If Performance Data Could Talk, Biomechanics Would Be the QB Whisperer
At BreakAway, we focus on using data and technology to help athletes. A critical aspect of modern player development is biomechanics, which is the study of forces and the movements it causes. Ever wonder how athletes move in ways that leave us speechless? Biomechanics can explain the how and why behind the what-did-we-just-see?!
Biomechanics evaluations are one of our core services. We use eight cameras synced at 240 frames-per-second and markerless motion-capture software to analyze what no eye test could possibly see.
We capture players doing the real movements of their positions, giving them deep insights into how their bodies move and giving coaches precise feedback to know if their cues are working.
Biomechanics can be among the most useful data insights because they help bridge an all-too-common communication gap between athletes and coaches. Athletes feel their movement while coaches only see how they move. Our frame-by-frame visualizations and metrics help ensure both are targeting the same goals.
We Put the 1 in QB1
Quarterback is the most important position in all of sports, the athlete CEO that leaders in other sports aspire to emulate.
We’ve amassed the largest database of QB throws in the country, giving us the ability to show QBs how their metrics rank compared to top high school, college, and pro quarterbacks. Along with NFL quarterbacks, we’ve tested QBs at UCLA, Oregon, Ohio State, the East-West Shrine Bowl, Elite 11, Under Armour Next, the XFL, and many other places.
Our testing protocols are fast and efficient, creating no disruption to the overall flow of practice. We work with individuals, teams, training centers, camps—anywhere that has a power outlet and QBs who want to get better.
Athletes are given their biomechanics video and data via direct uploads to the BreakAway app.
Biomechanics Should Be in Every Team’s Toolkit
Our main goals with biomechanics assessments include assisting in development and reducing the risk of injury.
This knowledge can come in many forms, including but not limited to:
• current assessments
• establishing baselines
• tracking over time
• monitoring return to play
• assessing if training plans produced intended outcomes
• comparing successful and unsuccessful movements
Rather than relying only on outcomes to assess performance—a make or a miss, for example—we can acquire more detailed information by quantifying how athletes achieve the goal (or not).
How we use biomechanics data to coach and instruct is crucial to realizing desired outcomes.
In providing feedback, we don’t want to report a measure that becomes a target. (Goodhart’s Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.) Instead, it’s better to assess, reflect, adjust when necessary, and keep developing toward intended outcomes.
One recent example worth highlighting:
We put dozens of NFL hopefuls through our biomechanics assessments this spring. One QB learned from his data that he had very limited shoulder external rotation, which can limit the velocity of his throws.
External shoulder rotation isn’t something we’d ever want a quarterback thinking about while throwing—this explains the difference between a measure and a target—but after working on that weak spot with his trainer, the QB started zipping the ball around the field with the expected improvements just a few weeks later.
Everyone Benefits From Biomechanics
Biomechanical feedback can assist everyone involved in the athlete development process.
For athletes, it can help them better understand their current capabilities and how it affects performance, and where/how they can improve.
For coaches and trainers, it can help them better understand the movements they are teaching. They can get a deeper understanding of their athletes, and they can assess if their cues and training programs are working as intended.
For scouts and recruiters, they can obtain a more informed player report beyond the superficial performance outcomes.
If You’re Not Measuring, You’re Not Getting Better
One of our main areas of focus has been on quarterbacks and the football throwing motion. We aim to better understand the how and why behind successful throws. And we want to quantify what athletes at the position do and feel.
This approach will also help coaches confirm what they may already believe, or it may offer insights that open new ways of thinking and asking questions.
Our biomechanics assessments can monitor progress as QBs develop over the course of a few weeks or months, over the course of a season, or over the course of a career—from middle school/high school through college to the pros.
We collect data that measures balance, rotation, and release point. We do so by looking at every body part that powers the throwing motion: legs, hips, torso, shoulder, elbow. The feedback is specific to each QB, offering insights into his throwing motion.
We might find, for instance, that a QB’s hips are too open when his lead foot contacts the ground or that he’s picking up the back foot too early.
Repeat assessments can track progress over time and assist in development. If a QB is ever injured, we can assess his biomechanics to help return-to-play decisions by comparing his current metrics with baselines.
Identify Different Types of QBs
Scouts or recruiters may not always need the deepest movement insights when initially assessing large groups of quarterbacks.
We can provide feedback that is brief and top-line, allowing for a quick synopsis of how QBs throw and move (lower-body pusher vs. upper-body rotator; arm slot angles). This kind of feedback can give scouts or recruiters the ability to make comparisons of potential players.
We’ll Always Support Your Questions and Dig for New Insights
Our feedback will always be tailored to your needs, questions, and knowledge. And we’ll always make reports in styles and visualizations that help transfer knowledge.
Simply providing numbers and graphs only goes so far. Further contextualizing the data can speed up the understanding and lead to deeper questions—and richer answers.
As Close to Game-Like as It Gets
We capture game-like movements on the field by having quarterbacks do drills they know by heart. This approach allows us to capture the action in a more “natural” environment, meaning QBs don’t have to think through something new while being tested.
It also reduces the constraints of traditional motion capture technology, which historically meant being stuck in an academic lab while dealing with the time-consuming hassle of having to attach dozens of markers to athletes’ bodies. (On several occasions, we have tested 60+ quarterbacks in the span of just a couple hours—the amount of time it would take to get just one athlete ready and fully tested by more traditional means in a lab.)
By testing athletes on the field of play, we have the ability to capture movement in various contexts. This is important because the context that movement occurs in may influence the how and why behind it.
Capturing movement in multiple contexts allows us to compare behavior between sport-specific situations, such as throwing on the run vs. on-platform. Comparing the movement between different circumstances provides insight into what the QB controls across different contexts while highlighting any changes that may occur (such as excessive side bend when throwing to his non-throwing hand side).
We will continue to develop new ways of assessing movement that reflects game-like situations, with the goal of giving athletes and coaches transferable knowledge to make better quarterbacks.
Looking Ahead
Biomechanics can be applied to all sports. We are expanding our approach and capabilities to basketball, soccer, hockey, and other sports. The future of athlete development is bright given the growing appreciation for data, tech, and biomechanics in sport.
Expanding our reach in football, we have also analyzed the movements of football linemen going through common practice drills and NFL combine-specific drills. We’ll have a story on those findings in this space soon.
Get in Touch
Have a question or want to get your athletes in front of our motion-capture cameras? Email us at athletes@breakawaydata.com