What’s so great about NBA superstar Stephen Curry? Former professional baseball player and USF sports science student Samuel Taylor thinks it comes down to one thing: consistency.
But most athletes aren’t consistent because they don’t have the data to know exactly how their bodies work, he says. is what we want to change with Core Impact. Core Impact is a sports he technology startup that helps athletes collect real-time data to improve their training and in-game performance regimens.
The idea dates back to his time as a member of the AAA team for the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels). In 1994, his coach showed a film of Taylor at bat and said, “Your swing is looping.” Taylor theoretically understood what the coach meant, but he didn’t know what he needed to fix. Fast-forward to 2000, when Taylor was studying sports science with an emphasis on kinesiology.PerformanceHis data is evolving, and Taylor sees his six-year-old tutorial in a new light.
“My muscles were weak,” he says. “I had to compensate with uppercuts. The coach understood the outside layer, but not the inside layer, so I couldn’t explain it well.”
Core Impact’s patent-pending wearable technology has three components. First, EMG sensors are embedded in the fabric of the upper and lower garments. Second, a mini-computer-like “smart core” device is inserted into the base layer of clothing behind the neck and on the sides of the waist. Shows where muscles are firing and lagging during exercise.
These garments fit snugly enough that the EMG sensors can capture biomechanical data during movements such as swinging a bat or a golf club, Taylor said. The app picks up the signals and summarizes the information to help athletes perform at their best. After a few iterations, Core Impact his team decided to use the technology to track muscle activity, muscle fatigue, muscle acceleration and heart rate.
Fitness trackers have skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years. In 2020, the Pew Research Center reported that about one in five US adults (21%) wear a smartwatch or fitness band regularly. But compared to fitness trackers like the Apple Watch, the Core Impact offers a more targeted solution with high endurance athletes in mind.
“We specialize in sports,” he says. “The Apple Watch can tell you certain metrics, but it doesn’t tell you if your pectoral muscles or quadriceps are firing at this level. (Fitness trackers) offer simple insights into basic fitness and life, while DAEs (Digital Athlete Ecosystem) offer much more performance benefits.”
Core Impact also benefits from Taylor’s experience in design. Since 2002, he has worked with several Fortune 500 companies such as Levi Strauss and PacSun on all aspects of design including product development, technology and apparel design. In 2012, he launched his own athleisure apparel and footwear brand, TESH Sports, which he sold after his departure.
In 2022, Core Impact was selected to join Rocklin’s Growth Factory business incubator and has now raised $750,000 in a pre-seed round. This year, Taylor plans to beta test the product with college schools and endurance athletes in the Sacramento area.
According to Strategy and Innovation Institute CEO and Growth Factory advisor Brian Gladden, most investors and advisors try to help entrepreneurs by asking three key questions: Does the solution solve the problem better than existing alternatives? Is this the right team for a successful startup?
When it came to core impact, the answer was yes to all three, which forced Gladden, who played football at a young age, to step in as an advisor.
“I’ve seen this, but there’s nothing on the market that shows what the muscles are doing in real time from a visual standpoint,” says Gladden. . It’s about simplifying the data. It should be simple and visual. ”
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