Eyemaxxing for Sports
Athletes train strength, speed, endurance, technique and reaction. But what about vision?
Vision is part of performance
In many sports the eyes continuously send information to the brain. Where is the ball? Where are your opponents? How fast is something moving? Where is the available space? What should you react to next?
The faster and more efficiently visual information is detected and processed, the sooner an athlete can respond.
What visual skills can athletes train?
The importance of each skill depends on the sport.
- Visual tracking
- Eye movement speed and accuracy
- Peripheral awareness
- Visual reaction
- Depth perception
- Eye-hand coordination
- Focus flexibility
- Visual attention and binocular coordination
Eyemaxxing for football
Football places particularly high demands on visual awareness. Players repeatedly shift their gaze between the ball, teammates, opponents and open spaces while moving and making decisions.
Training visual awareness, rapid eye movements, peripheral vision and visual processing can therefore be relevant parts of sports vision training.
Racing, golf and other sports
Racing involves rapid visual processing and awareness at high speed. Golf requires precise visual information and coordination. Racket and ball sports place significant demands on tracking, timing and reaction.
Sports vision training should therefore focus on the visual demands of the individual sport.
Train your body. Train your brain. Train your eyes.