3D Printing in Sports is a Whole New Ball Game By Carlie Wagner From the latest in sports apparel to sophisticated statistical analysis programs, athletes are always trying to get an edge. Now, some are starting to think that 3D printing just may be the answer. In the unpredictable world of sports, fractions of an inch can determine whether you hit a homerun or foul it back, get a first down or punt to the opposing team, swish a three-pointer or bounce it off the rim. When the smallest tweak can mean the difference between victory and defeat, it isn’t surprising that teams do everything they can to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Today, this search for any advantage over the competition means that athletic companies and sports teams alike are looking to 3D printing to give them a leg up. After getting Nike on board, the team went to work with the help of a 3D printer. As a starting point, Nike and Johnson focused on the “zero step,” which they defined as “the pivotal moment when propulsion and acceleration are determined.” If the cleat could succeed in reducing the amount of backward slippage by even a fraction of an inch, it could make a huge difference in the field. After extensively studying zero step using motion capture, the team used a 3D printer to create multiple iterations of different spikes. The unique shapes of many of the designs would have been 3D Printed Wearables impossible to create with traditional manufacturing Wearable technology is one way that 3D printing is methods. After much testing, the final design already making an impact on the field. In fact, the included spikes shaped like shovels, allowing first 3D printed cleats were introduced two years runners to dig in faster to optimize their zero step ago during the 2014 super bowl. Proposed by performance. Michael Johnson, a former gold medalist Olympic Although the first 3D printed cleats were sprinter and current speed training coach in the revolutionary in their own way, since then, shoes NFL, Johnson believed that he could develop a have become even more advanced. When sprinter cleat to give his athletes a significant advantage. Allyson Felix hits the track for the Rio Olympics, she will be wearing a pair of running shoes that almost make the first 3D printed cleats look old- fashioned. With Nike once again at the helm, the team has gone through more than 70 iterations to design the perfect running shoe. By using a laser sintering 3D printer, they didn’t have to wait long for a new prototype, allowing for a much shorter timeline. The result is a shoe that is perfectly fitted www.cadlearning.com 27