Sport vision assessment in soccer players

Abstract

Sport has become a very competitive business and focus has been placed on reaching ones full potential. Few aspects like hand-eye co-ordination and visual reaction time have been addressed in the past. Visual involvement in a sport varies according to environmental demands associated with that particular sport. These environmental demands are matched by a task of specific motor responses. This study was carried out in order to determine the relevance of sport vision testing and visual skills training in soccer players. This study also seeks to determine the visual skills of soccer players by assessing depth perception, accommodation flexibility, eye tracking, eye jumps, peripheral awareness and visual memory of soccer players. Fourty-eight soccer players aged 12 to 20 were assessed. The results were compared according to age group and the four
main positions in soccer, namely: striker, midfielder, defender and  goalkeeper. The results indicated that visual skills tend to improve with age and that different positions do not necessarily require different levels of visual skills. This reinforces the suggestion that visual skills are not necessarily a function of the position one plays. Sportsmen will have a great advantage over their fellow rivals due to improvements in their exercise and sports vision training programs. These training programs can help improve and train the athlete’s visual coordination, increase concentration and focus, hand-eye co-ordination, anticipation as well as gain knowledge about their motor response. These principles can also be implemented in a similar evaluation of other athletes and non-athletes.

Key words: Sport vision, hand-eye co-ordination, visual concentration, peripheral awareness.