

While sports vision testing can vary depending on an athlete’s specific needs, in general, sports vision testing can be beneficial for assessing athletic abilities associated with hand-eye coordination, eye tracking, and depth perception. 

For example, golfers need good hand-eye coordination, timing and depth perception to determine how and where a ball should be hit.

On the other hand, keen visual memory is not as important for bowlers, who operate in a comparatively static environment.
Here are a few more sports vision skills that any athlete can practice at home:

Focus Flexibility

You can’t improve your focus flexibility as successfully through vision training or eye exercises when loss of this skill is caused by presbyopia. However, everyone can practice focus flexibility by concentrating on switching focus between distant and near objects.

Peripheral Awareness

This ability involves perceiving what’s going on at either side of you without turning your head.  
To improve this aspect of your vision for better sports performance, try looking at a busy scene with your head turned to one side. Remember to practice from the left and the right.

Depth Perception

This visual ability enables you to make spatial judgments, including how far away an object or person is from you.
Ever try to put the cap on a pen and miss? Practicing this skill at arm’s length is one way to improve your depth perception.

Hand and Eye Dominance

Understanding which eye dominates may help an athlete adopt better strategies for improving athletic performance. In target shooting, a dominant hand and dominant eye tend to work together much more efficiently when they are on the same side of the body.

If you are a local athlete looking to improve your performance, pop into a Vision Works near you; a Vision Works Optometrist will happily help with this.