Hawkin Dynamics is the result of frustrations with archaic force plate technology that was cumbersome and difficult to use for coaches. In 2017, Ben Watson, Founder and CEO; Chris Wales, Chief Technology Officer and Lead Developer; and Dr. Peter Mundy, Chief Scientific Offer teamed up to make a better, more portable, and simpler solution.
They molded it based on personal experience and user feedback that measurement data from existing force plate companies was unmanageable, hard to use, and heavily slanted toward research.
The company set out to offer a force plate system rooted in three key principles:
- Simplicity—ease of use.
- Service—company representatives would always be available to solve issues that strength and conditioning coaches may have.
- Transparency—Hawkin Dynamics would show how all the data is calculated upon request and provide resources to help a coach understand what the data means. There are no secrets or black boxes.
“Coaches were frustrated with the current systems,” said Drake Berberet, Vice President of Performance and Brand Marketing at Hawkin Dynamics and and former customer at the University of Illinois basketball. “We vowed to develop force plates to get results for coaches looking to improve their athletes, and to use a mobile app with the plates right from the beginning. “We were the first company to create a mobile and wireless force plate, and also keep user education a high priority.”
Hawkin Dynamics force plates are practical and easy to use. You can see right on the screen the current state of the athlete, and the change vs. the athlete’s historical measurements—including an automatic flagging system (i.e. red, yellow, green) to immediately identify potential issues. After testing his or her athletes, the results can be quickly uploaded to the cloud, and a coach can rank the athletes by team, skill, position, sport, age, etc. Most important, the coach can then use the data to set up an individual training program for each athlete or position group.
The Hawkin Dynamics system features nine hard-coded tests. But you can do any type of exercise on the force plate to measure how that movement was executed. “There are unlimited options for making a custom test with our test tagging feature,” Drake said. “You can do jumping drills, plyometric pushups,
front squats, back squats, etc.”
Velocity Based Training is a form of training being used more and more by strength coaches at all levels, and force plates are similar tools for coaches who place emphasis on VBT. “Force plates are similar to Velocity Based Training, in that we measure force directly and then derive velocity,” said Berberet. “That’s especially true with our system. Our platform provides velocity information directly to the strength coach after each jump.”
And the system is perfect for the needs of a high school coach. “A high school coach doesn’t have to use our force plates just in the weight room—they can be taken to the field or track during practice or outside drills,” said Berberet. “Our software is built to ensure that a high school coach is collecting the highest-quality data every time, and the data is actionable and accessible. The data flows automatically into the cloud app where printable reports are automatically generated. A strength coach can also upload a team roster rather than have to enter in each athlete manually. It can be used on an unlimited basis by coaches, administration, and athletes. There are no additional fees for more logins, and we offer a lease option with an installment plan for schools with smaller budgets.”
