Finding the New Competitive Edge

Despite my Boston roots, I’ve never been much of a hockey player. Still, I never need an excuse to re-watch the movie?Miracle—where Kurt Russell stars in the based-on-a-true-story telling of Herb Brooks’ time coaching the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team on its way to the Miracle on Ice game against the Soviets. It’s great in the way the best stories are, where you don’t have to know anything about the subject matter to “get” it, and even knowing how it ends—spoiler alert, the Americans win!—doesn’t detract from the experience.

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It was on again over the holidays, and one of the scenes that really struck me this last time was the one where Russell is grinding over hours and hours of grainy Russian video footage, looking for the hints his team would need to compete against an opponent virtually everyone considered to be unbeatable.

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At the time, in the sports world, video analysis was the absolute apex of scouting—and Herb Brooks was even mocked by the hockey “establishment” for his willingness to take what he learned from it and build an unconventional team full of the?right?players, not necessarily the?best?players.?

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That’s fascinating, because even though almost?everything?has changed since 1980—just take a look at the hair, clothes, and even the resolution on that television broadcast with Al Michaels!—the elements that give athletes and other peak performers a competitive advantage are still the same.?

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That edge comes from hard work. Preparation. Commitment. The willingness to do something differently. And having the right information when you need it and in the proper context.?

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Technology is making that information element of competitiveness simultaneously easier and more complicated to harness than ever before. Easier because we all have instant, constant access to incredibly powerful processing in the form of the smartphones in our pockets. More complicated because there’s an ocean of that information coming in. Picking out what’s important can be a challenge.?

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That’s why—even though I’m more comfortable on skis than skates—I was so impressed when I met?Bill Near?and learned about what he’s developing with?HELIOS. At the risk of making a bad skating pun, Bill is on the cutting edge of the wearable technology space. His HELIOS? device integrates seamlessly with a player’s equipment to measure the on-ice body movements that translate into explosiveness, agility, and balance—the characteristics that separate beer league hockey players from the ones playing in the NHL.?

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Where Herb Brooks buried himself in boxes of reel-to-reel tape to get a line on a dozen Russian superstars, HELIOS? uses AI and precise measurements from hundreds of millions of movements to help players and coaches at any level get better in real-time. It even syncs with the latest video capture technologies so you get your shift-specific footage and performance data by the time you get to the locker room.

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It’s not hard to imagine how tech like HELIOS? can change the learning—and peak performance—curve in hockey. It’s a new world for coaches and players, not just in sports but in all modes of performance. There’s never been more opportunity for?anyone?to find the edge and make their own “miracle.”?

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HELIOS? is growing rapidly, and expanding beyond hockey. If you know anyone who might be interested in the following roles please contact Bill Near at?[email protected]

1. Sales
2. Social Media and Content Manager
3. Graphic Designer
4. Software Developers

And to everyone in my hockey network, especially my high school buddies who now coach, please spread the good word!

Jon Cressman, Jeremy Starr, Sean Wenham, Dave Tower, Friend Weiler, Paul Marobella, Anson Carter, Trevor Byrne, Matt Lashoff