Virtual Reality in Sports Training: Use Cases & Benefits

As the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris have just been closed, we would like to discuss the potential of using virtual reality (VR) in sports training contexts. 

 

As expectations from Olympic athletes and professional sportspeople are growing constantly amid injury prevention efforts, sports managers, coaches, and athletes look for innovative ways to practice better and improve their performance. Virtual reality sports training is becoming increasingly attractive.

 

In this article, you will learn about its benefits and organizations successfully utilizing VR in sports training. Should you decide to initiate your own one, nothing is easier than contacting Onix!

 

For example, Onix combined virtual reality and sports training in a game for soccer goalkeepers.

 

For example, Onix is currently developing a VR application for training soccer goalkeepers.

 

Use Cases and Benefits of VR Sports Training

Virtual sports training involves using VR headsets, motion-tracking equipment, and immersive digital environments that simulate real-world sporting scenarios. Let’s examine some of the benefits of VR training for athletes, coaches, teams, and organizations.

 

Read also: How to Implement VR and AR in Fitness in 2025 – Benefits and Use Cases

 

Skill acquisition and development

Practice in virtual environments has the potential to enhance sports performance through training athletes’ motor and psychological skills and capabilities, such as:

 

• perception-action skills, e.g., detecting and tracking objects, reaction time, etc.
• bodily sensations and balancing 
• strategic and tactical skills
• decision-making
• responding to unexpected events
• psychological resilience and performance under pressure

 

The ability to track performance metrics, such as swing mechanics and reaction times is one of the primary benefits of virtual reality training. VR technology is mature enough to differentiate between novice and professional sportspeople, recognize their ability level, and respond critically. 

 

One of the simplest ways to use virtual reality for sports training is to immerse players in a match situation where they made an error. Coaches can allow injured players to participate and check their decision-making during a game replayed in a VR headset.

 

Rehabilitation specialists can create immersive game-like practice experiences for injured athletes who need to maintain a level of perceptual-cognitive skill or regain their fitness without physical load and pain.

 

For instance, baseball players can practice stealing bases, navigating crowded basepaths, and reacting to realistic game situations simulated in VR.

 

Learn more: 5 Best Virtual Reality Headsets for Game Development

 

The REVEA project is a recent example of using VR to boost skills, in this case, in boxers and soccer goalkeepers. The Inria research centre at Rennes University and the French Olympic boxing team worked together to see whether VR can help improve certain “sub-skills,” and, if so, help the Olympic teams prepare for Paris 2024.

 

The VR system they created does not aim to replicate a match but rather identify a specific sub-skill, such as speed, motor coordination, strength, etc., and improve it in a combat-like situation. Specifically, they intended to hone the ability to anticipate opponents’ attacks.

 

Learn more: The Guide to Create Your VR Training Simulator

 

The VR simulator uses 3D measurements of professional boxers’ movements obtained with motion capture devices. Data collected from this simulator, e.g., anticipatory defensive movements like slight hip movements, is then transposed onto different virtual opponents a boxer encounters in virtual reality.

Image source

 

The software platform was based on the Unity engine, often used to create video games.

 

Read also: Onix at the Global Game Jam: Creating a Game with Unity in a Week

 

The system loads a 3D boxing ring with virtual boxing opponents. Their movements are stored in the application’s “movement libraries.”

 

There are also algorithms linked to the avatars’ motion control. These elements provide researchers and coaches with metrics to measure the boxers’ reaction times and anticipatory behavior.

 

The system was used at the Olympic boxing team’s training centre and by INSEP scientists working with the French Boxing Federation.

 

During the experiments, the researchers observed the boxers’ reactions to different types of blows and their sensitivity to slight anticipatory movements perceived by the opponent. Quantifying these observations, e.g., by success rates or reaction times, they could create a map of a boxer’s anticipatory performance.

 

The same approach was applied to goalkeeper training at the Stade Rennais FC. The VR system teaches them to better manage peripheral vision information: goalkeepers who focus on the player with the ball often fail to react to last-second passes to the other side of the goal.

 

Onix has also built a VR application for goalkeepers.  It is designed for Meta Quest 3. The user must practice saves at irregular intervals with increasing difficulty for several minutes.

Onix’s contribution to VR integration in sports training 

 

The REVEA project team applied artificial intelligence (AI) research to improve the software and equipment. They developed neural networks and deep reinforcement learning to improve the behavior of virtual opponents.

 

Learn more: The Use of AI at the Olympic Games in Paris and Beyond

 

Initial results showed that it is possible to reproduce the complex interactions between two boxers with very few observations of actual combats. Taking this approach to its limits, sports professionals might simulate the movements and strategies of a particular athlete based on some video footage of their previous matches, games, or competitions.

 

Real also: Automation in Health and Fitness: Main Reasons to Automate

 

Overcoming limitations

Real-world training sessions are always subject to constraints of time, space, weather, equipment, safety, number of participants, or even coach or partner availability. Virtual reality enables athletes and coaches to overcome these limitations and push their own limits.

 

For instance, VR can enable racing drivers to speed around various tracks and areas of the world without traveling.

 

 

Athletes can use mixed reality (MR) headsets like Apple Vision Pro to exercise independently with their own sports equipment and spaces and get valuable real-time feedback. MR can also empower athletes to be coached or spar remotely.  

 

Constraints were also one of the reasons behind the REVEA project. For a boxer or coach to analyze the opponent’s behavior, one of the boxers must reproduce typical attacks in face-to-face combat.

 

However, some movements are difficult to control and faithfully reproduce multiple times. Moreover, active boxing is physically demanding and can’t go on too long.

 

In VR simulations, an athlete’s avatar can practice with a virtual opponent without the risk of injury. VR can also offer stimuli that are impossible in real life. Athletes can experiment with various visual and auditory perceptions or box with a higher-skilled opponent than usual.

 

It is not known whether the super-heavyweight boxer Djamili-Dini Aboudou who won the bronze medal in Paris participated in the REVEA project,  but Australia’s Olympic swimmers used VR to practice relay changeovers.

 

It’s fractions of a second that can decide gold and silver medals, but medley relay teams are disqualified if a swimmer’s feet have left the starting block before the previous swimmer has touched the wall. 

 

“Often when you’re on the national team, you’re not changing over with someone in your [training] squad, so they have quite limited time to actually practice the changeovers,” Swimming Australia’s general manager for performance support Jess Corones explained.

 

A VR-based practice was designed to help the team eliminate the disqualification risk and optimize their changeover speed. The team’s sports scientists had filmed each potential relay swimmer finishing their leg of a relay from above the starting blocks to capture the view for a swimmer standing on the block. Then, they used the footage to create 3D videos.

 

Learn more: Training in Virtual Environments: 360° Video vs. Full VR

 

At a relay camp after the national championships, the swimmers received VR headsets with the uploaded 3D videos. Watching how each teammate finishes their relay leg should help them decide precisely when to leave the block for a fast, clean changeover.

 

Previously, the team had been using a standard video on their phones to help with their anticipation. “The VR goggles are taking that to another level where we’re trying to create an even more real environment,” Corones said.

Image source

 

The VR headsets reportedly allowed the swimmers to visualize changeovers more effectively and practice more regularly. 

 

At the Paris Olympics, Australian swimmers won

 

• gold in the women’s 4x100 meters freestyle relay with an Olympic record time of 3:28.92
• gold in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay with a record time of 7:38.08
• silver in the women’s 4x100m medley relay
• silver in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay
• bronze in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay 
• bronze in the mixed 4x100m medley relay

 

After the Olympic Games, Swimming Australia may try to integrate the swimmers’ movement pattern into the training process. “They can’t dive in [with a VR headset on] but we might be able to get them to do a standing jump so we could time their reaction,” Corones said.

 

Safety promotion

Virtual reality empowers athletes to practice and develop proper technique in safe environments. Professional and college teams can use VR for the players to learn their playbooks at their own pace. This means that when they exercise or compete in real life, they can do it more safely, with good technique, decreasing injury risks for themselves and others. 

 

VR may also help with monitoring errors and diagnosing injuries, should they occur. For instance, sports like rugby, American and Australian rules football, and even soccer expose athletes to repetitive head impacts (RHI) in both practice and matches. These are believed to cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy – gradual shrinking of critical areas of the brain.  

 

Sparring with a virtual opponent or heading a virtual ball implies safe repeatable tasks and complete control over the practice environment. This benefit, which has also promoted the adoption of VR in medical training, may be realized across many martial arts and contact sports.

 

Psychological benefits

Olympic athletes have to do their best under immense pressure, in front of global audiences, and despite numerous distractions. Virtual environments that mimic those conditions (e.g., a specific crowded stadium) or even amplify stress-inducing elements may help prepare athletes to face those challenges.

 

Australia Swimming head coach Rohan Taylor said the coaches already used gamification in their physical relay practice.

 

In between the relay legs, the swimmers had to complete tasks like shooting baskets and then to make the changeover within a time span to earn maximum points. VR can do the same and integrate fantasy elements into realistic scenes to increase the effect of unpredictability.

 

VR simulations of various game and competition situations might help athletes

 

• enhance concentration when they are in the hectic Olympic arena
• stay focused on specific strategies and goals
• manage pressure and stress
• practice maintaining composure
• develop mental toughness

 

Sports psychologists can also integrate mental health and meditation VR applications in sports training programs. These apps blend age-old meditation techniques, 3D graphics, sounds, music, narration, haptic feedback, and biofeedback, which is particularly valuable for professional sportspeople.

 

Apps like InnerVR, which offers fun activities in tranquil virtual settings, may help athletes unwind and relax after rigorous practice, games, and competitions, control pain, manage anxiety before events, and enhance their overall mental condition.

A screenshot of the InnerVR meditation app developed by Onix

 

Learn more: Onix’s Guide to VR-Based Meditation App Development

 

The Takeaway

This article is just a glimpse into the potential of virtual reality in sports training contexts. Research shows that immersive practice environments and workout programs with real-time feedback may help athletes improve technical and tactical skills, decision-making, and overall performance while reducing the risk of injuries.

 

The role of VR in sports training and Olympic athletes preparation can be called negligible at the moment, but research continues, equipment becomes more affordable, and technologies are evolving, paving the way for new applications and use cases.

 

Particularly, the integration of VR platforms with AI and machine learning (ML) can accelerate the adoption and development of VR in sports training. As a result, increasingly data-driven and personalized VR experiences may soon become integral to top athletes’ and teams’ physical, technical, and mental preparation across a wider range of sports.

 

If you want to keep up with the leaders, gain a competitive edge before the next Olympiad, or present a breakthrough solution for coaches and athletes worldwide, please don’t hesitate to share your ideas with Onix! We have extensive experience in producing VR training apps and can help by

 

• building a custom solution to meet your particular needs and goals, from the support and adaptation of specific sports rules to the maintenance of your deployed VR app

 

• providing experts in programming applications and crafting 3D environments remotely

 

• referring you to partners who can shoot 360° videos for you

 

• developing VR for meetings that can enable coaches, athletes, and teams to hold virtual meetings and discussions in a fully immersive VR environment

 

FAQ

 

What are the benefits of using VR in sports training?

VR sports training offers many advantages over traditional training that can enhance an athlete’s performance:

 

• In virtual environments, athletes can practice specific skills and drills countless times, accelerating muscle memory development and refining technical execution.

 

• Valuable insights from training data analytics enable coaches and athletes to identify areas for improvement and personalize training programs for maximum impact.

 

• VR can expose athletes to various scenarios that mimic the pressure and complexities of competitions and games, helping improve reaction times and the ability to perform in highly stressful situations.

 

• VR practice environments are completely safe and controllable, allowing athletes to practice without the physical strain of real-world training, reducing the risk of injury, and helping maintain peak fitness levels during recovery periods.

 

• Aspiring competitors can access personalized VR training programs, coaches, and higher-level partners that can be out of reach locally.

 

What sports and athletic disciplines can benefit from VR practices and training programs? 

Some of the likeliest areas for VR adoption in sports training are:

 

• bat/racquet and ball sports like baseball and table tennis
• contact sports, such as American football, Australian rules football, rugby, etc.
• goal sports, e.g., association football or basketball
• martial arts like box, karate, or taekwondo
• target and precision sports, such as archery, bowling, curling, darts, golf, etc.

 

Are there any challenges to sports training in virtual reality?

Yes, there are some considerations to keep in mind before incorporating VR in sports training programs:

 

• Some people are prone to motion sickness and eye strain or feel uncomfortable when practicing in virtual reality. 

 

• VR technology is still developing, and varying degrees of realism of VR experiences may impact the quality of training.

 

• There is still insufficient scientific knowledge and data regarding the application of VR for athletes’ practice, e.g., its efficiency in a particular sport, how much exercise and training should be done in VR, at what stage in the training program, the optimal frequency and length of VR training sessions, etc.

 

• The cost of implementing sports training VR applications, which may include scientific research, data management, acquisition or creation of custom equipment, labor costs, space rentals, etc., may be prohibitive for some organizations.