With professional sports teams spending billions of dollars in acquired contracts, home and practice training facilities it’s no surprise that a custom plane built specifically for athletes took this long to be executed.
The 2014 Football Season has kicked off in style and home-field advantage still holds a key to winning – 10 of the 16 season-openers gave the home team the win. So visitors need to up their game to beat not only the playing team but the home crowd, be it in football, basketball, soccer, hockey or baseball. Constant continental flying, playing in varied time zones and the hassle and bustle of flying are some of the excuses that can affect the visiting team’s performance. Step in Teague, who proposed an ingenious solution to the persisting problem by creating a state-of-the-art flying training facility perfect adapted to operate in the sky. The Flying Training Facility.
Teague, the company entrusted with designing the interior of each commercial Boeing ever produced, has teamed-up with Nike to manufacture the ultimate jet for those Most Valuable Players with a touch of panache. Though it is still just a concept, the Athlete’s Plane takes away the standard seating for most planes and utilises the extra room to provide zones dedicated to nutrition, recovery, lounging and socialising.
What Teague has done is quite interesting, the removed the overhead luggage compartments to offer more headroom and added seats, each specially reserved with the designated player’s numbers, that can be fully reclined if needed, to catch up on some much needed sleep.
Specially-designed ice and compression leg-sleeves plug into the plane’s HVAC system and further help athletes relax and recover by improving circulation. Those not looking to nap can watch game footage, catch up on other sports highlights, and even monitor their own hydration and nutritional needs. High-tech urinals and Nike’s wearable technology (found in game-day clothing and shoes) collect data on each athlete’s health, which they or their trainers can monitor via seat-back screens.
A self-serve nutrition zone caters to athletes looking for a protein shake or snack. Tight muscles or a bad loss can be relaxed-away in the recovery zone, complete with massage tables, foam rollers and room to stretch. Below all this, a lounge area with comfortable seats and dining tables provides a place for the team to celebrate a victory, catch up on emails or continue on with locker room gossip.
Teague designed the Athlete’s Plane with a basketball team as their blueprint, but can easily be converted to suit any sports team. Elegant and high-tech the flying club-like décor and thoughtful amenities will attract any young and sophisticated billionaires on the lookout for something incredible. So no more excuses for not winning those close contested matches.
HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE AT 40,000 ft.
THE FOUR STEPS OF ENHANCING YOUR PERFORMANCE
1. RECOVERY
Equalizing the negative effects of air travel on the mind and body, and bringing the training room to 40,000 feet through in-flight biometrics and analysis to accelerate injury diagnosis and treatment.
2. CIRCULATION
Fostering natural mobility and building in equipment that ensures optimal circulation and promotes healing.
3. SLEEP
Designing ideal sleeping conditions for individuals and sleep strategies for entire teams to maximize physical readiness.
4. THINKING
Creating spaces for key mental activities, especially film study—enabling in-transit film review both before and after games.
