MSU Athlete, Manager Design And Develop Innovative Force Plate Platform

STARKVILLE – Pitchers are usually in the business of making sure hitters fail when they're at the plate, but Hosanna Lindblade has spent the past year looking to help them succeed.

Throughout the summer following her freshman season, Lindblade and student manager Rachel Barber interned with the athlete engineering institute on Mississippi State's campus. Their task? To develop a hitting platform that would integrate force plates to capture data in real-time while a batter is working on their swing in the cages.

The product, designed, developed and constructed by Lindblade, Barber and their supervisors across campus, was delivered this month and is already being used in the Bulldogs' practices and workouts.

"To be able to have something that we're going to be able to utilize for player development that was designed by a softball player, I think is just one of a kind," head coach Samantha Ricketts said.

Engineered to the exact measurements of the batter's box and home plate, the platform was built in three pieces to allow easier transportation. It's made out of honeycomb core filler used in rockets covered by aircraft skin. As a result it's incredibly durable while remaining light enough that one person can move the pieces by themselves.

Softball Force Plate Hitting Platform

In each batter's box there is a hollowed-out space where a pair of force plates sit. The setup is 100 percent adjustable. Custom-measured spacers allow the data collection devices to be configured as wide or narrow as necessary.

"The idea behind that is to be a be able to gather numbers completely customizable to every hitter," Ricketts said. "No matter right-handed, left-handed, what their stance may look like, their stride length, she's really thought of everything."

When it comes to thinking of everything, Lindblade also included planning for how an athlete using the system would feel and think during their workout. Force plates can be slick. Visually, a bright blue square at your feet may be distracting.

To solve those challenges, Lindblade and Barber developed thin turf covers for the force plates. When the system is completely assembled inside the batting cage, a nearly imperceptible seam is the only hint of the powerful technology contained within.

"We wanted the hitter to feel as natural as possible, so that we could get their natural swing," Lindblade said. "Everything we designed is so that it would be completely flush. It would be just like you're hitting in a cage. There would be no difference between when you have the force plate and when you don't."

The technology is allowing Mississippi State's sport scientists to quantify and examine the amount of force being created and transferred from swing to swing. If there are differences in how batters swing and different types of pitches, the staff will be able to detect, analyze and adjust those differences. It's given Ricketts the opportunity to see potential applications beyond physical skill development to possibly impacting game plans that are unique for each hitter against each type of pitcher they may see.

"Starting off, we're just gathering data and seeing how much force they're producing in their swing. That's step one," coordinator of player development Alyssa Loza said. "Hopefully, once we can get that in order then we can begin using the 4-D motion capture cameras to kind of help with their kinetic sequence and their whole hitting process."

MSU's athlete engineering institute is a first of its kind collaboration between campus researchers and athletic department staff and coaches. The multidisciplinary department brings together engineers, kinesiology researchers, strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers and nutritionists to create groundbreaking research methods and wearable technology.

"Partnering with athlete engineering, it's been such a gamechanger for us," Loza said. "Their expertise in biomechanics and their data analysis has really changed the way that we do things around here. It's just provided another resource for us to help our student-athletes be better."

Hosanna Lindblade and Rachel Barber with their force plate project

Hosanna Lindblade and Rachel Barber with their force plate project

For Lindblade, an aerospace engineering major, and Barber, a mechanical engineering major, the opportunity to pursue their academic and career goals while making an immediate impact on their team's performance was the perfect match.

While Lindblade thought through some of the challenges the athletes may face while using the technology, Barber played a key role in crafting the 3D models that would be used for measuring and manufacturing the platform. Together, they spent their summer and fall assembling the rocket-grade materials in the lab.

"It put my two passions together like I would have never guessed," Lindblade said. "My very favorite part about my internship was that we went to ACI [the Advanced Composites Institute] here on campus, and we literally laid down rocket ship and airplane materials. We were laying down carbon and honeycomb core, like stuff that literally flies."

The platform is just the newest toy in a collection of data analytics tools that Mississippi State has employed in its player development program. With everything available to them, each player naturally has a favorite device.

"My favorite is probably the one that I built, the force plate," Lindblade said. "I don't use that, but we're designing one for pitchers, so I'm going to go with that even though it's not a thing yet."

Even with a first-of-its-kind invention sitting in their facility, the Bulldogs have already turned their eyes to the next innovation.

Mississippi State University Athletics

MSU Athlete, Manager Design And Develop Innovative Force Plate Platform

Players Mentioned

Hosanna Lindblade

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