Why the Equipment Will Always Matters
Working Hypothesis 1: Advancements in equipment has made the world of sports much more competitive.
A Practice Opening:
Thanks to new and improved technology, the world of sports has become much more competitive. This is largely due to the advancements that have been made to better the athletes performance. For example, aluminum to composite bats, more supportive sneakers, more protective helmets, and many other things. These advancements are an outcome of long hours of experts studying ways to improve their equipment in any way that they can. Over the years, and through several trial and error periods, companies have begun to produce the best of the best when it comes to equipment quality. That is why the entire idea of sports has changed so much.
Working Hypothesis 2: Athletes of the past and athletes of the present can never be compared because of the ongoing evolution of bettering equipment.
A Practice Opening:
The entirety of sports has changed drastically over the past several decades. There have been many players that have come through as “all time greats” leading their teams to countless championships and titles. However, the ever evolving world of technology has allowed people to adapt and enhance the capabilities of the equipment that these athletes use. People are able to look at the science behind almost anything. This can help with athletes fixing their shots, swings, and perfecting their craft in their respective sports. There has also been an incredible amount of advancements in the equipment that current athletes use that former athletes never had the chance to use. So, who is to say what they could have accomplished even more than they ever did before. Because of this, past athletes and present athletes can never be compared to one another.
Purposeful Summaries:
Users’ role in innovation processes in the sports equipment industry-experiences and lessons
This source goes into depth about the innovations of sports equipment in sports like skiing, boat racing and sailing. These are not the most common sports of our time, but nevertheless, help prove the point of ongoing research and development that is happening to enhance the equipment.
“The conditions for user innovations in sports are favorable. Sports have typically been created by users and the experiences relating to participatory sports are usually produced by users. Firms provide users with facilities, services, equipment etc. but equally they rely heavily much on users’ acceptance of firm innovations: at the end of the day it is the users that will be risking themselves skating, skiing or sliding around on ‘innovative’ products and are therefore very motivated to make sure their equipment is something they can understand and trust. A number of studies of user innovators in the sports equipment industry exist (see for example von Hippel 2005, Luthje 2004, Luthje et al. 2005, Shah 2000). These studies point in the same direction: users are important for innovation.”
This evidence talks about how much the users and consumers both are so important in the development of new technologies. They give input and feedback on designs, results, and the overall result of the product to help create the best possible equipment.
The Sports Goods Industry
This source has much more data analysis in regards to sales and the economics behind the market. Wladimir Andreff talks about the major companies like Nike, Adidas, Reebok, etc. and how their sales have either increased or decreased over the years. Although this source was written in 2006, it is interesting to see not only how much has changed within the market but which companies have thrived and which have fallen off.
One of the main focuses that Andreff talks about is how crucial it is for an industry to be innovative. If it is not innovative, “it will die”. He talks about how much the industries focus on having the best products. If an athlete wins using that brand, it is like free entertainment. Specifically in major sporting events like the Olympics or championships. Seeing famous athletes results in younger athletes aspiring to play and look like them. So they are going to buy their products and their “athletic equipment” lines to be just like them.
Is the Use of Advanced Materials in Sports Equipment Unethical?
F.H. Froes talks a lot about the science behind the development of equipment. He goes into detail about the most important aspects of making advanced materials like “strength, ductility, stiffness (modulus), temperature capability, forgiveness (a collective term including fracture toughness, fatigue-crack growth rate, etc.), and low density.” He also goes into detail about the methods of injury prevention that go into the design of shoes, for example. For many different sports, there are explanations of the development of equipment. In running, the different shoes to be worn in different events. In pole vault, the equation they used to create the most efficient pole materials. Tennis rackets moving from wood to steel and aluminum. Overall, it discusses the many ways in which equipment has been advanced over the years and how it has affected that sport.
https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9702/Froes-9702.html
The Size and Scope of the Sports Industry in the United States
This article talks a lot about the data of different numbers in regards to sports attendance. They look deeply into the numbers that people spend attending games, providing some sort of profit to the sport, the hours spent spectating the events, and the hours that it takes to travel. There are many ways in which there are industries inside of the large sports industry. For example, food and beverages, clothing, and even equipment stores. Overall, it discusses the ways that profit is made in the industry and how much fans attendance and support provides for the sport as a whole.
Development and presentation of the first design process mode for sports equipment design
Nicky Wilson, Avril Thomson and Philip Riches looked deeply into the study of the development of sports equipment. They studied the six most popular sports equipment companies and their development methods. Here, they found that what differed the most between the companies was the level of involvement that the companies put in to create the equipment. They discussed the design process and the ways that engineers chemically test the equipment and its effectiveness. They created many models and linear designs to find the most efficient companies with the best quality products.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/S00163-017-0257-4
Research Points:
- Does improving all versions of the game make a better sport, or only a better athlete who needs the top notch equipment to succeed to their maximum potential?
- Are today’s athletes better than those of 20 years ago? If they had the same equipment, how would they do?
- Can athletes be compared to one another from several years ago?
- Do quantitative advancements impact qualitative results?
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
—I think you might not be phrasing this correctly, Coffee. Sports has always been competitive. If it isn’t competitive, what is it, exactly? Cooperative? 🙂
—Maybe the nature of competition has changed. In a more “innocent” age, perhaps sheer ability or training or athleticism was all one competitor could use to beat an opponent. Maybe now, with advanced technology, competitors can gain an advantage by buying better equipment.
—That’s not particularly new, I suppose. As early as the development of special footwear for runners, tennis players, cyclists, there have promises that shoes could help kids “run your fastest, jump your highest” as one TV commercial of my childhood put it. And we know how long ago that was.
—Bats I get. Shoes, too. But helmets don’t make anybody more competitive, do they?
—I’m not sure where this argument goes from your opening paragraph. I wonder if you are making an ethical argument or merely a comparative factual argument. If everybody uses the same new technology, what changes between athletes? They ALL have the same advantage, which means nobody has an advantage. But if the advances are available only to some, not others, then you have a different argument. Maybe athletes aren’t the only ones competing in sports. Maybe it’s the teams that find an advantage others don’t have.
—This is a hypothesis with some teeth in it. Surely a batter with a livelier bat, a juicier ball, and a grippier glove facing a pitcher throwing from a lower mound should be able to hit the ball farther than his equally-talented grandad who had none of those advantages.
—This follows a solid line of reasoning but suffers from vagueness. Readers INSIST on knowing what sport you’re talking about if you’re going to be persuasive. “Fixing their shots” suggests golf, which may provide the best example of any sport that has “benefited” from equipment improvements to both the balls and the clubs. Duffers can still suck at golf, but talented players can hit much more accurately over far greater distance than their equally talented granddads ever could with their wooden-shafted clubs.
I do have to argue with the fact that helmets do leave people at an advantage in softball. People may choose at the college level whether they wear a face mask when they hit, or not. I know from experience that when I used a mask vs. when I did not, I felt much safer and more protected, so I was not as fearful of the ball hitting me during an at bat.
I like the idea of incorporating the idea of older athletes compared to current athletes and why they can not be compared. I can talk about that, leading into the developments of higher level equipment. This way I have a few different ideas coming into one. Some of my evidence talks about the marketing behind the sports sales products. Others talk about the technological advancements that were made.
That’s a very persuasive example, Coffee. It’s probably true at all levels of sport that batters standing in against fast-ball hurlers are more likely to be successful if they’re not terrified of being injured.