Acquiring Vision Skills Essential for Tennis (Feisal Hassan, USPTA Master Pro)

Source file: ACQUIRING_VISION_SKILLS_ESSENTIAL_FOR_TENNIS.pdf.txt

Domain: coaching / vision-training

Tier: reports/tier-3-niche-specialty

Used in artifact: artifacts/reports/tier-3-niche-specialty.md

Abstract

Vision training for tennis. Tracking drills, saccadic eye movement, peripheral vision.

Key points

Quiet eye training improves targeting in tennis.
Saccadic eye movement is the rapid jump between fixation points.
Peripheral vision tracks the opponent while central vision tracks the ball.
Tracking drills can be off-court (ball-on-string, strobe glasses).
Vision training transfers to better anticipation and reaction time.

Raw dump (first ~1000 words)

ACQUIRING VISION SKILLS ESSENTIAL FOR TENNIS Feisal Hassan, USPTA Master Professional Majority of tennis-training programs have been designed with the following criteria in mind: technique, speed, agility, footwork, strength, mental toughness and match strategies. These criteria have also been used to judge tennis ability. However, our body will only respond to what it can see. Despite this fact, little attention has been paid to vision. For decades, players have been told to "watch the ball" or "keep your eye on the ball". These phrases seem to be a maxim that should solve this problem when playing tennis. Remember, it's not hard to know what to do, but how to do what you know! Not watching the ball is typically due to "visual wandering" and a lack of visual discipline/training. Running, acceleration, eye movement and the speed of the ball are the visual spoilers. Try reading a newspaper and running on the spot. You will notice that the running caused difficulty reading the newspaper. By undertaking a simple visual training program, a tennis player can improve his performance. That's because the eye, like the muscles in our bodies, can be strengthened to perform better with exercise. By seeing better, you can play better because what and how you see, is what and how you will do. Some of the required visual skills that can be enhanced through training are: HEAD POSITIONING DYNAMIC VISUAL ACUITY EYE TRACKING EYE TEAMING & DEPTH PERCEPTION PERIPHERAL VISION AND EYE-HAND COORDINATION. HEAD POSITIONING: The average adult head weighs 12 � 15 pounds. When the head is moved excessively in order to see, we risk throwing the whole body out of balance. Thus, players need the ability to identify and fell their head positioning during strokes. DYNAMIC VISUAL ACUITY: Playing tennis is a visual stress test. It requires more from your eyes than the daily activities of reading the newspaper and working on the computer. The player who sees the ball late and exercises poor visual judgment is at a distinct disadvantage. An aggressive player will move around the court, which tires and weakens your visual judgment of ball placement and speed. Running impairs visual acuity; many errors occur after a player has been forced to run for a shot. The solution, of course, is preparation. You can hone dynamic visual acuity so that you can function optimally in matches in which the ball is hit hard and you are forced to run a great deal. The two factors that make seeing the ball difficult are your motion and the speed of the ball. Thus, players need the ability to see the ball more effectively and efficiently while the player and the ball are moving. EYE TRACKING: This is the ability to follow a moving object smoothly and accurately with both eyes. In tennis, it is desirable to track the ball to the moment of contact, that is to "see the ball hit the racquet". But, according to Dr. Jack Groppel, a tennis ball contacting the strings happens way too fast to see with the human eye. The comparison he offers was of a normal everyday 60-cycle deck lamp. The light of this standard lamp seems steady enough, but actually it is flickering on and off 60 times every second, so fast that it appears to be a steady beam of light. Have any of us ever seen this light either on or off? No. The reason is that it simply turns off and on too fast for the human eye to record. According to Dr. Groppel, the moment of a tennis racquet striking a ball takes less time than a 60-cycle light flickers on and off. It takes 1/10th of a second to relate information from the eyes to the brain. Research by the LTA shows that watching the ball only occurs 5-6 feet in front of the player, so after this (tracking the ball), de-emphasize watching the ball, emphasize on getting into the right position and bring your eyes to the point of contact. We need to "anticipate" and pay attention to preparation- where the ball is going to be and when it's going to be there. EYE TEAMING & DEPTH PERCEPTION: This is the ability to use both eyes together (in unison) and to judge relative distances of objects and to see and move accurately in three-dimensional space. Although we look at the world with both eyes, we are aware of only a single impression of the environment. When the eyes work together as a team, the perceptions of each eye are coordinated. Depth, for example, is perceived when two-dimensional images received by each eye are fused in the brain into one threedimensional image. As a result, we can judge distance easily and locate objects in space. On the other hand, anyone whose eyes do not team up finds it very difficult to judge distance. PERIPHERAL VISION: This is the ability to maintain and interpret what is happening on the court (in your side vision) while attending to the ball (the specific central vision). Think of a wide receiver in football. When a pass is thrown in his direction, he must focus on the ball, the opponent trying to prevent him from making the catch, and his feet in relation to the sideline. If he does not account for all three things, he won't be consistently successful. The same thing applies to tennis. A player must concentrate on the incoming ball, account for his own position on the court and what his opponent is doing across the net. All three are crucial for a player's "triple vision". EYE-HAND COORDINATION: This is how the visual system guides the motor system. The eyes lead the hands- not the other way around. Coaches and players who refer to "hand-eye coordination" have missed the significance of this relationship. The visual system leads the motor system. We all use eye-hand coordination in our daily lives and take this skill for granted. Driving a car requires constant coordination between vision,