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Editors’ Letter In the first (and last) issue of Overtime, we worked together to achieve an overarching goal. That goal was to enlighten the world about the all aspects of sports, and how technology may be used to enhance those experiences. Each of us wrote articles regarding the technology in football, the extreme sports, and even esports. All of us are involved in the sports community as we all are playing or have played in a sports league. We wrote this article for a class at Lasa High School called Ezine, where we learn great qualities including: graphic design, editing techniques, and good social skills to obtain interviews. We hope we achieved our goal to create an interesting sports magazine, and that, whether you enjoy touchdowns, high scores, or crazy tricks, you enjoy the magazine.
Table Of Contents
Photo by Garett Cortese and courtesy of Wakeboarding Mag
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The Growth of Extreme Sports
Extreme sports are high speed and risk sports that can be played professionally or for recreation and are getting increasingly popular.
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The Future of Sports
Esports are the play of profssional videogames and is growing increasingly popular around the world.
15 Football Tech Technology in football is becoming a big part of the sport from creating strategy to keeping players safe.
Photo by Travis Lilley and courtesy of Andrew McNeill
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Snowboarding vs Skiing
13 Developing Industry of Esports 14 The History of Videogames 19 Concussions in Football
Contributors
Eliot Lajaunie Eliot, aka Meatball, was born in Virginia but raised in Texas. He loved sports in his early childhood, playing a lot of baseball and basketball. Now, Eliot is 14 and loves basketball, but also has a love for esports and golf. This love led him to help write a magazine about sports, and write a feature story about esports.
Marco Martinez
Marco Martinez, the ASF editor at Overtime, is a freshman at LASA High School. He has been a south Austin native his whole life and enjoys playing baseball and surfing.
Davis Palmer Davis Palmer, photo editor for Overtime, was born in Austin, Texas and is 15 years old. Davis is widely involved in a variety of sports including basketball, baseball, and football.
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Special Thanks To... NLand Surf Park X-Games Wakeboarding Mag Blizzard Entertainment KingsIsle Austin Convention Center SXSW Gaming University of Texas Austin Athletics VICIS Technologies Megan Blanchard Grace Coryell Garrett Cortese Andrew McNiell Matthew Anderson Brandon Peacy David Langdon Travis Vlantes Holly Glisky
Very special thanks to Simey Borbon who helped us start this issue of Overtime.
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The Growth of
Advanced surfers ride the high performance wave that NLand provides. Photos courtesy of NLand surf park
By Marco Martinez
Extreme Sports
Professionals in the Pro Wakeboard Tour showcase their talents
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Nothing beats hanging out on a boat with friends, enjoying the sun and water, listening to good tunes, and cheering each other on.
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-Garrett Cortese, editor at Wakeboarding Mag.
When extreme sports come to mind, people unfamiliar with the sport think the athletes are crazy daredevils that do life-threatening stunts, but that’s not the case. They are also done for fun or recreation. Extreme sports usually have high speeds and higher risks than traditional sports like baseball or basketball. These competitions include most of the X-Games like snowsports, watersports, and skateboarding. These sports are growing and are becoming increasingly more known and more popular from being featured in the Olympics and broadcast on national TV and athletes like Shaun White and Chloe Kim are some of these athletes. Other events like wakeboarding with the “Real Wake”competition is also being nationally broadcast on ABC. They are also becoming more popular to people who
haven’t tried them because they seem intimidating when you see professionals, but can be done recreationally. Places like NLand surf park are bringing people into the culture of extreme sports.
Megan Blanchard, the head of marketing at NLand surf park, said, “Surfing used to be intimidating and it’s amazing to see the intimidation barrier is not there.”
Most extreme sports can be done recreationally like wakeboarding, surfing, and skiing which are really common to be done for fun. “Nothing beats hanging out on a boat with friends, enjoying the sun and water, listening to good tunes, and cheering each other on or sometimes laughing as you ride,” said Garrett Cortese, editor of Wakeboarding Mag.
People unfamiliar with extreme sports might think athletes doing events like snowboarding halfpipe are daredevils looking for a challenge. These athletes are not thrill seekers as they train constantly and are athletes who make a living accomplishing these incredible feats.. “It’s more than just daredevils doingstunts,” said Grace Coryell, who is a senior publisher for the X-Games.“ Theseare professional athletes who train day in and day out constantly for the whole season.”
Photo Courtesy of NLand surf park
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Extreme sports are also really intimidating and scare people away from getting invested into them. Cortese said, “It’s a ton of fun. It can look intimidating at first, especially with the crazy tricks the top level pro riders are
doing these days but it shouldn’t be”.
Extreme sports aren’t just professional, but can also be done for fun with friends. Megan Blanchard said, “Surfing used to be intimidating and it’s amazing to see the intimidation barrier is not there”. Watersports are like this; they look really intimidating when you see professionals flipping in the air but, that’s not how it has to be. Wakeboarding can just be a day out on the lake with friends.
Competitor in 2018 Pro Wakeboard tour celebrates his victory Photo by Garrett Cortese and courtesy of Wakeboarding Mag
Cortese said, “Nothing beats hanging out on a boat with friends, enjoying the sun and water, listening to good tunes, and cheering each other on or sometimes laughing as you ride. That’s one of the things that makes wakeboarding really unique, you can’t do it alone”.
NLand surf park also brings the culture of extreme sports into a recreational scene. It’s 14 acre lagoon houses many surfers from novices to professionals. NLand surf park creates waves that are friendly to beginners and large high performance waves for the experts.
“Through those programs we’ve seen people who have surfed here for the first time and come back and really improved. We have some people who started on the bay wave who move up to the reef wave,” said Blanchard. Places like NLand spread the culture of extreme sports and
Blanchard said, “It gives you the biggest sense of happiness and joy of being out on the waves. You see it on the faces on the people as they come out of the lagoon”. NLand also frequently does events that tie in with surfing where they have live music and certain menus and alcoholic beverages from their restaurant and brewery. They do events and partner with charities or corporations to raise money and have a big event surrounding it where you can surf, eat, and drink.
Extreme sports are getting bigger and is growing as an industry. They have gone to being broadcast on TV and some have recently been added into the Olympics. Extreme sports are becoming household name from being televised and are gaining more viewers from large events like some in the X-Games and the Olympics. Coryell said, “It’s just growing even more and becoming more household name and its been really cool to see” Unlike large events some events are small and have a special charm charm to them that is unique.
“There are some small, grassroots events that are really awesome, as well because they have a more intimate feel,” said Cortese.
Graphic made by Davis Palmer
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Snowboarding vs. Skiing
78.3% of people preferred skiing over snowboarding.
78.3
21.7
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Data taken from 42 stuents
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Most people preferred to go skiing or snowboarding in Colorado then New Mexico and Utah.
Grapics made by Marco
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The Future of Sports The history of sports is quite interesting but thre future holds promise as well
By Eliot Lajaunie
Fans cheer at the Overwatch League Finals between the London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion in the Barclays Center in New York City. Photo courtesy of Blizzard.
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Esports are growing, and they’re here to stay
There h a s been a n
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--Mattherw Anderson, former Esports commuity manager Creeping around the corner, shotgun at the ready, you see an enemy out of the corner of your eye. You hit the shot, killing the enemy, and the crowd goes wild. This is the reality of esports. The industry began growing in the early 2000s, and has not stopped since. On track to have over a billion dollars in yearly revenue by 2019, according to Newzoo, esports are starting to make a major impact on the sports world.
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ongoing debate between fans about whether esports are sports. Esports are the professional play of video games which players do for a living rather than for recreation. Esports players still exert themselves quite a bit, according to Matthew Anderson, a game developer at KingsIsle and former community manager for a few esports groups, and they have to stay fit to stay in a good mental state. Above all, owners of traditional sports teams have been investing tens of millions of dollars into esports teams. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution, an NFL team and MLS team respectively, invested in an Overwatch League team for Boston in early 2017, which reportedly cost up to $20 million. Going into
the second of the Overwatch League, teams could be priced at up to $65 million, according to Jacob Wolf, a writer for ESPN. Traditional sports owners see promise in esports, which poses the question of whether esports should be on the same level as traditional sports. South by Southwest, or SXSW, is a large music, business, and film convention in Austin, added a gaming convention in 2006, and attendance has almost matched or surpassed that of the main festival. “Probably over 10,000 attending on the gaming side, and just as many with SXSW badges,” said Andrew McNeill, manager of SXSW Gaming. “It’s different from other parts of the festival, but still a very popular event. SXSW Gaming is very focused on fans.” Even though the comparison between the festivals is a little skewed, according to McNeill, as SXSW Gaming wristbands are much cheaper than badges for the main convention, it still shows how many people in the Austin area are interested in esports, and gaming in general. The Overwatch League Finals drew over 10 million viewers, according to Blizzard Entertainment, the organization behind the Overwatch League. “Events can be scheduled from six months in advance up to perhaps years in advance” said Brandon Peacy, PR for the Austin Convention Center. “It
depends on the individual group”
Events planned so far in advance have lots of work put into them, and this is exemplified by SXSW Gaming. A performer showcases new VR Technology at SXSW Gaming. Photo by Justin Zamuido. Courtesy of Andrew McNeill
A fan happily waits by a stand at SXSW Gaming. Photo by Judy Won. Courtesy of Andrew McNeill.
“It takes the entire 12 months to get the event planned. We take the first month after the previous one to decide what went well and what went wrong to decide what we should do next year and who we want to include,” said McNeill. “It’s about bringing in the right brand for the fans, or the right speaker for a session. It’s also making sure everything is in place.”
All of the effort going into these events matches that of traditional sports, and the belief of many that esports belong in the same domain as sports warrants the question of whether esports are sports. As Matthew Anderson said, “Esports are growing, and they’re here to stay.”
A fan tries out new VR Technology at SXSW Gaming. Photo courtesy of Andrew McNeill, taken by Judy Won
Graphic made by Davis Palmer
Fans play their favorite games at SXSW Gaming.Photo courtesy of Andrew McNeill, taken by Ann Alva Weiding
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A Brief History of 2009 Video Games
Angry Birds is released to the App Store, creating a new market for mobile games
1980
1972
Release of the popular arcade game Pac-Man
Release of the ever-popular arcade game Pong
1988
Release of John Madden Football, sparking interest for sports video games
1977 Release of the home arcade system Atari 2600
2003 1985
Release of the NES, which revives a failing US market
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Valve releases Steam, which popularizes PC gaming
Graphics made by Eliot Lajaunie
The Developing Industry of Esports 80% of Americans have a gaming device
$906 Million
2018 Esports Market Revenue
380 Million Average Yearly Esports Viewers
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Mainstream Media Deals* Data from Statista
*Media Deals include ESPN, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook
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Football Tech Technology in football has been skyrocketing in the past few years
By Davis Palmer Photo courtesy of David Langdon
The University of Texas football team preparing to clash against the Oklahoma Cowboys, each team covered in technology. Photo courtesy of David Langdon
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The technology helping us allows us to understand what we do every day so much better
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Travis Vlantes said, the director of applied sports science at the University of Texas. The ground shook as feet pounded, kicking up dirt in all directions, the stampede of players crowding the field as they jumped and gave their best attempts at tackling the wide receiver. Suddenly, the heads of the safety and wide receiver clashed, each of them knocked to the ground. After a few minutes of first aid the emergency responders arrived and rushed the players off to the hospital. The world is changing everyday: new technology and new ideas, all of which are all contributing to a better tomorrow. One of the more dynamic spectrums includes football, within football, the amount and quality of technology is skyrocketing. This includes
These photos show two forms of tech in football
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Photos courtesy of Travis Vlantes
new helmets, from the ZERO1 helmet by Vicis, a helmet design and manufacturing company, to dex scanners that measures the density of a human body. All the technology that we use contribute to a better future tomorrow. David Langdon, an athletics director for social and digital strategy, said, “So, if its medical, social media, a new helmet, or if its a sweat sticker you put on your arm during practice, the technology helping us allows us to understand what we do everyday so much better”. As Langdon stated, examples of new technology used at the University of Texas’ athletics department include medical, social media, protective gear, and technology that provides a helping hand to the study of the athletes. Through all the people that contribute to the evolution of sports technology, the applied sports science department at UT analyzes the athlete’s capability and the general welfare of the athletes. The director of applied sports science, Travis Vlantes, states how the applied sports science department contributes to the football team: “So, [we help the players] in a lot of different ways, mostly in working
in with them directly in terms of... stretching programs...working with the nutritionist...how many calories they are burning at rest...[and] range of motion in their hips, or ankle”. The programs the sports science department works with presents new information to alter the meal plan, and how much work they need to do during practice and games to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This The technology allows these programs to live up to their full capability and the amount of information the programs grant. To illustrate some of the technology, Vlantes said “the dex machine uses X-ray technology to look at the density of an athletes tissue, so everything in your body has a different density, we can tell the difference between fat, muscle, and bone tissue based on how dense they are. We can use that information to help the athletes figure out if they need to gain weight, lose weight, out on muscle mass, lose fat mass, if their bones are strong enough to be able to handle their sport”. Without this technology the methods to finding this material out would represent inaccurate, skewed data. In the summer of 2018, Gatorade sports science department came to UT, and Vlantes said, “They use a lot of technology [in the] athletics [department] especially in football, one of the most interesting bits of tech that we use, earlier this summer, is that the football team worked with Gatorade sports science institute to help develop essentially personalized fueling and fuel replacement strategies for each player, so during practice every player was submitted with a sweat patch on their arm. Which was used to collect samples of their sweat, we also measured
their body masses before and after practice to essentially determine how much fluid each athlete lost during practice”. The research of the athlete’s bodies provided necessary information to make a meal plan with the proper amount of fluids and proper vitamins they require. The 3D Markerless Motion Capture Movement Screen, resembling a large scanner, captures the exercises you do while rendering your hypothetical bone structure, muscle angles, and a 3D model of many other tissue structures. This machine appears as a green mat with cameras surrounding the user taking in all the angles that affect the test. This process, looks for defects in muscle and bond movement and watches out for general physical problems with the athletes. This also provides a representation of how their muscles will act in game and practice. In games and practice, the protective gear has a spot where a small device can fit;. It is a small GPS that renders the movements of the football players during the game. “The tracking device lets us look at how far they run, how fast they run, how many times they change direction on the field,” Vlantes said. After retaining the information from the device the applied sports science team sends it to the coach to analyze. The tracking device the University of Texas uses is known as “We then give all that information to the coaches…[the information includes] how hard they practice, how far they run, how fast they ran, how many times they change direction, not only from a testing, lifting, and rehab standpoint but being at the practice and monitoring all the practices and games to monitor how much work
they are doing,” Vlantes said. Vlantes said, “that is a big part of how we try to keep them healthy so we can figure out if These photos showthey two need to they need to do more or do less, forms of tech in based on practice and game footballtime”. David Langdon manages a program that can see what people say on many social media platforms regarding the University of Texas’ sports programs. The social media department at UT utilizes this data to change the n Photo o n -courtesy game of David oriented things such as the seats, the concessions, and other items Langdon that the consumer interacts with on campus. “One of the most important tools I use everyday is a social media tracking command center and it tracks everything from hashtags to conversations happening about our program, so knowing what our fans are talking about is incredibly important to the athletics department, so we know what is important to them because they are the ones spending money on tickets and things like that,” Langdon said. Vicis contributes to new innovations and solutions to the ongoing concussion problem with new innovations including the impact reduction system they use in side the helmets. Holly Glisky, a public relations employee for Vicis, said “So basically, the helmets are built like a car bumper, to help reduce the impact, head trauma, it is kind of modeled around that.””. Through immense amounts of stress and impact testing, Vicis has created the safest helmet so far in the large market of football protection. “We, just recently, announced the youth helmet, so the helmet for kids ,” said Glisky. Vicis’ new ZERO1 youth helmet supplies young players with the necessary technology to stay safe. Vicis also partners with the NFL and the NCAA makes football safer. “Back in May, we announced a partnership with the US Army; we use the same technology for football to bring that to the military” said Glisky. Vicis also contributed to the United States Military, by giving access to their helmets, this will reduce the amount of training and injuries. Everyday, new technology is popping up here and there, and without it we would be nowhere as near as to where we would be today. Technology allows us to things we never thought of, it provides safety, access to needed information, and allows us to be our best selves by providing the tools to edit and recreate what we do. Technology is the future.
Graphic made by Davis Palmer
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What is a Concussion? A concussion is a blow to the head which shakes the brain in the skull. Repeated concussions or hits to the head, also known as chroni traumatic eanophalopathy, also known as CTE. CTE is a diesease that affects your capability of your mind; CTE causes memory loss and dizziness, these are just two symtoms of many. After a hard hit these symptoms can start from up to two years, this makes it very hard to diagnoss the cause and access the victim correctly
Concussions In Football
Technology in Football? New helmets and mouth guards are appearing throughout college football. - Zero1 Helmets - Sweat Patches - Pressure Mouthguards All of these help coaches and field assistants insure the saftey of the players
Make sure you listen to your body and make sure you are watching out for symptoms of yourself and others to better access an accident waiting to happen
UT Make sure the coach, or field advisor is watching closely to see the momentary symptoms of a concussion.
Make sure your gear fits properly, if not, advocate and obtain new gear, safety is always first.
Make sure you limit the amount of hard contact to your head.
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From the creators of Overtime Magazine... Thanks for taking the time to read our magazine!