Sight and Sporting Activities

Hand – eye coordination is an essential element for talented sportsmen. Hard work, coaching and training are all elements in sporting success but there are limits in the absence of sheer talent in the first place. While many of the problems relating to vision come about with age after a sportsman (or woman) is well past his peak, it is foolish to forget about the importance of good vision at all ages.

There are training exercises that they can also do to help with hand-eye coordination, visual memory and depth perception. You need to be aware of everything around as you compete in most sports. Think soccer, cricket, tennis or basketball as just four examples.

There are some ideas that have worked for others in the past and a limited number of studies that suggest that performance improvements can be partly put down to vision exercises. You can improve the flexibility of your eyes by concentrating on something in a room then switching that concentration to something else in the room and so on.

Visual memory also plays a part. Remember games where you need to reveal pairs of images that are placed face down again if they are not matched. If you have a good memory you will pair things up later in the game. Translate that on to a playing field where you need to remember where others are; think about a batsman in cricket who neds to hit the ball into spaces.
Peripheral vision can be improved as well; sometimes there is no time to check by turning your head so practice looking out of the sides of your eyes.

Depth perception can be improved by your practicing a variety of sporting actions with only one eye open. Practise this way with both eyes so that each is trained. There are several things you can do to improve your depth perception. Maybe just take two pencils and try to touch the tips together at arms’ length with a single eye open. Remember the last time you tried to thread a needle? Do it with an eye closed.

Hand-eye coordination can be tested in many different games, especially those that are quick. Indoors, it can be something like table tennis or outdoors batting, though if it is not a natural game for you, use a tennis ball because it won’t hurt you if you are struck. In both cases, you are sub-consciously training your brain to work in coordination with your eyes.
Many professional athletes use supplements to assist with their fitness. They need to ensure that they do not contain any ingredients that are prohibited and regarded as performance enhancing because that will lead to a ban if they are detected. It is logical that they should also consider things that can maintain the health of their eyes, and hence their good vision.