Sports must come to people

Sports of the future in time of the Corona crisis

Anja Kirig

Crisis and Opportunity

Lucky are those who have carefully followed deve­lo­p­ments in the future of Sports and evolved with the trends! That may provide an advan­tage right now. For ever­yone else who has not yet delved into these, action is now the order of the day. One of the main trends for Sports in the future is: “Sports must come to people, not people to sports”.

Origi­nally arising out of the mobi­lity mega­trend, it is espe­ci­ally true in times of increased immo­bi­lity of the indi­vi­dual. Assuming you don’t want to lose custo­mers, members, etc., and even want to gain and grow. There is also an oppor­tu­nity in this crisis.

Sportverein 2030

Ideal for sports centers, the work­book “Sport­verein 2030” is published by the Swabian Gymnastics Asso­cia­tion, the Lower Saxony Gymnastics Asso­cia­tion and the Swiss Gymnastics Asso­cia­tion. The chap­ters on the subjects of mobi­lity and digi­ta­liza­tion or virtua­liza­tion can be modi­fied to better fit the current, altered condi­tions.

Perhaps this is how ideas come toge­ther to keep the members happy, to allow trai­ning to take place differ­ently and priva­tely, or maybe “just” in order to easily build commu­nity.

This may very well develop lasting concepts for Sports in the future too, because after the corona crisis, the mega­trend of mobi­lity will defi­ni­tely be very present again!

Potential for networking

For busi­nesses in the sports sector there are now many oppor­tu­ni­ties to reach the customer, espe­ci­ally through service and support of the indi­vi­dual athlete during their outdoor trai­ning or at home.

But networ­king for the immo­bi­lized sports commu­nity also offers poten­tial despite rest­ricted or suspended public life. What is needed are ideas and offers through which Sports-active society can move, network and help preserve their liveli­ness and vita­lity.

From online workout classes and live trai­ning offers, inno­va­tive systems such as the smart trai­ning Mirror or tracking apps like Strava, Sports’s future and mobile living have long made their way into people’s homes. There is also poten­tial in the area of “occu­pa­tional health manage­ment”, with the ques­tion: How can we bring healthy active living into the home office?
Visit Mirror

China in your hand

In China, and as a result of Covid-19, provi­ders quickly adapted towards offe­ring work­outs streamed online, as well as new fitness equip­ment suited to life within our own four walls. Accor­ding to reports, an entire fitness studio in Guang­zhou went virtual with over one thousand members. Other streamed their workout service over WeChat.

Provi­ders such as Peloton have also found success with this model for Sports in the future, offe­ring among their range a €2,300 luxury indoor fitness bike along­side a member­ship and live courses inclu­ding compre­hen­sive services in a media library and online commu­nity, with the motto “connect, bond, inspire and grow stronger toge­ther”.

Visit Peloton

At home Yoga

The future of Sports can also be worn, if you like: with the Nadi X yoga pants by Wearable Expe­ri­ments, move­ment can be kept up without a yoga studio, YouTube or Zoom courses.

These pants feature inte­grated sensors that detect the Yogi’s posture and guide the wearer by means of vibra­tions, when a posi­tion is not being held correctly.

Visit Wearable X

Professional Sports: We are family

Just how sports events must be post­poned and crea­tively solved, was shown by FC Schalke on March 14th. As the match against Borussia Dort­mund was cancelled, the club allowed fans the chance to relive its “centen­nial derby” on Twitter. It was in November 2017 that Schalke reco­vered from an 0:4 deficit to 4:4 in extra time.

Nowa­days, fans are included more than ever, it is no longer about front-row seats, a game or the club, but about a new expe­ri­ence and commu­nity culture. And that can also be achieved through commu­nity projects. Second division’s TV Hütten­berg offers Neigh­bour­hood assis­tance, in which hand­ball players are taking care of home shop­ping for people in quaran­tine or for those parti­cu­larly at-risk, heal­thwise.
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The technology-loving and networked Sports society

Regard­less of whether for a sports club, company, Sports event provider or a profes­sional sports, thanks to the networ­king mega­trend, the nume­rous tech­no­lo­gical inno­va­tions and the sports community’s high willing­ness to use them, many new ways can be deve­loped in the current situa­tion of “brin­ging sports to people”. Sustainedly, too, even in a post-corona era.

We did this.

Compa­nies involved & Links

Photos

Pixabay
Peloton
Wearable X
Mirror

Author

Anja Kirig
Zukunfts- und Trend­for­schung
Schmidt­bornstr. 2
D — 65934 Frankfurt/M

Workbook

Sport­verein 2030

Supplier

Mirror

Supplier

Wearable X

Supplier

Strava Busi­ness

Supplier

Peloton

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