The future of wearable technology for professional athletes lies not just in training, but in everything from improved betting data to real-time statistics for TV sports coverage.

This is according to Gilbert Réveillon, international managing director of smart clothing manufacturer Cityzen Sciences, and his colleague Tim Segar.

In a talk about the future of wearable technology for fitness at the recent Re.Work Internet of Things Summit in London, the pair talked about the growing use of wearables by professional athletes, and made predictions about wider future use of the technology.

At present, wearable technology is increasingly being used by professional sports teams, particularly at high-profile clubs, but only as a tool for improving performance, and then only in training situations.

“These kinds of technologies are used by soccer teams, but only in training,” explained Segar.

However, Réveillon suggested sports analytics could be used for many more purposes as time progresses, including in the betting industry.

In betting, he said that such data could be used to provide more accurate predictions and improve betting odds, something that the booming sports betting industry would no-doubt welcome.

TV broadcasters could also use the technology to provide real-time data about the performance of particular players, bringing even more statistics to the coverage of football, basketball and more.

Media networks might even bid for certain data in the same way they currently do for the rights to air matches and games, generating whole new arrays of data visualisations about players and their current states.

Other uses Réveillon proposed included social network connectivity and sport-specific virtual coaching, which would be used for sports such as boxing via sensor-enabled gloves.

For now, however, the big push is for the improvement of performance through training.

As the developer of smart sportswear such as the sensor-embedded D-Shirt, Cityzen has been working with several sports teams to promote the use wearables in training.

“We’ve been using all these parameters with high-profile sports teams and it has improved the performance and management of these teams,” said Réveillon.

Among the teams the French company has worked with is Lyon-based pro basketball team ASVEL Basket.

The team is owned by NBA player and French international Tony Parker, who Réveillon says has taken a keen interest in the use of wearables in the sport.

Other teams include AS Saint-Étienne, a league 1 French football club, and Stade Toulousain, the rugby club of Toulouse.

Images courtesy of PABA.