Sports fans find simulators can train, entertain – Orlando Sentinel
As Tim Gibbons digs in at the plate, he measures his stance against the opposing pitcher’s windup. When the pitcher rears back and fires a fastball, Gibbons swings and cracks the ball right back at the pitcher.
It’s a scenario played out in ballparks across the country thousands of times every day.
But Gibbons isn’t on the field. He’s not even outdoors. Gibbons is at Quinco Sports Academy in Winter Park, and the pitcher is on a virtual screen.
“It helps you get the timing down and lets you see the pitcher’s hands actually separating and lifting,” said Gibbons, 26, Quinco’s director of operations. “So it’s like facing a human pitcher. In baseball, timing is everything.”
Simulation technology has moved beyond video games and helps athletes train for sports such as golf and baseball.
At the same time, some bars and restaurants have made sports simulators a prime attraction, alongside traditional pool tables and dart boards.
Consumers are enjoying the realism of virtual visits to golf courses or racetracks.
As long as people will pay, experts say the experiences will continue to evolve.
“You are creating an immersive experience and have to know who your target market is,” said Chris Roda, a visiting professor at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. “It’s very expensive to re-create the courses. But that is a level of risk they are willing to take, because they know their niche market will pay for it.”
At Dewey’s in Orlando, golfers can use simulators as they hit real golf balls or get fitted for new clubs.
Justin Heimer, general manager and director of golf operations, said the simulators can help introduce younger players to golf.
“It’d be a big task to take my whole family to the golf course,” he said. “Now my sons want to play because it’s a game, it’s a computer. That resonates because this is the world they grew up in.”
Heimer admits to a bit of skepticism when he first heard of the idea. However, the golf pro said he has shifted his thinking because of Dewey’s.
“All my life I’ve prayed for it not to rain, but now I’m praying for it to rain,” he said.
The eatery has added a few more sports to its lineup: Visitors can try to score goals against a simulated soccer or hockey goalie, or kick a field goal in football.
Dewey’s charges $29 to $49 per hour for simulator use, depending on time and day of the week, with discounts for Central Florida residents.
At CaddyShanks in Baldwin Park, business partners Charlie Leduc and Chris Poulos say their golf and auto-racing simulators have helped attract people.
As more people come from a younger generation that grew up with technology and video games, bars have had to adjust to keep them entertained, Poulos said.
“Today’s generation has an attention span of five seconds,” he said. “If you don’t have something bright and shiny in front of them, they are going to go somewhere else. This keeps their attention much longer than if they were having a beer at another watering hole.”
Leduc and Poulos say the bar, which gets $25 an hour for simulators, continues to look into new offerings, as they want to keep current in a world where technology moves swiftly.
Quinco has helped train major-league players at its 60,000-square-foot baseball facility, Gibbons said, such as Seattle Mariners utility player Rickie Weeks, who attended Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs. Its monthly membership packages range from $125 to $259.
Gibbons said having a programmable assistant coach helps him show players exactly what an 80-mph fastball or curveball looks like.
Quinco also has an open area equipped with sensors that track ball flight and distance, providing Gibbons with data that he can share and analyze with his players.
The flight of the ball is shown on a screen that can be programmed to display actual dimensions of major-league baseball fields.
“It lets me take what I did mechanically and see how it transferred into results,” he said. “I can see things like ground balls and line-drive rate with the naked eye but this records it so I can go over the data in a follow-up lesson.”
msantana@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5256
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