Mathiesen: “I’m the most effective instance of how kickers can make the most of TrackMan to get higher”
Because the American soccer operations and gross sales director for TrackMan, Simon Mathiesen has a terrific story to inform when he speaks to Nationwide Soccer League groups. The identical dual-radar monitoring know-how trusted by the world’s finest golfers can be utilized by the world’s finest placekickers to enhance their video games, too.
However when Mathiesen met with Dallas Cowboys officers at this yr’s NFL Scouting Mix, he had a possibility to disclose his simplest gross sales instrument: Himself.
“I confirmed them a few of my kicks on video they usually stated, ‘Wow, Simon, you’re fairly good,’” Mathiesen recalled. “And I stated, ‘Yeah, I’m, really.’”
Mathiesen hasn’t kicked competitively since 2016, when he helped his Northwest Missouri State College workforce win its third Division II championship in 4 years. Throughout his collegiate profession, Mathiesen was 61-of-74 on area targets and 237-of-243 on further factors.
Mathiesen’s on-field expertise helped him land his position at TrackMan. The method of testing new options and conducting product demonstrations has saved his kicking recreation sharp.
After seeing these observe kicks, the Cowboys have been . So was Mathiesen. He fared properly at a free agent tryout, then traveled to Dallas in April for a TrackMan demo-slash-private exercise, the place he confirmed sufficient to earn an invitation to the workforce’s rookie minicamp in Could.
Mathiesen went 11-for-12 on the primary day of minicamp, together with 5-for-5 from 50-plus yards. He adopted up with a 12-for-16 efficiency the following day, together with some robust kickoffs.
“Total, I used to be pleased with how I carried out,” Mathiesen stated. “I kicked very properly, and I acquired some actually good suggestions from the coaches, too.”
Mathiesen left camp with out a contract because the Cowboys have been already at their 90-man roster restrict. However roster shake-ups are frequent through the spring and summer time, so the workforce advised him to maintain his leg heat. With just one kicker on the roster — Jonathan Garibay, an undrafted rookie out of Texas Tech — Mathiesen might nonetheless get a shot at kicking for “America’s Group” this season.
“We’ll see,” Mathiesen stated. “I’m simply gonna go about my enterprise with work and coaching, caring for my physique and staying prepared, and we’ll see what occurs.”
Mathiesen has a lot to maintain him busy within the meantime. He’s nonetheless liable for pitching different NFL and faculty groups within the U.S. on the worth of TrackMan.
The know-how has been used on “Sunday Evening Soccer” TV broadcasts since 2018, offering real-time knowledge akin to ball velocity, apex and “good from” distance — i.e., the utmost yardage from which a area purpose try would have been profitable. In observe environments, the system can present kickers with much more knowledge, together with launch angle, spin fee and ball top on the line of scrimmage.
That’s the kind of info kickers can’t get wherever else. Info they will use to kick a soccer greater, straighter and additional. And nobody understands the worth of that info greater than Mathiesen.
“I feel I’m the most effective instance of how kickers can make the most of TrackMan to get higher,” Mathiesen stated. “I haven’t performed in a recreation for just a few years, however I really feel like I’ve a bonus as a result of nobody else has had entry to the system as a lot as I’ve. I’m so a lot better now than I used to be 5 years in the past, it’s not even shut, and there’s no manner I might be the place I’m with out TrackMan.”
“That’s the story I’m excited to inform.”
