Virtual reality offers a new way in which athletes are able to train their sport skills and improve the mental game of athletes without being on the court of field. It is a different way of training that can allow athletes to better themselves without as much physical exhaustion.
Virtual reality is described as a simulation of a real or imagined environment that is both created and mediated by a computer (Chen, 2003). Virtual reality can be used to simulate experiences and reality in the physical world through a computer-based technology. The users of virtual reality are immersed in a three-dimensional environment on a screen, and they interact through special viewing devices with their hands and bodies (Sullivan, 2009). Virtual reality allows users to be put in situations created electronically that they would not be able to experience on cue in the real world. Users are then able to choose what situations they want to be in when they want to be in them, and this is something that cannot be done in real life without the use of virtual …show more content…
The researchers were trying to figure out if a successful stop of the shot was associated with the response time of the goalie. In order to conduct the study, the researchers had the two subjects stand in front of a real handball goal to simulate a game-like environment, and they set up a screen in front of the goalie with a virtual handball player on it. Both of the participants were given 50 attempts, each one different in that the virtual handball player would throw the ball with different motions and trajectories. A motion capture system was set up to record the movements of the participants and the number of successful movements. A successful movement was recorded when the goalie stopped the ball from going into the goal. The researchers recorded if the goalie stopped the ball and the corresponding reaction time for each of the 50 attempts (Bideau et al.,