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For South Africa to maintain its position as a leading and competitive sports nation, a more pro-active approach must be adopted - one in which new science and technology (S&T) is adopted in the quest for improved performances of the country's athletes and teams. Investment in research and innovation as a national priority ultimately results in improved performance by a country's national teams. Team SA, too, can successfully compete on the world stage, and should not be prejudiced by a lack of access to modern sports technologies.
The CSIR Sports Technology Centre strives to ensure that South African athletes and teams can access modern technology-rich products and services. The centre's performance analysis offerings are developed and delivered to clients in a number of ways and service and product delivery are optimised to suit the needs of individual sports codes.
In the sports science domain, it is widely accepted that athletes and teams can no longer compete and triumph based solely on raw talent. There are a number of disciplines through which scientific principles and techniques are applied to improve sports performance. These include biomechanics, psychology, physiology, nutrition and sports vision. Generally, each of these areas can be viewed as a fundamental tool in coaches' arsenal to ensure optimal performance in competition.
The CSIR's sports performance analysis software competes very favourably on functionality and price and is increasingly being used by both local and international teams to produce engaging highlights packages for the Internet.
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