In the past, fans would have been delighted to get an autograph or maybe a photo with their sporting heroes. So imagine the excitement at the prospect of actually taking part in an interview with global sports stars. On July 14th 2010, participants from all over the world had that opportunity when they got involved in a live telepresence interview with football legend David Beckham.

In his role as Global Sports Ambassador, and using powerful telepresence solutions from Cisco, Beckham fielded rapid fire questions about his football career, his private life and even revealed a secret passion for playing with Lego. The interview, conducted at Cisco's office near London, was also streamed live to over 600 million Yahoo! users around the world. This is yet another example of the versatility of video communications, as well as showing how the world of professional sport is embracing the technology.

Recently, NBA legend Derek Fisher used video conferencing technology to conduct similar interviews between multiple global sites. It has even been reported that fellow NBA star LeBron James used telepresence to hold meetings while deciding the next step in his playing career. The basketball player, who recently elected to end his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, would have saved hundreds of hours and dollars whilst still being able to communicate face-to-face with prospective new managers and teammates.

Other examples can be seen in Germany, where the national governing body for football used video conferencing to conduct meetings with players at clubs spread across the country. This significantly reduced the travel demands for players and coaching staff. After the successes of the all round experience the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB - German Football Federation) extended their use of the technology to keep in contact with the team during the most recent World Cup in South Africa. Similarly, sports broadcaster ESPN also adopted video communication technology to conduct live interviews for their coverage of this global event.

The increasing popularity of video communication technology within the sporting world demonstrates the versatility of video conferencing and telepresence solutions, and just how effective they can be beyond the boardroom.


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