Notes · Physical EducationUK · A-Levels

The Role of Technology in Physical Activity and Sport

This chapter examines how technology is used in modern sport. It covers the technology that collects and analyses performance data for the performer and coach, the technology that supports officials and fair decision-making, and the technology built into equipment, facilities and the spectator experience - weighing throughout the benefits of accuracy and improvement against the drawbacks of cost, access and the effect on the nature of sport.

3 sections~11 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 1

T·161616 / 17

Exam profile

AO1 · Describe the technologies used in sport for performers, coaches, officials and spectatorsAO2 · Apply the technologies to named sports, performers and officialsAO3 · Analyse and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of sports technology

Operators:describeexplainapplyanalyseevaluatediscuss

basic level

AS-Level requires the main uses of technology for the performer, coach and officials.

higher level

The full A-Level requires the evaluation of the benefits and drawbacks of sports technology for the different stakeholders.

Depth

Text

Contents · 3 sections

The Role of Technology in Physical Activity and Sport

Technology for the performer and coach#

StandardAQA 7582 3.2.5.3DfE GCE PE - technology in sport

The data analysis and improvement cycle

Fig. 1Technology collects objective data, which is analysed to identify strengths and weaknesses, informing changes that are then measured again - a continuous improvement loop.

Technology has transformed how performers and coaches collect and analyse data to improve performance, turning coaching from a matter of judgement into an evidence-based process. Motion (video) analysis records and breaks down technique frame by frame, so that a coach and performer can see exactly what the body is doing, compare it with a model technique and identify precise faults to correct - the practical application of the biomechanics studied earlier. It gives objective, replayable evidence in place of the naked eye and memory.

A range of devices gathers physiological and movement data. Global positioning system (GPS) units and accelerometers, worn during training and matches, record distance covered, speed, acceleration and work rate, letting coaches monitor and manage a player's physical load. Heart-rate and power monitors track the intensity of training in real time, allowing sessions to be kept in the correct training zone (linking to the training-zone calculations). Force plates measure the ground reaction forces in a jump or sprint start, and wind tunnels are used to test and refine aerodynamic position and equipment (linking to fluid mechanics).

The data these tools produce feeds a cycle of analysis and improvement. The technology collects objective data on performance; the coach and analyst interpret it to identify strengths and weaknesses; this informs changes to training, technique or tactics; and the performer's response is then measured again, so the process repeats and improvement is continually monitored. This is exactly the data-driven analysis-of-performance process that underpins the non-exam assessment.

The evaluative point is that this technology brings clear benefits but also drawbacks. The benefits are objectivity, precision, the early detection of faults and of fatigue or injury risk, individualised training, and faster improvement. The drawbacks are the cost (advanced equipment and analysts are expensive, so wealthier performers and nations gain an advantage, widening inequality), the risk of information overload or over-reliance on data at the expense of coaching judgement, the time and expertise required to interpret it, and questions of data privacy. Explaining how a named technology improves performance, and weighing its benefits against its costs, is the applied skill here.

Worked example

Using technology to improve a sprinter

Explain how a coach could use force plates, video analysis and a wind tunnel to improve a sprinter, and identify one limitation.

Force plates
Measure the ground reaction forces at the start and each stride, showing how much propulsive force the sprinter generates and revealing asymmetries to correct.
Video (motion) analysis
Records the sprint frame by frame so technique - block position, arm action, stride - can be compared with a model and refined.
Wind tunnel
Tests body position and kit to reduce aerodynamic drag (linking to fluid mechanics), improving efficiency at speed.
Limitation
The equipment and analysts are expensive, so this support is available mainly to well-funded athletes, widening the gap with those who cannot afford it.

Result: Force plates, video analysis and a wind tunnel give objective data to refine force production, technique and aerodynamics; their high cost limits access and can widen inequality.

Typical mistakes

Describing a technology without saying how it actually improves performance (what data it gives and how it is used).
Ignoring the drawbacks - cost and inequality of access, over-reliance on data and the need for expertise to interpret it.

Active revision

Explain how motion analysis and GPS data could be used to improve a footballer's performance, and evaluate one drawback of relying on such technology.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

Technology for officials and fair play#

StandardAQA 7582 3.2.5.3DfE GCE PE - technology for officials

Officiating technology: benefits and drawbacks

Fig. 2Technology improves the accuracy and fairness of decisions but can interrupt the flow, is costly and cannot fully resolve subjective calls.

Technology is increasingly used to help officials make correct decisions, improving accuracy and fairness in sports where the human eye alone cannot always be sure. Ball-tracking systems (such as Hawk-Eye, used in tennis and cricket) use multiple cameras to compute the precise path and landing point of the ball, so that line calls and leg-before-wicket decisions can be reviewed accurately. Goal-line technology determines instantly and definitively whether the whole of the ball has crossed the goal line in football, resolving a decision that officials often cannot judge in real time.

Other systems allow decisions to be reviewed. The video assistant referee (VAR) in football and the television match official (TMO) in rugby let officials review incidents on video replay before confirming or overturning a decision (a goal, a foul, a try), so that clear and obvious errors can be corrected. Systems such as Hot Spot and edge-detection in cricket use infra-red and sound to detect fine contacts. Together these technologies aim to ensure that the correct decision is reached on the most important moments of a game.

The benefits of officiating technology are substantial: more accurate and consistent decisions, greater fairness, the correction of clear errors, and reduced controversy and pressure on officials, which protects the integrity of the result. In some cases the technology also adds to the spectator experience by showing replays and the basis of decisions. Where a decision is objective (did the ball cross the line? did it land in?), the technology is widely accepted as a clear improvement.

But officiating technology also has real drawbacks, and this is the key evaluation. It can interrupt the flow and spontaneity of the game and lengthen it, reducing the drama of an instant decision; it is expensive, so it is available only at the elite level and not lower down or in poorer countries, creating inconsistency; and for subjective decisions (whether a challenge was a foul) it does not remove human judgement, so controversy continues and fans may feel the 'human' game is being lost. The evaluative task is to weigh the gain in accuracy and fairness against the loss of flow, the cost and the limits of technology for subjective calls - recognising that it works best for objective, factual decisions.

Worked example

Objective versus subjective decisions

Explain why goal-line technology is widely accepted in football while VAR remains controversial, using the idea of objective and subjective decisions.

Goal-line technology
It answers a purely objective, factual question - has the whole ball crossed the line? - which has one correct answer, so the technology is definitive and quick, and is widely accepted.
VAR for objective calls
For objective offside lines VAR can be accurate, though drawing the lines takes time, which slows the game.
VAR for subjective calls
For fouls and handballs the decision is a matter of interpretation, so even after review officials disagree; the technology does not remove the human judgement, so controversy continues.
Conclusion
Technology is most valuable and least disputed for objective, factual decisions and least effective for subjective ones - which is why goal-line technology is accepted while VAR is contested.

Result: Goal-line technology settles an objective fact and is accepted; VAR is contested because it is used for subjective decisions that still rely on human interpretation.

Typical mistakes

Assuming technology removes all controversy - it works best for objective decisions; subjective calls (fouls) still rely on human judgement.
Ignoring the drawbacks - interruption to flow, cost and inconsistency of access between levels of the sport.

Active revision

Evaluate the use of goal-line technology and VAR in football, distinguishing between the objective and subjective decisions each is used for.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

Technology in equipment, facilities and for the spectator#

AdvancedAQA 7582 3.2.5.3DfE GCE PE - technology in equipment and for the spectator

Benefits and drawbacks of technology in equipment and facilities

Fig. 3Technology improves performance, safety and access but raises issues of cost, inequality and the distortion of the sport that must be regulated.

Technology is built into the equipment, footwear, clothing and facilities that performers use, and it can improve performance, comfort and safety. Advances in materials science have produced lighter, stronger and more responsive equipment - carbon-fibre racing bikes and tennis racquets, aerodynamic clothing, specialised footwear, and running spikes and shoes designed to return energy. Protective equipment (better helmets, gum shields and padding) improves safety, and prosthetics and adapted equipment have opened elite sport to disabled performers. Facilities too have advanced, with all-weather and indoor surfaces, climate control and instrumented environments that allow year-round, high-quality training.

For the spectator, technology has transformed the experience of watching sport. High-definition and ultra-high-definition broadcasting, multiple camera angles, slow-motion and super-slow-motion replays, on-screen graphics and statistics, and immersive and interactive coverage (including virtual and augmented reality and second-screen apps) make watching richer and more informative. In the stadium, large screens, improved sound and connectivity enhance the live experience. This links directly to the media and commercialisation of the previous chapter, because a better spectator product draws bigger audiences and more revenue.

The benefits of this technology are real: better performance and records, greater safety, wider access (including for disabled athletes), longer careers, and a richer, more engaging experience for spectators. But it also raises important issues. Cost and access create inequality - the best equipment and facilities are available only to wealthier performers and nations, so success can depend on resources as much as talent. Advances in equipment can distort the sport or its records to the point that governing bodies must regulate them (as with the fast swimsuits that were later banned, or limits on equipment specifications) to preserve fair competition and the essential nature of the sport.

The overarching evaluation, and the standard essay task, is that technology in sport is a double-edged sword whose benefits must be weighed against its costs for each stakeholder. It improves performance, safety, access and enjoyment, but it can widen the gap between rich and poor competitors, change the nature and records of a sport, reduce the human element, and raise ethical questions about how far artificial enhancement of equipment should be allowed. A strong answer takes a named technology, weighs its benefits against its drawbacks for performers, spectators and the sport, and reaches a reasoned judgement - the same evaluative approach that runs through the whole sociocultural strand of the course.

Worked example

Regulating a performance-enhancing suit

A new swimsuit dramatically reduces drag and leads to a wave of broken world records. Discuss the issue this raises and why a governing body might ban it.

The benefit
The suit reduces drag (linking to fluid mechanics), improving times and, for those who wear it, performance and safety.
The fairness problem
If the suit is expensive or available to only some swimmers, success depends on equipment rather than talent, creating inequality; and a flood of records devalues the sport's history.
Effect on the nature of sport
When the equipment, rather than the athlete, is deciding results, the essential test of the sport - the swimmer's ability - is undermined.
The regulatory response
To preserve fair competition and the integrity of the sport, the governing body restricts or bans the suit, regulating equipment specifications.

Result: The suit improves performance but makes equipment, not talent, decisive and distorts records, so the governing body regulates or bans it to protect fairness and the nature of the sport.

Typical mistakes

Listing only benefits - equipment technology also raises issues of cost, inequality of access and the distortion of records that governing bodies must regulate.
Forgetting the spectator perspective - technology has greatly changed how sport is watched, not just how it is played.

Active revision

'Technology in equipment has improved sport.' Discuss this claim, weighing the benefits against the drawbacks for performers and for the fairness of competition.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

References & sources

Sources

Department for Education

GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education

AQA

AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification

The Role of Technology in Physical Activity and Sport

3 sections~11 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 1

The Role of Technology in Physical Activity and Sport

Key points

Using technology to improve a sprinter

Key points

Objective versus subjective decisions

Key points

Regulating a performance-enhancing suit

Sources

The Role of Technology in Physical Activity and Sport

Key points

Using technology to improve a sprinter

Key points

Objective versus subjective decisions

Key points

Regulating a performance-enhancing suit

Sources