Labosport is a proud member of the The European Alliance for Sports Engineering Education (A4SEE), a consortium of Universities and Industry partners that strive to improve the education of both student and professional sport engineers and to improve cooperation between industry and academia.

Labosport is dedicated to the A4SEE mission through active participation as well as hosting Innovation Marketplace events at its locations in France and the United Kingdom. Labosport provides students the opportunity to learn about the industry’s business and technical needs for future surface characterization.

To learn more about A4SEE, please visit its website: https://a4see.com/

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The laws of physics that influence ball trajectory are fundamental to understanding the trajectory of a ball. Gravity pulls the ball towards the ground while air resistance slows it down as it moves through the air. However, other factors such as the velocity and spin of the ball at the point of contact or release, or the shape and size of the ball, can also affect the trajectory.

To address these factors, Labosport has developed a projectile model that utilizes data collected from professional games. The model provides accurate results that can ascertain the level and type of mitigation required. This is crucial in ensuring the safety of spectators and property surrounding sports stadiums.

To prevent balls from leaving the playing field, several types of barriers can be installed such as protective netting or solid walls. By understanding the laws of physics that influence ball trajectory and utilizing advanced models and technology, developers and property managers can take necessary measures to prevent accidents and injuries caused by loose balls in crowded areas.

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3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models are used in sports surface construction to create detailed, digital representations of the sports surface and its surrounding environment. These models can be used for a variety of purposes because they provide highly detailed documentation, making them a valuable tools throughout the construction process.

In planning and design, 3D models are used to visualize the sports surface and its layout, and to make changes and adjustments to the design before construction begins. It helps clearly communicate the design and layout of the sports surface to all relevant parties, including contractors, engineers, and regulators. It is used to coordinate the work of different contractors and trades, ensuring that all aspects of the contruction process are integrated and coordinated.

2D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models are used in sports similarly to 3D models, but they provide a simplified, two-dimensional representation of the sports surface or environment.

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It also involves managing any issues or disputes that may arise, and working with contractors and relevant parties to resolve them. Labosport can negotiate changes to the contract, or act as the mediator between the different parties involved.

Our experienced consultants bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to every project or problem, which is beneficial to our clients in a number of ways. Our consultants:

• have likely worked on similar projects or problems in the past, and can draw on past experiences to provide practical solutions
• can identify potential issues and risks early on, and can help to mitigate them before they become major problems
• provide valuable insights and perspectives that may not have been considered by others
• provide guidance and support to your team, helping them to stay on track and achieve goals
• help you to build trust and credibility with your clients

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An assessment will determine whether the surface needs to be replaced or if it can be repaired and continue to be used safely. This is important because a worn or damaged sports surface can pose a safety hazard to athletes and may affect their performance. In addition, a damaged surface can lead to increased maintenance costs and decreased lifespan.

Labosport tests the surface for hardness, slip resistance, and other factors to provide recommendations for repair or replacement of the surface. Our expertise enables us to provide specific details to ensure the new surface meets safety and performance standards.

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Sports surface failure analysis is an important part of maintaining and improving sports surfaces. An analysis can help to identify and resolve issues before they become major problems. It is important to also consider the performance and safety of the surface for the player, ensuring that it is fit for use and meets the required standards.

The constructing a new outdoor sports facility can be a complex process that should be carefully approached through a solid interpretation of the environment where the facility will be built. It begins with a great design and specification, as well as a commitment to sustained maintenance.

A lack of awareness or information about these factors can lead to poor design, sub-standard or underperforming materials and insufficient workmanship. Critical repairs or premature reconstruction of the facility are common outcomes of inadequate planning.

Labosport has deployed consultants throughout the world. Because of our comprehensive knowledge and shared expertise, we can frequently detect the root source of a premature failure promptly. We can likewise provide guidance when required to find a resolution to any ongoing disputes.

LABOSPORT CONSULTING SERVICES

We help clients identify problems, develop solutions, and implement changes using our specialized knowledge, skills, and expertise. We are the world’s foremost experts on sports surfaces. We help clients with the designing, budgeting, planning, construction, testing and certification of sports surfaces around the globe.

Our consulting management services integrate strategy, design, software, technology and expertise into one powerful package that benefits clients by helping them to develop and deliver extraordinary projects.

Our global teams are passionate, disciplined, and committed to working collectively to deliver outstanding results. We help clients by playing a crucial role in delivering projects on time, within budget, and to the highest standards.

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Cost-Effective Planning
Feasibility testing helps to identify potential issues and obstacles that may arise during the sports surface project. By identifying these issues early, the project team can develop a plan that is both cost-effective and efficient. This can help to prevent unexpected delays and additional costs later in the project.

Risk Management
Feasibility testing helps to identify potential risks associated with the sports surface project. By understanding these risks, the project team can develop a risk management plan to mitigate them. This can help to prevent accidents and injuries, which can be costly and damaging to the reputation of the project team and the sports facility.

Regulatory Compliance
Feasibility testing helps to ensure that the sports surface project complies with regulatory requirements. The project team can identify any potential regulatory issues and take steps to address them. This can help to prevent delays and additional costs associated with regulatory non-compliance.

Performance Evaluation
Feasibility testing helps to evaluate the performance of the sports surface project. The project team can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed sports surface and make necessary adjustments. This can help to ensure that the sports surface meets the needs of athletes and sports enthusiasts and is safe for use.

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• FIFA Research Institutes increase their continued support for the Football Technology & Innovation subdivision
• Projects spanning across the FIFA Research, Quality and Innovation Programmes as well the Football Technology team
• Applications to become a FIFA Research Institute will be received every two years with each institute required to meet a defined eligibility criteria and agreed provision to the publication of work in scientific journals

At the recent FIFA Quality Programme Conference and Research Symposium, Labosport, Sports Labs and Victoria University were announced as the first FIFA Research Institutes for Football Technology Innovation. This marks the long-term formalisation of FIFA’s collaboration with these three thought-leading research institutes, seeking to further increase the application of science in football.

Research is central to all the key activities within the FIFA’s Football Technology & Innovation sub-division, playing a vital role in exploring, validating and implementing a variety of products, surfaces, technologies and innovations. Through joint projects, particularly in the last decade, FIFA has built relationships with these institutions and their contribution to football technology is apparent through a number of global standards and scientific publications.

There are many challenges which face the industry and require FIFA’s input, from the democratisation of technology, to new legislation, sustainability and much more.

The expertise of the FIFA Research Institutes will be harnessed in three key areas:

• An agreed amount of technical and human resources made available for the duration of the term, to be allocated to relevant research areas within the FIFA Football Technology & Innovation subdivision.
• Benefitting the wider sports research community by committing to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals.
• Providing empirical evidence to guide the discussions within the FIFA Quality Programme’s Technical Advisory Groups (TAG), which develops the testing standards and requirements for each product category.The three FIFA Research Institutes are known to many but are introduced below:

Labosport have worked closely with FIFA since the inception of the Quality Programme for Football Turf in 2001. Throughout this time, Labosport have tested products and field installations around the world, and their research and innovation has helped to bring new test methods and standards to the FIFA Quality Programme.

In addition to playing surfaces, Labosport are also involved in other FIFA Quality Programmes such as Goal-line Technology, Futsal Surfaces and the FIFA Quality Programme for Football Goals. Labosport’s core contribution as a FIFA Research Institute will be to accelerate numerous projects to better understand playing surfaces (both natural and synthetic), and to translate this knowledge into new test methods and standards.

Sports Labs’ collaboration with FIFA started in 2005 with a relationship that utilised their expertise in testing surfaces and a variety of different sporting equipment. Since then, as a FIFA Accredited Test Institute in 7 different quality programmes that include everything from playing surfaces to wearable technologies, Sports Labs has become a core contributor to the Research and Standards team.

Whilst one of their key strengths is in understanding the interaction between the player and the surface, their diverse experience across the majority of the FIFA Quality Programmes puts them in a strong position to develop new test methods across the board. Examples range from adapting existing test methods for new offside technologies to developing new measurement techniques for the quality of footballs.

Victoria University (VU) first worked with FIFA in 2016 carrying out fundamental research to establish the feasibility of a standard to assess the accuracy of Electronic Performance Tracking Systems (EPTS). This early research led FIFA to develop and refine a test protocol, which has now assessed over 40 different tracking systems.

VU, a FIFA Accredited Test Institute for EPTS, has recently expanded its EPTS testing to include tracking provided from broadcast video (FIFA Basic), and skeletal tracking used for applications such as semi-automated offside technology.

VU and FIFA will continue to collaborate to generate further knowledge on how technologies can be assessed beyond measuring accuracy and how they can be best understood to help improve the game.

In order to become a FIFA Research Institute a series of eligibility criteria must be met.

• 5 years collaboration with the Football Technology & Innovation subdivision
• Allocation of set amount of research resources to agreed FIFA research projects
• Minimum of 5 scientific publications pre-application with dedicated resources to publication through their term as a FIFA Research Institute
• Demonstrable interdisciplinary research skillsThe application period for new FIFA Research Institutes will be open every two years with the next application period taking place from May – August 2024. This initiative offers a great opportunity to maximise the research resources available to FIFA whilst contributing to real world challenges in collaboration with the industry and academia.

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The Labosport ScorePlay Philosophy

Our unique service is the result of 20 years of sports field testing and agronomic expertise. With Labosport ScorePlay, you can be confident that you will receive a thorough and accurate evaluation of your sports field.

Key Benefits ScorePlay

At Labosport, we understand that every sports venue is unique, whether it is a top-class stadium or a community field. That’s why we work closely with you to tailor our services to meet your bespoke needs. Our team of experts will help you gain a thorough understanding of the current condition of your pitch, including the effectiveness of your maintenance practices, and adapt accordingly. With our service, you can monitor the performance of your field over time, before and after key tournaments or events, whether sporting or non-sporting.

Our platform also allows you to communicate the results to players, staff, the community, and all other stakeholders involved. Moreover, our flexible approach enables you to benchmark and compare your field with other venues, ensuring that you have access to the most up-to-date insights and data.

We understand that different sports and climatic conditions require a customized approach. That’s why we offer a fully customizable solution, enabling us to assess and provide tailored recommendations for your venue regardless of the sport or climate.

Reporting
To ensure that you have a clear understanding of the results, we provide a comprehensive executive summary that includes an overall score presented as a percentage. Our detailed executive summary is presented without any technical jargon and is accompanied by an expert interpretation that provides insight into the findings.

Our assessment includes the identification of key mechanisms that influence the properties of your field, which is presented in a detailed report and analysis of results. Our team of independent experts provides advice and proposed corrective actions based on their analysis.

We also provide a comparison of your field with other similar fields and your own field over time, utilizing our extensive database of sports fields tested around the world, including elite and community facilities, to define and guide our interpretation of findings.

Our powerful interface includes a mapping of key criteria to identify surface consistency, making it easy to spot areas of concern. The data is presented using our unique scoring system, where all parameters are weighted, ranked, and expertly assessed to derive the score on a simple and easy-to-understand ranking scale.

In summary, with ScorePlay, you can expect a comprehensive and easy-to-understand report that provides a detailed analysis of your field, expert recommendations, and comparisons with other fields, all while using a unique and powerful interface.

Criteria
Our assessment covers a range of field parameters, including surface regularity, water infiltration, moisture and irrigation, lines, run-offs, and equipment, and more.

In addition, we evaluate the agronomy of your field, which includes ground cover, thatch depth, effective root depth, ground hardness or compaction, sward color and height, insect pests & diseases, and more.

We also measure the performance and player welfare aspects of your field, including shock absorption, head impact criteria, vertical deformation, energy restitution, rotational resistance, ball roll, and ball rebound.

For baseball and cricket fields, we provide a surface speed characterization that includes pace, bounce, and uniformity.

All of these parameters are evaluated using our unique and powerful interface, which provides a detailed and easy-to-understand report, expert recommendations, and comparisons with other fields. With ScorePlay, you can be confident that you are receiving a comprehensive evaluation of your sports field that covers all the key parameters necessary for optimal performance and player welfare.

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New Cloud-Based Track Management

Both systems use a common database architecture, live data visualisation and hardware, but each system has a bespoke track testing protocol and reporting system.

The platform features national and individual track views to allow various stakeholders to see the track information without contacting the respective track manager. Each site is hosted on a secure website with individual login credentials.

The mytrackmanager version provides the national track manager oversight of 32 racetracks with the ability to go into each racecourse and see detailed results for the current race meeting and trend data over time, whilst the mygreyhoundtrack version features six regional tracks.

A feature of the platform is attaining live data entry from the track; it is achieved by incorporating a 4G LTE tablet. The hardware is a commercial of the shelf (COTS) 8.7” 4G LTE tablet with a shockproof water-resistant casing designed for a variety of working conditions track managers often encounter.

Track managers upload track readings into the portal using the built-in 4G connectivity, reducing potential errors in data handling over the paper-based systems used previously. The system calculates the various track ratings, removing the need for track managers to complete mathematical calculations.

The track management portals also have a communication feature which allows for shared document libraries, calendars or other critical stakeholder information. Settings allow for the document to be view-only or available for download, which is great for templates.

This communication feature also allows for connection to a client’s cloud storage and enables the user to share files and images with an individual track or across the entire group and vice versa. This feature will rapidly evolve as track managers make use of the power of cloud computing.

To enhance this feature, NZSTI has deployed a series of templates for operations management, budgets, health and safety and track managers can utilise these through the portal.

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