OF Torii Hunter on Mets 3B David Wright wearing a new batting helmet with thicker protection.

You might be interested to know that I’ve written several magazine articles over the years attempting to explain the value of computer games to parents of hockey players. Come to think of it, I ought to touch upon that subject here someday, maybe even in a little more depth.

Then, while you’re absolutely right about the motion capture programs, I wonder if you know that these are used nowadays to create the movements in very realistic animations. In other words, a real-life karate expert might perform all his or her moves while wired to a computer, and those movements are then transferred to a cartoon-like character.

By the way… Having looked over my grandson’s shoulder plenty of times as he’s played the latest hockey or baseball computer game, the life-like actions of those animated athletes suggests to me that they were also created in the way we’ve both described. And that, in turn, suggests that you’ve probably been copying some biomechanically correct backward cross-overs.

Thanks again for contributing, buddy! I look forward to your future comments.

PS: It’s very likely someone in our membership knows a whole lot more about the above topics than I. So, you’d be doing me, Ravi and lots of others a huge favor by enlightening us. I mean that, sincerely.

The computer can then map the movements to a 3D skeleton on the screen in real time, allowing anyone to analyse all of the athlete’s movement. You can also edit the movement in real time (for example, you could add a deeper knee bend to a recording of a player skating) and see what effect it has.

You see this technology used more in high budget media productions than anything else, but I’ve heard of its use in sports science before.

As a side note, I improved my backwards crossovers by leaps and bounds by watching the animation from a hockey videogame… they’re not *entirely* useless, parents!

Oh, and if you take that trip east, make sure you and your little guy pack the skates, gloves and sticks. I’m likely to invite you guys onto the ice with me!

Don’t forget what we both preach, however — with the youngest ones, in that coordination/skills work comes first!