Nicholas Skelton Nick Skelton
Director Hat Trick Training Academy, Inc.
Gulf Breeze, FL 32563
Board of Directors
Hat Trick Training Academy, Inc.
My fellow board members,
I want to bring to your attention a device for the future of Hat Trick Training Academy. Sense Arena (SA) is a new state or the art Virtual Reality (VR) platform that is used to help ice hockey players understand their role in the game. The program was developed in the Czech Republic in 2017 and is now making its way to the United States. Currently there are 5 countries with SA and 1,300 registered. There are only 10 places in the US that offer SA, one being the Las Vegas Golden Knights for their NHL team players use. HTT would be one of 4 public facilities in the US that would have Sense Arena training available to its members.
Virtual reality has been used for many years in sports training for such sports as basketball (NBA), baseball, table tennis, Football (NFL) and soccer. VR has also been used medical training, rehabilitation and as well of mental health disorders. With our lack of ice and ability to get ice in our current location this would an amazing addition to our program. SA is unlike traditional means to practice hockey when it comes to space. It uses a minimum of 256 sqft and does not require a rink or artificial ice (even though having this option would make the lessons more appealing to the average person). Using SA, VR can take the learning time down from years, months or days for specific training patterns to the matter of seconds.
SA uses a head mounted display (HMD) as well as a computer assisted virtual reality (CAVE) program to give the athletes the full effect of being on the ice. The HDM does include headphones and a specific stick that gives the athlete the feel of the puck and ability to shoot and pass in the program. These items allow the user to have a full-immersion experience, which is the highest level of VR experience a person can have. The full-immersion “enhances the users’ individual experience and the subjective feeling of presence.” This will allow the athletes to get the full benefit of practice without being on the ice. With that being said, SA is NOT A GAME but a tool used for training hockey players.
In the next few days, I am going to follow up with a literature review about VR and the benefits of it, along with more information on Sense Arena including pricing. You can see SA and videos on their website at http://www.sensearena.com
As always, thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Nicholas D. Skelton
Director of Hockey
Hat Trick Training Academy, Inc.
About Author
