(PRESS RELEASE) MONROE, NJ — A growing body of evidence confirms that visual abilities can be strengthened and enhanced by means of appropriate visual training. Sports vision, the science of helping athletes reach peak levels of performance through enhancement of visual skills, is becoming more important in training for all ages and skill levels.
To help athletes, parents, and others interested in learning how improving visual function and skills may help lead to improved performance in the sport(s) they play, the International Sports Vision Association (ISVA) has launched “Ask A Sports Vision Expert” on its website. Optometrists, athletic trainers, researchers, and others with expertise in sports vision assessment and training will respond to questions related to how the visual system can help athletes gain optimal performance in a variety of sports and leisure activities.
“Vision has been described as the most variable of all the senses that affect sport performance,” says Alireza Somji, ISVA president. “Because information gathered through vision is thought to dominate over information from other sensory systems, it is recognized as essential to successful performance in almost every sport.” Visual skills for all sports include things such as, but not limited to, visual acuity, eye tracking, eye-hand-body coordination, visual memory, peripheral vision and depth perception.
“Every sport requires a set of dynamic visual skills that are critical to achieving peak performance, making an athlete’s eyesight one of the most important pieces of equipment they have,” adds ISVA Advisory Board member Melissa Bussey, OD. “Depending on the sport(s) you play, your reliance on those skills may differ.”
Vision care for athletes of all ages and skill levels should begin with the identification of visual factors that potentially contribute to peak performance.
“By discovering if any weaknesses lie in these areas, sports vision professionals have an opportunity to help an athlete enhance not only these visual skills, but also the resulting performance,” notes Dr. Bussey.
The “Ask a Sports Vision Expert” feature is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All questions are submitted directly through the website and no names or email addresses are required. Experts will not answer all questions submitted but ISVA will post featured questions at least once a week and then archive all Q&A on a dedicated page on the website. To submit a question, meet the experts, and access the archives page, visit here.
About ISVA
The International Sports Vision Association (ISVA) is an interdisciplinary group of professionals dedicated to advancing the field of vision training for athletes of all ages and levels to help them achieve peak athletic performance. For further information, visit here.