No matter what position you play, your core athletic skills come down to how quickly and accurately you visually interpret and react to the play in real-time. These skills can be refined, improved, and enhanced through sports vision training. At Opto-mization Optometry & Vision Therapy, we help professional and aspiring athletes to maximize their game.
Enhanced Vision Skills for Football
It takes way more than strength and speed to play at the top. The skills required by an elite football player – the skills that make the difference between good and great – all depend on vision skills which can be perfected. These skills include:
- Hand-eye coordination
- Peripheral vision
- Reaction time
- Visual memory
- Depth-perception
All these core vision skills that make or break an athlete can be improved, so you can dramatically up your game.
Vision Skills Required by the Quarterback
Before the play, the Quarterback goes up to the line and needs to take in the whole field, movement of players from both sides as well as direction and speed. He needs to react to the defense based on that visual memory and what he picks up on visual cues – to predict what opposing players, as well as teammates, are about to do before the play.
During the play, he has about 3 seconds to drawback, assess 3-5 potential receivers in time and space, and predict who has the best chance of being open and making the catch. He then needs to complete the pass all while avoid getting tackled himself.
Acute peripheral vision and exceptional reaction time are pivotal to quarterback’s success.
Vision Skills Required by the Running-Back
The running-back is standing behind the quarterback and relies on visual memory as to who is where, and where the hole is. Does he need to cut to the right or left? When the ball snaps and he gets the ball, he has to see the players beyond the first yard and make snap decisions in motion. Right, left or ahead?
This requires amazing peripheral vision and awareness of all players, where they are, and their direction and speed. Most importantly, he has to accurately interpret all that visual information and rapidly make a decision.
Vision Skills Required by the Receiver
Before the play, the receiver is reading the visual cues from the quarterback and has to rely on visual memory once the play starts. He MUST know that the quarterback will throw the ball when he’s in a specific position. To do this, he relies on trainable visual memory. To predict the path of the ball accurately and move to catch it successfully even when the sun is in your eyes, he needs to remember exactly where the ball going when his view was obstructed.
Vision Skills Required by the Linebacker
The linebacker relies on much the same vision skills as the quarterback and running-back, just from the opposite side. Has to predict what they’re doing in order to intercept the pass or tackle the runner or quarterback.
All these visual skills, from visual memory, hand-eye coordination and reaction time, can be significantly improved through sports vision training at the Opto-mization Optometry & Vision Therapy. For an assessment of more information, please give us a call.
Our practice serves patients from Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia and surrounding communities.
