Athletes dedicate time to strengthening their bodies, increasing speed and agility and sharpening the motor skills. Eye training offers its own set of benefits, which can include improved reaction time and more accurate orientation to targets. Effective eye training exercises do not require special equipment or instruction. They are easy for athletes of all levels to accomplish, and offer you the opportunity to move closer to your true athletic potential.
Eye Muscle Function in Sports
According to a September 2007 article in the "Times" of London, if the seven muscles in the eye don't work well together, it makes the tasks faced by athletes more difficult. The eyes of athletes must measure depth perception--locating items in space--see targets in motion, possess peripheral awareness, aid in quickening reaction time, and manage contrast perception--that is, separate objects from their background. Much of the time in sports, more than one of these processes are occurring at once.
Vision Problems in Athletes
According to Laura Deeley of the "Times" of London, 40 percent of elite athletes suffer from vision problems. Gail Emms, an Olympic badminton player, has had to learn to compensate for right-eye dominance. This characteristic has the effect of compromising her depth perception--most commonly when she looks upward to track the path of a shuttlecock. Other vision problems in athletics include limited peripheral vision, nearsightedness and farsightedness. It's not uncommon for athletes to be unaware of such shortcomings.
Eye Movement Accuracy
The ability to keep your eyes on a target while your body moves is a skill which may not be frequently considered by athletes. Football, basketball, tennis and baseball are among the sports that require this skill. The "Times" online recommends standing in front of a mirror, maintaining focus on your own eyes while turning your head from side to side and up and down. Once this has become a fairly easy process, practice the same focus while moving your entire body from side to side.
Pursuit and Saccadic Eye Movement
Two types of eye movement figure prominently in sports: pursuit and saccadic. Pursuit involves your eyes following a target as it moves through space. Saccadic movement deals with your eyes jumping to where you expect a target to be. To practice pursuit movements, stand in a semi-dark room and run a flashlight over a wall, varying the speed, and follow the light with your eyes as accurately as possible. For saccadic movement, switch the flashlight on and off rapidly as you move the light. Make your eyes jump along the wall to catch each new burst of the flashlight.
Peripheral Awareness
Fix your focus on an object directly in front of you, but position yourself to have a second, moving object, such as a ceiling fan or branches of a tree blowing in the wind, within your field of vision, well off to the side. Follow the movement of the item or items in your peripheral field of vision while maintaining your direct focus on the object in front of you. As you gain skill and confidence, go to a busy place to follow the passage of people in and out of your peripheral field.
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