The idea of a football with a built in sensor that records your dead ball shots is enough to excite any football fan, so we got our hands on the adidas miCoach Smart Ball and hoofed it around until its batteries ran out.
With the app downloaded (currently iOS only) and ball charged on the wireless docking station, we headed out with our iPad in one hand and the adidas miCoach SMART BALL in the other. Modern football, eh? The first step was to connect the ball to the iPad via bluetooth and once that was complete we were ready to go. The adidas miCoach SMART BALL has the ability to track the balls flight path, spin and the impact point.
First things first though, we wanted to see how hard we could hit it. Tap ‘Kick Off’ and when the whistle blows you’re ready to lace it at goal. The only condition; kicks must be at least three feet off the ground and travel 10 yars or further in order to record. Give it ten seconds and the app brings up your results, showing you how had you blasted the ball in mph and km/h and the spin in rpm. A simple and addictive exercise that will have you firing shots until your foot is numb. The app also allows you to film your shot and will even tell you why it ended up in Row Z.
The adidas miCoach SMART BALL is built with a small, suspended bundle of sensors that link to the app on your iPhone/iPad and keeps a record of every shot on a leaderboard. A set of 12 impact absorbing arms protect the electronics without affecting the natural flight of the ball. Ignoring all of the tech craziness for a second, the SMART BALL is high quality ball in its own right, with 32 thermal bonded panels and unique graphic elements displaying contact points to help you line up shots.
When you’ve had your fun of tanking it as hard as you can until you can’t feel your feet, you can get involved in the dedicated training section designed to master more advanced techniques. The 'Get Better' section is set up to record and feeback tips on a series of kicking exercises including, 'Stirking with Power', 'Around the Wall' and 'Over the Wall' freekicks and a no-spin 'Kuckle Ball'. A ‘Pro Challenge’ section allows you to test your free-kick skills in more detail, with a series of 'Around The Wall' and 'Over The Wall' challenges set at different skill levels. A more specific 'Power Challenge' will have you competing against yourself or one-on-one against a mate for hours to see if you can reach a certain target range.
The only downside? Much like Andy Carroll, the adidas miCoach SMART BALL is only useful from dead ball situations as the sensor doesn't work in a moving ball. Adidas have ensured us though that a 'rolling ball' firmware update is on its way. Oh, and the hefty price-tag is enough to make your eyes water.
The adidas micoach smartball is available from adidas.com priced at £250.
