The University of Delaware athletic department joined an elite group recently when the Blue Hens signed a partnership with Sparta Science, becoming just one of 15 Division I schools, including only three at the Football Championship Subdivision level, to acquire the technology.

In the UD athletic department’s efforts to serve the student-athletes, this technology will give the sports performance team a better roadmap to building a performance plan to strengthening the Blue Hen student-athletes.

“Sparta Science aligned with our principles of proactive healthcare and data driven decision making to enhance our student-athlete healthcare and athletic development,” said Eric Laudano, UD senior associate athletic director for health, well-being and sport performance. “Sparta Science provides a unique partnership for research with our physical therapy department and internships opportunities for our College of Health Science and College of Engineering students. This partnership bolsters Delaware’s Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Department’s commitment to advancing the academic mission of our institution.”

Sparta Science is an industry leading solution for reducing injuries and optimizing performance with validated scientific assessments. Sparta’s force plate software is used worldwide by the military, sports organizations across all levels, and the medical community to quickly predict, diagnose, and prescribe personalized plans that reduce any physical limitations to improve an individual’s availability.

"Sparta Science and our entire team gets closer to our goal of injury prevention in sports when we add new partners like University of Delaware. We are grateful they are including us in their tool kit of technology to support the health of their athletes,” said Phil Wagner, chief executive officer and founder of Sparta Science.

The Sparta software platform allows coaches and trainers to measure and reduce player injury risk, and improve student-athlete health and performance. Sparta monitors athlete readiness and health with the Sparta Scan, a test that collects data from a series of jumps on a force plate, compares it to data collected from more than 10,000 professional and collegiate athletes over a nine-year span and predicts injury risk with proven accuracy.

“Our jobs as a profession have shifted from ‘bigger, stronger, faster’ to seeing around corners and using all of the information available to help student athletes reach the goals the sport coach set for them as team members. Sparta takes the guesswork out of that system, and allows us as coaches make the best decisions based on the student-athletes needs,” said Ted Perlak, UD assistant athletic director for sports performance and head strength and conditioning coach. “It’s an unbelievable system, and it’s great to be in the conversation with professional teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Golden State Warriors, and Power 5 schools like Rutgers, North Carolina, Kansas, and Auburn with regard to the commitment to our training and some of the available data and resources.”