Press Release
Optima-life takes sports performance and recovery into a new era
Optima-life1, the UK based health and sports performance company has signed an exclusive deal with Firstbeat Technologies2, Finland's leading software specialists in the sports healthcare market. The agreement sees state of the art technology, currently being used by a number of leading sporting organisations including Olympic teams, NHL franchises and Formula 1 Motor Racing being made available to UK coaches and athletes; a move which will finally provide the missing link in the sports performance and recovery.
The optima-life team, made up of some of the UK's brightest talents in sports science and medicine were quick to recognise a gap in the performance jigsaw. Chief Executive, Simon Shepard3 explained:
'Measurement of sports performance has made great strides in recent years but recovery has, until now, been a somewhat grey area. The Firstbeat technology will give coaches and athletes, objective data and feedback on training and performance. It will also enable them to see the effect that external pressures such as travel, jet lag, social pressures from sponsors or perhaps a hectic social life is having on performance'.
He continued:
'The beauty of this system is its simplicity. It works like a camera recording data minute by minute. Athletes wear a heart rate monitor and measurements of heart rate variability4 are taken in real time. Reports can be printed in minutes. Performance levels are shown, stress levels are clearly identified and such is the technology, you can pinpoint exact times of day and night when recovery is occurring. This is vital information for coaches planning training sessions and for the medics bringing players back from injury.
For Firstbeat Technology, a spin out company from the Research Institute for Olympic Sports and the University of Jyväskylä, and for its Chief Exec Joni Kettunen5, it was important that they found the right company to develop a working partnership.
He said:
'Firstbeat has been developing this range of products for a number of years and it was important for us that we worked with professionals who had a passion for sport and healthcare and who understood where we were coming from. This is more than just technology, it's about communication. Our winning partnerships to date include, our work with Olympic athletes, NHL teams and, organisations such as McLaren Racing, all of which have been built on great trust and understanding as well as great technology. We wanted to be certain that this would continue.
'We see this as a long term partnership with Simon and his team. We are putting great resources into support and development of our ongoing technology and we are delighted to link up with this very exciting and progressive young company.'
The Beijing Olympics has shown that innovative technology is adding to overall sporting achievement. Optima-life using Firstbeat technology can take sports performance and recovery to a new level. The future for British sport is, indeed, looking very bright.
END
Notes
1 optima-life www.optima-life.com↑
2 Firstbeat technologies www.firstbeatechnologies.com↑
3 Simon Shepard http://www.optima-life.com/optimabiographies.html↑
4 Heart rate variability http://www.optima-life.com/faqs.html#heartrate↑
5Joni Kettunen http://www.optima-life.com/firstbeatbiographies.html↑
