Vision is an important part of ice hockey because many of the skills used in the sport require excellent vision. A player's shooting, passing and skating all benefit from good vision; any vision impairments can significantly hinder the player's ability. Vision training exercises can help a player greatly, as he will see positive results in other areas because of this improved vision.
Importance of Vision
Vision is important in hockey because a player must maintain her balance while skating, handling the puck and keeping track of other players on the ice. Hand-eye coordination is also crucial, since the player must strike the puck her stick while moving at a high speed. Peripheral vision allows for players to see others on the ice easily, which can prevent injuries and improve performance.
How Players Use Their Vision
A report in "Optometry Today" magazine in 2006 suggested that athletes who participate in sports like hockey rely on their vision for 85 to 90 percent of all sensory input during play. This means that the majority of the movements performed by these athletes will come from what their eyes tell them, as they will react to what they see. As a result, if two athletes have trained the exact same way physically leading up to an event, but one has gone through more vision training, the athlete with better vision will likely perform at a higher level.
Tracking
When playing hockey, you must work on your ability to track the puck and anything else that moves on the ice. You must also have the ability to change your focus very quickly, because the puck and other players will move fast around the ice, and you must make adjustments. Goalies, in particular, must work on this skill, the Dynamic Edge website explains, because cross-ice passes can cause difficulty for goalies who cannot effectively track the puck.
Concentration
Since the puck remains tiny in comparison to the size of the ice surface and the players, players need visual concentration skills to see it in a crowd. Players should practice following the puck through a crowd of players, which can become difficult as they become fatigued.
Visual Reaction Time
All players must work on visual reaction time, to help themselves react in an instant to what they're seeing on the ice. As you see a play developing on the ice, you will have to react to what you have seen immediately to have a chance to involve yourself in the play. Vision remains an important aspect of this reaction, as you must process the information correctly to make the right choice.
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