Sports Are the Final Frontier For Nerd Hackers

​With 2015 upon us and the Apple Watch looming it appears that the waning age of tablets is ending and the age of wearables is literally around the corner. The Oculus developed Samsung Gear VR will be in-stores imminently and it's not unfeasible to think that these formerly niche, nerd-focused products will soon be as ubiquitous as, well, cellphones and watches.

What frontier is left to conquer once normcore dads are rocking VR headsets, while picking their kids up from school and talking to their watches? Sports, naturally, are the final frontier.

An offshoot of Tom Emrich's WEST, short for Wearable Entertainment and Sports Toronto, Sports Hack, held last month at Ryerson University is a weekend hackathon with a twist: Using some of the provided tech, which includes things like IBM's Bluemix platform, Thalmic Labs's Myo gesture-controlled armband, Oculus dev kits and a ton of Rasberry Pi's teams create wearable tech that is specifically sports-oriented.

The winning tech, by Team Raisins, was a heat mapping monitor based around the Moto 360 smartwatch calculating data to show exactly how teams are performing on micro and macro levels and even play style, all generated in real-time. This kind of data could theoretically allow unprecedented information for coaches to micromanage and build off of.

Breqlabs. Image: Youtube

Anyone who's sat through a fantasy baseball draft understands that sports, especially their core, diehard fan base, are nerdier than any mouth-breathing Dungeons and Dragons player. Constant statistics and data streams are their lifeblood and it's only be a matter of time before we start seeing this kind of advanced statistical evidence monetized.

The runner up, Team KANU, developed a rowing-specific glove using Breqlabs' Exoglove, which is an advanced gesture-based glove control system used to help those with limited mobility, hand tremors or other disabilities access computers with more ease. They also naturally have developed a gaming component to it as well. The rowing data includes everything from grip to hand position.

While we aren't quite seeing headcams strapped to football players yet, the world of hacking and the world of sports are steadily mixing into each other. With Microsoft's reported 400 million dollar Surface investment in the NFL, specifically with interaction in mind, don't be surprised if we start seeing more and more products emphasizing wearable tech in the sports arena. With WEST and Sports Hack, Toronto feels a lot like ground zero. Game on.