Future Unschooling Through Technology? was: Is Too Much Screen Time Abusive?
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Here's another positive article about how technology actually can
create learning rather than damage young brains, in new ways that old teachers are
deeply suspicious of and still resist. This one isn't linked anywhere that I
know of. I saved it just because we play tennis <g>. The original newspaper
link may still work, and if not, email me if you want a copy of the whole
article and I will forward. JJ
October 16, 2003
A Coach's Digital Tools Take Center Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/16/technology/circuits/16tenn.html?th=&
pagewanted=print&position=
THE serve explodes off Jeff Salzenstein's racket. It is a round yellow
missile, traveling 130 miles per hour and capable of freezing the world's top tennis
players in their Reeboks. But this rocket underscores its server's
consternation. If he can hit a ball like this, Salzenstein wonders until it hurts, why
must he toil only on the outskirts of greatness?
Enter the nutritionist, spiritual adviser, stretching coach and yoga
instructor. Salzenstein consults each to help him to rise above his world tennis
ranking: No. 125, or relative obscurity. And he comes here, to the Peninsula Tennis
Club, to sit in front of John Yandell's <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=SNE">Sony</A> laptop computer and figure out
if ones and zeroes will at last unlock his full potential. . .
The major sports increasingly employ technology not just to improve their
equipment and safety, but also to train, using computers to quantify performance
and help athletes push their potential. Tennis has not been in the forefront,
but Yandell believes the future of the sport's instruction will revolve around
digital imagery, and he is working with Salzenstein to prove his point.
A coach with a Yale history degree who once tutored John McEnroe on his
serve, Yandell proposes a seemingly simple concept. He wants to use digital
photography to break down the serves, forehands and backhands of the greatest players
of all time, then let others modify their own swings to incorporate some of
the most successful techniques.
He plans to videotape the world's best players in three dimensions using
super-high-speed digital cameras. Then he wants to reduce the tennis swing to a
science; he wants to measure the precise position of the arm at impact, the path
of the racket head over the full swing, and the speed and angles of body
rotation.
He would like to change the way people teach tennis, which he said is "an
invisible game" because neither coaches nor fans really know what is happening.
The trouble, he said, is that the swing happens so quickly that the naked eye
cannot pick up what separates the swing mechanics of the greats from mere
mortals or near-greats like Jeff Salzenstein.
"The basic issues of technique are in complete disarray, confusion and
dispute among the so-called experts and authorities," Yandell said. "If you get the
best coaches after a couple of beers, they'll tell you, 'I don't know what's
really happening.' "
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
create learning rather than damage young brains, in new ways that old teachers are
deeply suspicious of and still resist. This one isn't linked anywhere that I
know of. I saved it just because we play tennis <g>. The original newspaper
link may still work, and if not, email me if you want a copy of the whole
article and I will forward. JJ
October 16, 2003
A Coach's Digital Tools Take Center Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/16/technology/circuits/16tenn.html?th=&
pagewanted=print&position=
THE serve explodes off Jeff Salzenstein's racket. It is a round yellow
missile, traveling 130 miles per hour and capable of freezing the world's top tennis
players in their Reeboks. But this rocket underscores its server's
consternation. If he can hit a ball like this, Salzenstein wonders until it hurts, why
must he toil only on the outskirts of greatness?
Enter the nutritionist, spiritual adviser, stretching coach and yoga
instructor. Salzenstein consults each to help him to rise above his world tennis
ranking: No. 125, or relative obscurity. And he comes here, to the Peninsula Tennis
Club, to sit in front of John Yandell's <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=SNE">Sony</A> laptop computer and figure out
if ones and zeroes will at last unlock his full potential. . .
The major sports increasingly employ technology not just to improve their
equipment and safety, but also to train, using computers to quantify performance
and help athletes push their potential. Tennis has not been in the forefront,
but Yandell believes the future of the sport's instruction will revolve around
digital imagery, and he is working with Salzenstein to prove his point.
A coach with a Yale history degree who once tutored John McEnroe on his
serve, Yandell proposes a seemingly simple concept. He wants to use digital
photography to break down the serves, forehands and backhands of the greatest players
of all time, then let others modify their own swings to incorporate some of
the most successful techniques.
He plans to videotape the world's best players in three dimensions using
super-high-speed digital cameras. Then he wants to reduce the tennis swing to a
science; he wants to measure the precise position of the arm at impact, the path
of the racket head over the full swing, and the speed and angles of body
rotation.
He would like to change the way people teach tennis, which he said is "an
invisible game" because neither coaches nor fans really know what is happening.
The trouble, he said, is that the swing happens so quickly that the naked eye
cannot pick up what separates the swing mechanics of the greats from mere
mortals or near-greats like Jeff Salzenstein.
"The basic issues of technique are in complete disarray, confusion and
dispute among the so-called experts and authorities," Yandell said. "If you get the
best coaches after a couple of beers, they'll tell you, 'I don't know what's
really happening.' "
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]