UF athletes are jumping for Martin Matak’s startup.
Matak, a UF alumnus, created a vertical-jump measuring device that tells athletes the height and number of their leaps. Vert is a small clip-on that wirelessly connects to a smartphone application.
The idea came to Matak when he was coaching a fifth-grade basketball team right after graduating college.
“There was one practice we had where all the kids cared about was how high they could jump,” Matak said. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘There’s got to be a way to electronically measure how high someone can jump.’”
Matak’s device is now used and sold across the country.
For the UF women’s volleyball team, the device has been a game-changer, head coach Mary Wise said.
“With the use of Vert, we get objective feedback,” she said. “We can see the amount of jumps each player is taking, and we can see when fatigue comes in.”
Vert can also be used to show fans how high a player’s jump is in real time, Matak said. Their jump count and height can be displayed on the big screen throughout the game.
Melissa Flanjack, a 20-year-old UF public relations junior, said it would be exciting to incorporate into other sports such as basketball.
“I totally want to know how high Pat Young is jumping when he dunks the ball,” she said. “That would be so cool to have at Gator games.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 3/19/2014 under the headline "UF alumnus creates app athletes leap for"]
