.' Mullen would use all that information to help correct Tebow's flawed throwing mechanics and eliminate the shoulder soreness that dogged him as a freshman.

Tebow isn't the only Florida athlete to get the 'Six Million Dollar Man' treatment. Fellow football players, baseball players, volleyball players and golfers all have paid visits to the Biomechanics and Motion Analysis Lab at UF's 3-year-old orthopedics and rehabilitation complex. There, they have taken advantage of Florida's 'prehab' program, which combines motion analysis with medical tests to help athletes refine their mechanics to help prevent injuries and improve performance.

'We Really Studied It'

Tebow's motion analysis in June 2006 and in February revealed that he relied too much on his arm to throw. Ideally, a quarterback - or a baseball pitcher, research has found - will generate most of his power from a combination of leg drive and hip and trunk rotation. Throwing or swinging with only the arm puts unnecessary stress on the shoulder.

In Tebow's case, Mullen knew basically what changes his player needed to make, but motion analysis allowed Mullen to design a plan to help Tebow correct specific flaws. The computer model allowed Mullen and Tebow to see Tebow's motion from every conceivable angle. A standard video camera, which shoots at about 30 frames a second, provides only one angle.

'You could see every force of impact on his body,' Mullen said. 'We really studied it. That, I think, allowed him to really see it.'

Tebow, who shortened his stride and improved his balance to smooth out his motion, said the 3-D model helped him understand exactly what Mullen wanted him to change.

'You can critique everything so much better than if you were just watching on film,' Tebow said.

Conrad said UF's lab is among the first to analyze the football throwing motion. Researchers have collected far more data on the golf swing and the baseball pitching motion, he said.

Nigel Zheng, the director of UF's lab, is one of the pioneers of sports motion analysis. Zheng came to UF in 2004 after spending nine years as the director of joint biomechanics and computer modeling at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala. There, Zheng worked with renowned orthopedics surgeon James Andrews, whose patient roster includes a who's who of star athletes.

Zheng wrote a program to analyze the pitching motion. He also wrote the program Conrad used to analyze Tebow's throwing motion.

To design the programs, Zheng found pitchers and quarterbacks known to have good mechanics. He filmed them with motion-capture cameras and then fed the data into the computer to create baseline statistics against which athletes with less-than-perfect mechanics could measure themselves.

Zheng and Conrad are branching out into other sports as well. A few months ago, Florida volleyball coach Mary Wise brought outside hitter Marcie Hampton to the lab so Conrad could film Hampton's spike-attack swing. Wise reasoned that Hampton's near-perfect mechanics would make an ideal baseline. Later, Wise brought in more players to have their swings analyzed to help prevent shoulder injuries.

Wise, who said she brings recruits to the lab to show them the research being done, said she wants to have a few of the best former Gators filmed at the lab. On the top of Wise's wish list is outside hitter Airy Cruz, a Puerto Rican national team member who hits the ball harder than any player Wise has coached.

'We're just starting to scratch the surface,' Wise said. 'What we do know is that there hasn't been that much research done on the women's volleyball swing. ... The lab is one of the unique things we have on our campus, and we're very fortunate that the people over there are willing to work with us.'

The Correct Question

Conrad said the researchers need input from coaches to collect the proper data.

'We can answer almost any question,' Conrad said. 'It's just knowing that the right questions are asked.'

For example, Conrad designed a test to determine how quickly a quarterback releases the football. He rang a bell and measured the time it took Tebow to begin moving as well as the total time Tebow needed to release the ball. As more UF quarterbacks come in for motion analysis, Conrad hopes to refine the test by simulating a game situation. When he collects more data, he may be able to determine whether a quarterback has a lightning-quick release because his body moves fast or because his brain sends his body the signal to begin moving earlier.

Answering those questions isn't cheap. Conrad said UF's athletic department splits the cost of the analysis with the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation. The lab also receives a grant from Major League Baseball to examine pitching mechanics. The equipment is expensive - the cameras alone cost $120,000 - and the research is labor intensive, but the participation of the athletes is necessary for the department's research, Conrad said. The hope, Conrad said, is to publish research that eventually could help prevent injuries at all levels of sports.

The lab also gets plenty of non-sports use. In one project, researchers analyze the motion of bone cancer survivors who have had parts of their legs removed. The information the lab has collected will help other survivors learn to walk using prostheses.

On the athletic side, the results the lab has produced have prompted other coaches to ask Zheng and Conrad to design tests for them. Football coaches want a program that analyzes the blocking motion of offensive linemen. Basketball coach Billy Donovan wants a program to analyze the mechanics of the free throw. That one, Conrad said, may require some creativity.

'Our ceiling is only 13 feet high,' Conrad said. 'We may have to take the motion capture cameras to their facility.'

[a1bion]

How crazy is that...We've got that on campus for real? Wow!

[apexgator]

Amazing the things we can do with technology.

[slideman67]

I have seen one of those things in use - absolutely incredible!