Soccer's Visual Demands

Competitive soccer players know that it takes practice and conditioning to move to the next level. Highly skilled players dedicate themselves to game preparation, but they also have something that average players lack - superior vision skills combined with excellent motor timing and ability. Today we are going to talk about how soccer players use their vision when playing the world's most popular game.

According to researchers at the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester (we can only assume the Liverpool and Manchester were competing on this one rather than working together), elite players use their eyes and visual system quite differently than players with average performance. The difference is the manner in which they use visual search patterns and how quickly they can process visual input. Superior soccer players have the ability to continually survey the field of play, spot teammates and opportunities and make game changing decisions in mere split seconds. The good news is that you can train your eyes just like you can train other parts of your body. With a sports vision training program for soccer, an average player can acquire the visual skills necessary to move up to the next level of play.

Soccer is a visually demanding sport. Let's take a look at some of the visual skills required to excel at the game of soccer:

• Visual acuity: Eye charts measure only static visual acuity. However, dynamic visual acuity (the ability to see objects clearly when they are moving quickly) is more significant than static visual acuity for the game of soccer. Soccer is a sport of nearly constant movement. The player and teammates are in motion, members of the opposing team are in motion, and the ball is in motion.

• Peripheral vision: Peripheral visual information is processed quickly to facilitate the detection of motion so that visual focus can be directed to other events. This is a visual skill necessary to identifying the location of the ball while maintaining awareness of other offensive and defensive players, and identifying player relationship to the field boundary.

• Depth perception: A visual skill necessary for accurate shooting and passing – having the ability to accurately judge distance, speed and spin on the ball.

• Eye tracking: Quick, accurate saccades are needed to quickly survey the field of play and the ever changing locations and movements of all players on the field plus movement of the ball. Studies have shown that if the athlete's head has to move in order for the athlete to track, this is not only less efficient but also throws off balance.

• Eye-hand/body/foot coordination: This is especially important for a soccer goalkeeper, who can use both feet and hands during play. The visual system guides the motor system and impacts the athlete's performance.

• Visual processing speed and motor timing: Soccer players use on-going sensory information as feedback, adjusting their movement throughout the game accordingly. Players who possess faster visual processing speeds and motor timing play at higher levels. Opportunities to make a proper pass, steal the ball without fouling, or score a goal happen within fractions of seconds. Speed of reaction time can be the difference between an average player and a star player.

• Shift of focus: A soccer must be able to shift focus from near to far to intermediate within split seconds as the ball rapidly moves throughout the game – even as the athlete tires physically.

Before beginning a sports vision training program for soccer, it is important to first have an Athlete Vision Assessment with an optometrist who is residency-trained in binocular vision and is familiar with the visual demands associated with the game of soccer.