When you are participating in a sports competition or any physical activity, your body and vision should be in the best possible shape. Your vision must be in peak performance to bring out your competitiveness in the playing field. For your understanding, let your trusted eye doctor from Northern Virginia Doctors of Optometry talk about some visual skills needed when engaging in sports.
Eye Tracking
Most sports need you to have excellent eye tracking skills to keep up with your opponent’s mobility. When playing games like basketball, you also need this skill to help you follow where the ball goes. This enables you to maintain balance and agility as well.
Eye Focusing
Your eyes’ ability to focus on targets at varying distances is essential in any sports. This also plays a major role in your shooting accuracy, strategy flexibility, and overall game strength.
Depth Perception
Your depth perception skills go hand-in-hand with your eye focusing abilities. When it comes to basketball, for instance, this allows you to accurately measure the distance between you, the ball, the basket, and your opponents. During your sports vision training, we’ll help you develop this skill, so you won’t have any problems shooting whether under the basket or from the three-point line.
Eye-Hand-Body Coordination
This refers to how your body, hands, and feet work together in response to the information provided by your eyes. It helps regulate your body control and timing, which is essential in any physical activity.
Peripheral Vision
With all the movement going on during a game, it would be a great help if you can clearly see opponents coming at you from the side. This reduces the risk of the ball or puck being stolen from you, making sure you’ll get that additional point.
Keep in mind that all sports vary. They have different visual demands and require different sets of skills. To ensure your peak performance in every game, it’s best to see your sports vision specialist for a thorough evaluation. If you have cataracts, we may provide cataracts treatment first to help you see better. We may also prescribe sports eyewear to maintain your visual safety.
If you have any further questions about the link between your eyesight and sports, call us at (703) 660-9494 or (703) 467-9080 or complete our appointment request form. We offer sports vision therapy at our locations in Alexandria and Reston.