New hybrid sports: conventional physical education vs digital gaming

Visualize this: Heart pumping, perspiration pouring, you’re rushing down a metropolitan street when instead of chasing a ball or racing against a clock you’re outrunning virtual zombies. Welcome to the realm of mixed sports, where high-tech meets huffing and puffing. Your living room may easily become a digital battleground and your morning run might become an epic adventure. Even crush-style games like the Aviator Game are into the action and creatively finding ways to get players out of their chairs and into the game — literally.

What then is the situation with hybrid sports?

Recall our debates over whether esports constituted “real” sports? Well, hybrid sports are coming to turn that argument on its upside down. Born from our fascination with screens and our bodies’ obstinate insistence on seeking exercise, they are the lovechild of conventional sports and digital gaming.

But why lately? First of all, our phones evolved—sometimes more clever than even ourselves. Wearable technology moved from science fiction to “I’ll take two, please.” Not to be overlooked is the elephant in the room, or more precisely the virus keeping us in our rooms. COVID-19 forced us to come up with fresh approaches to keep active from home.

The hip young people on the street

What then are these fresh hybrid sports? Allow me to lead a tour:

1. AR Running augmented reality running Imagine if Steven Spielberg guided your morning run. That is AR running for you. Track virtual creatures, evade digital zombies, or challenge that pal who appears to be on constant vacation in Bali. It’s like Pokemon GO stumbled onto a treadmill and produced quite active offspring.

2. Exergaming: Recall the time your mother said video games would never help you stay in shape? Now, you can essentially disprove her (sort of). Exergaming is here to stay from VR boxing that’ll have you punching air like a cool ninja to dancing games that’ll make you sweat more than a night at the club.

3. Hado: Imagine quidditch meets dodgeball, except instead of broomsticks you have AR headsets. Like a sci-fi magician, you are building shields and firing energetic balls. Indeed, you will most likely seem a little foolish doing it; it’s as awesome as it sounds. But, when you’re having this much fun, who really cares?

4. Zwift: For those days when you wish to pedal the Alps but can’t quite afford the airline ticket. While your legs do the physical effort, Zwift lets you compete against others in virtual environments. It’s like riding through a video game without the blue shells and banana peels.

5. Pokemon GO: Though it may not be a “sport” in the conventional sense, it attracted more walkers than any PE instructor has ever seen. It has been changed (intentionally) to include additional exercise elements. Who knew working out could include capturing fantasy animals?

The good, the terrible, and the perspiring

Positively, techno-sports are like the cool instructor that makes learning entertaining. Dangling the bait of “just one more level” in front of you fools you into working out. You suddenly are racing over virtual towns or outrunning dinosaurs, not simply gazing at an ugly treadmill display.

For those of us who break out in hives at the sight of a packed gym, they are also very effective. Many hybrid sports let you sweat in the comfort of your living room. Stop fretting about that man who never cleans the machinery!

Not less important, however, is the social factor. Hybrid sports enable you to compete and connect internationally in a world where your closest buddy could live on another side of the earth. It is like having a global gym buddy system.

But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) we have to address the elephant in the room, or more precisely, the expensive device in the room. Certain of these mixed sports call for equipment greater than a month’s rent. Not exactly easily available to everyone.

One then has the safety concern. Have you ever witnessed someone walking into a lamppost totally absorbed in their phone? Imagine now that individual sprinting at top speed. 

Here is also a philosophical head-scratcher for you: Are we adding additional screen time to address our excessive screen time issue? It’s like using energy drinks to attempt to kick a coffee addiction. We are still hooked on our smartphones even if we are moving more.

Questions none others are asking (yet maybe should be)

Let us now go into some unexplored areas. These are some questions concerning hybrid sports that could just keep you up late:

1. Are a generation of tech-dependent athletes being produced here?When the wifi fails, what happens? Will next generations even be able to catch without an app?

2. Could hybrid sports widen the athletic digital divide? Should top-notational training begin to call for costly technology, are we inadvertently widening the disparity between those who can afford it and those who cannot?

3. How will professional sports change in response?  Imagine the Olympics include an AR hurdlers competition. In a game where viewers cannot see fair play, how can one guarantee it?

4. Are the psychological advantages of ‘unplugged’ exercise being forfeited? One may argue for the awareness of a tech-free run. Are we losing that in search of never-ending amusement?

The crystal ball of sweat and pixels

What then is ahead for hybrid sports? If I could foretell the future, I would be writing from my own island. Still, let us indulge in wild conjecture.

Imagine haptic suits enabling virtual rugby match sensation of every tackle. Or how about brain-computer connections allowing you to use your thoughts to control your character? (At last, a sport where overanalyzing is a benefit.)

Perhaps we will see holographic playing grounds transforming any area into a stadium. The World Cup final may take place in your neighborhood park (just be careful for dog walkers straying beyond the penalty box).

Not also overlooked is artificial intelligence. Adaptive artificial intelligence opponents that learn your shortcomings and keep you alert would be possible. It’s like having all wrapped into one a coach, trainer, and trash-talking rival.

Instead of a conclusion

Hybrid sports are meant to liven up our physical pursuits, not replace conventional sports. They are for everyone in between, the athlete searching for a new challenge, and the gamer needing to get off the couch.