What are sports? Games of skill and strategy in which the players and teams use their bodies to win their goals! How does that relate to vision?
Take ball sports: the most important question is Where is the ball?
Each person on a team, or even an individual sport needs to be able to find the ball (pucks too) and play their part.
When players have a mental vision of the field of play, they can plan strategies.
If players have great 3-D vision they know where other players are, and they have an edge over the competition.
If they can track objects moving in space, then Keep your eye on the Ball is easy to follow and they score better.
The faster a ball player processes visual data, the quicker s/he can get to the goal. So in ball sports, vision is the key to success.
In a sport like snowboarding, skiing, surfing, biking your vision allows you to balance under varying circumstances. As the waves, snow, air, etc. rush past you, your ability to see and understand exactly what is happening is primal to your success and survival. The faster your visual cortex directs muscles, the better.
Because of the need for speed in most every sport, the use of contact lenses gives players an edge as well. They provide unrestricted peripheral information that glasses cannot.
Most athletes love wearing their contact lenses and many serious athletes have invested in a program of vision therapy–not as remediation for a poor visual system, but as an enhancement to beat the competition.
If this sounds like you, call us and talk to Inez about your sport!
