Putting on the headset instantly transports me from a bland meeting room in central London to the centre circle of a virtual football pitch. I have chosen to play as a holding midfielder, gripping a controller in each hand with my thumbs poised over the pass button.
After a brief countdown, the simulated build‑up begins at the feet of a virtual teammate. My job is to receive the ball, decide which pass is best, and execute it, while every tilt of my head and each subsequent choice is recorded and analysed by the system.
The device, developed by the sports‑tech firm Be Your Best, is built to train "scanning" – the rapid, almost subconscious glances a player makes to the left and right to gather information about opponents, space and potential passing lanes before they actually receive the ball. These split‑second visual snapshots allow a player to anticipate pressure and make a more informed decision the moment the ball arrives.
My first trial runs at 80 per cent of game speed, giving me enough time to settle in. I am tackled while still lingering over the ball, yet I feel a surge of satisfaction when the software rewards me with a "critical scan" badge for spotting a teammate making a run behind the defensive line and delivering a perfectly timed through ball.
The experience feels like a blend of video‑game feedback and genuine coaching insight. When the intensity dial is cranked up to 100 per cent – the speed of a top‑flight match – the illusion of comfort evaporates.
The ball arrives faster, opponents close down quicker, and my head has to move in a blur to keep up. I am tempted to try the 120 per cent setting, a feature that was added after Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard asked for an even more demanding level during his first session with the headset. Ødegaard, celebrated for his vision and lightning‑quick decision‑making, is exactly the type of player that captured the imagination of Andreas Olsen, CEO of Be Your Best, when Olsen was a youth prospect at Viking FK in Norway.
"It was mind‑blowing to see some players seem to have eyes in the back of their heads," Olsen told Sky Sports. "I didn’t even have the vocabulary to describe what they were doing. I just wished I could read the pressure like they did and know instantly where the next pass should go." The concept of scanning is not new. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Norwegian professor Geir Jordet began a series of studies that would later define the term.
He focused on the ten seconds preceding a player’s receipt of the ball and discovered that elite athletes consistently displayed higher scan frequencies than their peers. "Those ten seconds are critical," Olsen explains. "If you have already decided what you will do before the ball arrives, you are not surprised by the outcome.
All the pictures are taken; you just have to execute." Jordet’s research highlighted Barcelona legend Xavi Hernández as the quintessential scanner. While Xavi may not have been the fastest on the pitch, his mind operated at a speed that made physical quickness almost irrelevant.
Olsen describes it as "making decisions before the ball is even at his feet, then the ball simply follows his intent. He always turned his back to the ball because he already knew where the opponent was." Even former England midfielder Frank Lampard recalls his father shouting the word "pictures" from the sidelines, urging him to collect visual information as a child. The need for scanning has grown as modern football becomes faster and the window of time on the ball shrinks.
Premier League tracking data now shows players covering significantly more sprint distance each match than a few years ago, a trend driven by higher pressing intensity and overall game tempo. "Arsène Wenger once said we have solved all the physical aspects of football – we know how to get faster and stronger," Olsen notes. "But in a world where the sport is getting ever more physical, we also have to consider how fast the mind works. Being the strongest and quickest is no longer enough." The principle applies equally to defenders.
Dan Micciche, a former England and Arsenal youth coach now working with Saudi Arabia’s national set‑up, recounts watching Italy’s centre‑backs Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci during the Euro 2021 semi‑final against Spain. "They were not sprinting; they were jogging, constantly scanning. It was as if they knew the position of every player on the pitch, which gave them a calm composure that was hard to break." Most coaches today accept that situational awareness and scanning can be taught, though some remain skeptical about the value of virtual‑reality training. Micciche argues that the best teacher is still the game itself, complemented by a coach who asks probing questions: "What did you see?
Why didn’t you turn? Where was the space?" He warns that players may sometimes scan merely to appease a coach rather than to genuinely process information. Be Your Best has tried to address these concerns by measuring not only how often a player scans but also the timing of each scan relative to ball receipt, and by grading the quality of the decisions that follow. In a nine‑week pilot with Germany’s U16 and U17 squads, Olsen reports a 28 per cent increase in scan rates and that 80 per cent of coaches observed improved positioning among participants.
Individual success stories are also highlighted. Manchester City defender Marc Guehi has embraced the technology, Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia has invested in the company, and in 2023 Real Madrid’s midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni used the headset to acclimate to a temporary centre‑back role during an injury crisis. After helping Madrid keep a clean sheet in a 4‑0 victory over Osasuna, Tchouaméni posted about his experience on social media, praising the headset’s ability to accelerate his understanding of defensive positioning. From my own perspective, the headset’s appeal is clear.
Even after a session, I leave aware that my scanning still needs work – Ødegaard’s 120 per cent setting will have to wait for another day. Yet I find myself instinctively glancing over my shoulder as I walk to the station, a habit formed by the immersive training.
As football continues to evolve, tools that sharpen the mind may become as essential as any physical drill.