Will Technology Ever Take the Fun Out of Sports?

It is extremely obvious that technology has played an immense role in everything we do these days. It is very hard if not impossible to name something that hasn't in some way been affected by technology. This includes sports, and everything about sports. The steroid buzz in baseball is all about technology. While there may have been performance enhancing drugs years ago, technology has changed the way they work and how effective they are. Technology among many other things has also been effective.

Obviously the equipment is the first thing people think of when the topic of technology in sports is brought up. One of the biggest fears among many different sports fans is that some day all of this technology will take away from the difficulty of the game. However to prevent this from happening many of these sports have designed certain restrictions to keep the game fair. The PGA has designed tests for new golf clubs and golf balls that come out, before they can be used on the tour. The PGA wants to keep the integrity of the game along with the difficulty. If they allow technology with makes the game easier to take over, then the integrity of golf will be lost.

Hockey is another example of changing technology, especially in the sticks. Hockey sticks these days are designed to last a lot longer, and create greater velocity shots. Now obviously shot power has to come from the person shooting the puck, but different sticks have been designed to increase some power, while still maintaining its durability. It is hard to imagine that technology could take over this sport, but the sport is well aware of the threat, and has also made certain restrictions just like the PGA. For example they have made new restrictions on goalie equipment. One of the reasons was for more scoring, but also because new goalie equipment has been designed to still keep excellent movement while being bigger than usual pads.

Now like I said when technology in sports is brought up people immediately think about the equipment, and not necessarily the players. When I say players, I mean in the way that they are trained. Technology has designed so many different training techniques which help players learn quicker, and perform better. Let's take a look at golf once again. There are so many different swing aids out there, such as the famous club that kinks when you swing it wrong. Only when you have a perfect swing does the club not kink or break. There are also visual aids such as the type where you hit a ball into a wall and then the ball is displayed on a screen along with the stats on what the ball would have done.

This area of technology is probably the area that will face the least amount of restrictions. The reason being for this is that one there really is no way to limit it. The police of whatever organization is in question have no way of keeping an eye over any player at every time. The second reason is that it is still up to the person to perform. The human element of the game is still there, it is just that the talent may be a little better.

Sports draw together many different genres and groups of people. Everyone has some sport that they can possibly call their favorite, and I can guarantee that every single person would say that they would never want to see technology tarnish their sport. Officials of different sports such as the PGA have stepped up to keep the challenge in their game, and many have designed different restrictions to keep integrity. Whether it has to do with the actual equipment or the training aids, technology is always going to keep the ball of sports rolling, and keep many officials working hard to make it roll the way it was designed.