SPORTSCIENCE
sportsci.org
Perspectives: Appropriate Category
MORE GOOD LOOKS FOR HOCKEY: A New Visual
Training Program Improves Game Skills in Elite Players
Sherylle Calder
Acuvue Sports Vision Centre, Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Cape Town,
South Africa. Email: scalder@mweb.co.za
Sportscience 3(2), sportsci.org/jour/9902/sc.html, 1999 (0000 words)
Reviewed by Darlene A Kluka PhD, Department of HPER, Grambling State University,
Grambling, Louisiana 71245
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In a previous article at this site I described a research project aimed at improving hockey
performance by training non-specific visual skills and sport-specific visual awarenes. In
response to continued requests for information, I list here the performance tests I used,
and the training drills for visual skills and visual awareness. training drills I used.
Hockey Performance Tests
I used 22 tests to assess six distinct hockey skills.
Penalty Corner
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push-out (done from the backline)
stick-stop (done from the edge of the circle)
short corner hit (aimed at the left corner of goal)
short corner hit (aimed at the right corner of goal)
Penalty Stroke
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aimed at the left top corner of goal
aimed at the right bottom corner of goal
Passing the Ball on the Run
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square left
diagonally left
forward
square right
diagonally right
Receiving the Ball
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from behind
square right
2
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diagonally right
diagonally left
square left and ending with a shot at goal while the player is moving
Stopping the Ball
(while player is moving and receiving the ball)
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from diagonally right
from diagonally left
square left
square right
from the front
Flicking a Lifted Ball
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flick into goal from edge of the circle
Non-Specific Visual-Skills Training
Horizontal Saccades
I used the "X-chart" shown in Figure 1 to train and test rapid flicking movements of the
eyes (sacchades). I placed the chart at arm's length from the player. I asked the player
to flick from one letter to the next horizontally (left to right to left…) down to the bottom
of the chart, keeping the head still. I recorded the time to complete the chart and the
number of errors. I also placed the chart at different angles each week to train diagonal
sacchades.
Figure 1: X-Chart: used to train saccades.
The 26 letter of the alphabet run down each
side of the chart, in upper and lower case as
shown.
You can improvise the chart by writing letters on a sheet of paper. Size of letters
depends on the visual acuity of the player.
Vertical Saccades
I used a similar chart for vertical saccades, and I changed the angle each week for
diagonal eye movements.
3
Rotational Skills
I wrote the 26 letters of the alphabet in random sequence around the outside of an old 12inch LP. The player had to find the letters in alphabetical sequence while they rotated at
33 rpm on a turntable at arm’s length. No time limit was imposed. You can improvise
this test by writing the letters of the alphabet on a sheet of paper at random and moving
the sheet while the player reads the letters. Speed of movement of the paper depends on
the visual ability of the player. It is important to keep the head still.
Accommodative Rock for Accommodative Flexibility
The players need to focus their eyes by using an eye chart, focusing 35 reduced Snellen
letters through +2.50 and -2.50 lenses (flippers). Focusing with both the +2.50 lens and
the -2.50 lens constituted one cycle. Flippers are specially designed lenses used for
traditional vision training.
Coaching/player tip:
The same can be achieved by focusing on a letter near (30 cm) and then on a target
far (from 6 meters onward). The target could be some of the following: NEAR: ball
in hand, finger, name on shoe and FAR: chart on a wall, newspaper on the wall,
relevant hockey article on a wall, signboard next to the field, signposts in training
area etc. It is important to keep the head still while doing this exercise.
Pencil Push-ups and Pencil Push Aways
This is used to exercise convergence and divergence ranges, which will teach the player
to follow a moving object as it approaches or moves away from the player.
Coaching/player tip:
A pencil with a letter on it is held at an arm length. Focus on the letter. The pencil
is then brought closer towards the nose until the letter on it is no longer in focus.
Once completed the same procedure is followed moving the pencil away from the
nose. This procedure is done in nine directions of gaze viz. upper left/middle/right,
middle left/middle/right and lower left/middle/right. Moving the pencil towards
and away from the nose is done 10 times in each direction of gaze). It is important
to keep the head still while doing this exercise.
Convergence and Divergence Reserve Exercise
Traditional vision training lenses are used to maintain focus of letters on a ball (Marsden
ball) swinging towards and away from the player. Focus your eyes on a letter, while the
ball swings away and towards the subject.
Coaching/player tip:
This can be done by using a ball hanging from the roof and writing letters/numbers
of different sizes on it and reading the letters off while ball is swinging (towards and
away). It is important to keep the head still while doing this exercise.
4
Specific Visual-Awareness Training
The sport-specific vision awareness-coaching programme for Group 1 consisted of
specific practice activities with the hockey stick and ball that were designed to maximise
the players’ use of their visual system.
Coaching/player tip:
For example, players were taught how to use their visual system to improve their
skill execution. The specific areas addressed during the vision awareness coaching
sessions were amongst others dominant eye, correct foundation skills and neutral
head position. Skill progressions were implemented during the vision awareness
coaching sessions. Each progression was created to provide an ever-increasing level
of performance difficulty until the new or modified techniques had become
automated.
For the purpose of the visual awareness programme it is important to assess the dominant
eye.
Coaching/player tip:
Assessing the dominant eye of the player
Assessing the dominant eye of the player "There are three types of eye dominance:
sighting, sensory, and acuity. Sighting dominance refers to the type that is consistently
used in aiming at objects; sensory dominance is the eye that holds monocular images
longer; acuity dominance is determined by which eye is more accurate on measures of
static vision. In sighting dominance, the eye processes information to the brain faster
than the non-dominant one (14 ms). The most common method used to determine
sighting dominance is by using the following:
1. Choose an object of regard off at a distance to fixate on (look at). This object
should be relatively small, such as a doorknob or a letter on a wall.
2. Fully extend both your arms in the direction of the object. Make sure that you
position your arms at the exact midline of your body. Form a small aperture
with your hands and view the object of regard through that opening.
3. Close one eye and observe whether the object still appears through the opening
of your hands. Whichever eye is lined up with the object, is the preferred or
dominant eye.
4. A tube or a card with a hole in may be used in place of the aperture formed by
the hands.
The most important finding in the study was that participation in the four-week
complementary programme of visual skills training and sport-specific vision awareness
coaching is likely to produce a substantial improvement in on-field hockey performance.
5
The addition of a vision awareness coaching program means that players not only had the
chance to improve visual skills, but they also had the opportunity to learn how to
position themselves during the performance of hockey skills to better utilize visual skills.
More detail can be obtained in a future article.
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