Trackman director takes his shot at an NFL spot
Mathiesen: “I’m the best example of how kickers can utilize Trackman to get better”
As the Director of Operations and Sales for Trackman Football, Simon Mathiesen always has a strong selling point when in talks with National Football League (NFL) teams — the very same dual-radar tracking technology trusted by the world’s best golfers can also help elite placekickers improve their game.
But when Mathiesen met with Dallas Cowboys officials at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, he had an opportunity to reveal his most effective sales tool: Himself.
“I showed them some of my kicks on video and they said, ‘Wow, Simon, you’re pretty good,’” Mathiesen recalled. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I am, actually.’”
Roped in by the Cowboys
Mathiesen hasn’t kicked competitively since 2016, when he helped his Northwest Missouri State University team win its third Division II championship in four years. During his collegiate career, Mathiesen was 61-of-74 on field goals and 237-of-243 on extra points.
Mathiesen’s on-field experience helped him land his role at Trackman. The process of testing new features and conducting product demonstrations has kept his kicking game sharp.
After seeing those practice kicks, the Cowboys were interested. So was Mathiesen. He fared well at a free agent tryout, then traveled to Dallas in April for a Trackman demo-slash-private workout, where he showed enough to earn an invite to the team’s rookie minicamp in May.
Mathiesen went 11-for-12 on the first day of minicamp, including 5-for-5 from 50-plus yards. He followed up with a 12-for-16 performance the next day, along with some strong kickoffs.
“Overall, I was happy with how I performed,” Mathiesen said. “I kicked very well, and I got some really good feedback from the coaches.”
Mathiesen left camp without a contract as the Cowboys were already at their 90-man roster limit. But roster shake-ups are common during the spring and summer, so the team advised him to keep his leg warm. With only one kicker on the roster — Jonathan Garibay, an undrafted rookie out of Texas Tech — Mathiesen could still get a shot at kicking for ‘America’s Team’ this season.
“We’ll see,” Mathiesen said. “I’m just gonna go about my business with work and training, taking care of my body and staying ready, and we’ll see what happens.”
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Kicking straighter and further with Trackman
Mathiesen has plenty to keep him busy in the meantime. He’s still responsible for pitching the value of Trackman to other NFL and college teams in the US.
Trackman technology has been used on ‘Sunday Night Football’ TV broadcasts since 2018, providing real-time data such as ball speed, apex and ‘good from’ distance — the maximum yardage from which a field goal attempt would have been successful. In practice environments, the system can provide kickers with even more data, including launch angle, spin rate and ball height at the line of scrimmage.
That’s the sort of information kickers can’t get anywhere else and which they can leverage to kick a football higher, straighter and further. And no one understands the value of that information more than Mathiesen.
“I think I’m the best example of how kickers can utilize Trackman to get better,” Mathiesen said.
“I haven’t played in a game for a few years, but I feel like I have an advantage because no one else has had access to the system as much as I have. I’m so much better now than I was five years ago, it’s not even close, and there’s no way I would be where I am without Trackman. That’s the story I’m excited to tell.”
To learn more about the birth of Trackman, what drives the company and how it continues to change the face of modern golf, check out this video.