Tennis

[mikepalma]

Can anyone recommend how to monitor tennis with the Band? It appears there I no dedicated tennis app. ThankZ

 

[DroidUser42]

Best I can suggest is the catch-all "exercise" mode. That will track your HR info. I'm not sure what else the band could monitor.

 

[mikepalma]

I am not sure either, but it sounds like it does some cool stuff for golf. Not just the course stuff, but it monitors swing, etc, which could be helpful in tennis too

 

[DroidUser42]

Not just the course stuff, but it monitors swing, etc, which could be helpful in tennis too

I can see how it can be done for things like golf - last swing at a hole - the ball went in.

I don't see how you could do it in tennis since it has no idea if the last swing was because your opponent errored or you put it into the net. If all you want is the number of swings, I could see it doing that with the right programming. Or perhaps helping keeping score with an app. (Three tiles: My point, opponent's point, no point or menu.)

 

[blahdre]

this is something i always wanted them to incorporate. hell, if i had the time and know-how i'd dig into the SDK myself but the Band has so much potential in this regard. with all of the sensors on it it could measure shot speed, types of shot, etc. most of the existing sensors created specifically for tennis do the same thing with less hardware than the Band.

for instance, i used the Sony Smart Sensor to measure my forehand speed and the thing simply pops on to the butt end of the racquet. the motion of that sensor vs something attached to the wrist wouldn't differ to greatly i'd imagine. the same ideas/concepts in measuring the shot speed could probably then be extrapolated towards throwing activities (baseball pitch speed, hockey slapshot- which i've also used a similar device, plugged into the butt end of the stick, etc.)

maybe in time microsoft will expand their offerings to include not just golf but other sports...one can hope at least.

 

[mikepalma]

Wow that would be great! Is there a forum here in WC where we can submit ideas for.app.development, bc someone with coding skills could prob write the app and monetize the idea. (I know about the MS uservoice thing but don't hold ur breath for that)

 

[blahdre]

that'd be sweet. ive also been tempted to post this on microsoft's site where users submit ideas but i feel like it would just get lost in the mix. there's so much potential in this device...

 

[poit57]

for instance, i used the Sony Smart Sensor to measure my forehand speed and the thing simply pops on to the butt end of the racquet. the motion of that sensor vs something attached to the wrist wouldn't differ to greatly i'd imagine. the same ideas/concepts in measuring the shot speed could probably then be extrapolated towards throwing activities (baseball pitch speed, hockey slapshot- which i've also used a similar device, plugged into the butt end of the stick, etc.)

That sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it a device that attaches to end of a racquet, bat, stick, etc., actually translates to a wearable on your wrist. In my case, I wear my Band on my non-dominant hand, so actions like a tennis swing wouldn't even register unless the player uses a two-handed technique for every swing. It could be done with specialized attachments for the sports equipment, but I don't see additional peripherals being added to the Microsoft Health ecosystem any time soon.

I did use my Band to track activity during softball this summer. It didn't give me any sport-specific insights, but it did keep track of my steps, calories burned, and heart rate throughout each game. While analysis of my techniques would be interesting, it's not really relevant to my physical fitness.

 

[blahdre]

I usually wear my band on my non-dominant hand when playing tennis/hockey as well but if they had this functionality, I wouldn't mind switching it to my dominant hand to get these readings. And if it's placed on the dominant hand, the readings the sensors on the Band would get wouldn't differ THAT much from a sensor that is placed at the butt end of a stick or racquet. Sure there's minute twists to the wrist that would make it slightly different but you're measuring the overall arc traced by the hand and the speed of the hand during portions of that arc. You wouldn't need additional peripherals for this. It would only require using the existing sensors on the Microsoft Band and some manipulation on the software side. Anything that can be added in that way would only boost the value of a device such as this.

It may not be relevant to your physical fitness, but it could be a very useful tool for coaches or athletes looking to improve their game.

 

[mikepalma]

That sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it a device that attaches to end of a racquet, bat, stick, etc., actually translates to a wearable on your wrist. In my case, I wear my Band on my non-dominant hand, so actions like a tennis swing wouldn't even register unless the player uses a two-handed technique for every swing. It could be done with specialized attachments for the sports equipment, but I don't see additional peripherals being added to the Microsoft Health ecosystem any time soon.

I did use my Band to track activity during softball this summer. It didn't give me any sport-specific insights, but it did keep track of my steps, calories burned, and heart rate throughout each game. While analysis of my techniques would be interesting, it's not really relevant to my physical fitness.

What app in the Band did u use to track during your softball games? Thanks

 

[poit57]

What app in the Band did u use to track during your softball games? Thanks

I just tracked my activity using the exercise tile on the Band. I may not have been clear in my previous post, but all it tracked was the standard information that you usually get during a workout - duration, calories burned, avg/max heart rate, etc.

I have my Microsoft Health app connected with my MapMyFitness profile. Through their website, I can add more details, notes, etc. and specify the category of the workout - in this case, Sport / Other Activity: Softball - but there is no information analysis that is specific to the sport of softball.

 

[EMitchell]

I've just been using the general workout app while playing tennis, it's better than nothing. I'm not sure how the band could be used for tennis, I wear it on my non-dominant wrist, so it wouldn't work for tracking racket head speed. It does track footsteps using the workout app, but since the ground covered is pretty small - limited to 1/2 the court - using a GPS to cover the total distance run during a match wouldn't be very accurate.

 

[mikepalma]

I've just been using the general workout app while playing tennis, it's better than nothing. I'm not sure how the band could be used for tennis, I wear it on my non-dominant wrist, so it wouldn't work for tracking racket head speed. It does track footsteps using the workout app, but since the ground covered is pretty small - limited to 1/2 the court - using a GPS to cover the total distance run during a match wouldn't be very accurate.

Read blahdre's post one page back...its doable

 

[mikepalma]

This has definitely gained momentum on uservoice and twitter. Fyi, I have been using the workout tile while playing tennis and it tracks my steps calories and heart rate.

But would be great to have the TaylorMade like functions for info on swings etc, as outlined on uservoice

http://microsofthealth.uservoice.co...h-and-microsoft-band/filters/hot?query=tennis