Virtual reality has become an actual reality for one NFL team that will use a 3D simulation to enhance the relentless pursuit of gloryhole.
Via Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports, the Cowboys have signed a two-year deal with STRIVR, the startup company featured last month in U-T San Diego.
“It’s an awesome feeling to have one of the biggest brands in the sports world to become one of the first teams that jumps in,” Derek Belch, the STRIVR CEO who once played kicker at Stanford. “I give Jason Garrett a lot of credit for being a visionary. He told me when we first met that he’s been dreaming of something like this for 20 years. And then once he saw it, he said it exceeded his expectations.”
Belch hopes that as many as six NFL teams will partner with STRIVR before training camp. All 32 of them should; virtual reality training allows quarterbacks to get reps and coaching without exposing themselves to injury or violating the limitations on practice time. And its use has expanded beyond the guys who throw the football.
“Before it was great with quarterbacks because of the live work and how applicable it is [pre and post-snap] and for running backs to, but now it’s also for safeties and linebackers and O-linemen and cornerbacks,” Belch told Feldman.
The technology apparently doesn’t completely insulate against injury. As Belch told Feldman, one college lineman “got so into it” while using the virtual reality device that he “did six pass sets in a row and ended up running into the wall.”
It sounds like Belch and his partners will soon be running into the bank. Repeatedly.