Elevate your level of play with Sports Vision Therapy
Our vision plays a key role in sports. It guides our body movements and reaction times which helps us make split-second, game-changing decisions.
Sports vision therapy has been used for decades to enhance sports performance in children and adults who have well-functioning visual systems but wish to take their visual skills to the next level.
Fundamental visual skills required for a high-performing athlete
A person requires 17 visual skills for optimal vision and seeing 20/20 is one of those 17 skills
An efficient visual system is a pillar for optimal sports performance. An athlete requires the following fundamental visual skills beyond seeing clearly for optimal sports performance:
Required to accurately follow a fast-moving object (such as a ball or a puck) or a person. Important in tennis, hockey, soccer and basketball where the eyes must stay focussed on a moving ball
The ability to quickly and accurately adjust eye focus and maintain clarity from one distance to another, such as in baseball when grabbing the ball from your glove and throwing it to your teammate.
The ability to use our eyes as an efficient team to focus and track objects, such as a ball or a puck, simultaneously and accurately, an important skill for all sports to avoid shaky or double vision
Being able to identify the exact location, distance and speed of an object or person, a critical skill for an athlete, for example when completing a pass in football.
Also known as eye-hand coordination, this is the ability to take in visual information and react with an action, a key skill that determines reaction time in every sport
The ability to see on either side of you while your eyes are pointing forward, a crucial skill for every team sport such as hockey to be aware of your teammates location for passes and baseball to be aware of a player stealing base.
The speed at which visual information is interpreted by the brain, a key skill required to make split-second, game-changing decisions in all sports.
The ability to interpret or make sense out of what is being seen, a key skill for all sports.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sports vision training is a branch of vision therapy that works on enhancing an athlete’s visual skills and visual information processing speed in order to elevate their level of play and take their performance to the next level. Sometimes athletes reach a ceiling effect where more practice no longer improves their performance. If you or someone you know is in this position, vision therapy can help! Sports Vision Therapy has been used for decades to improve an individual’s eye-hand coordination, reaction times, peripheral awareness, eye tracking, eye focussing, eye teaming and depth perception. It works for all sports including hockey, golf, soccer, tennis, table tennis, baseball, softball, lacrosse, basketball, football etc.
Sports Vision Training does not have much to do with improving visual clarity (visual acuity), it improves visual efficiency which leads to enhanced visual performance. It is important not to confuse sports vision therapy performed under the supervision of a board-certified developmental optometrist with generic vision exercises as the results are not comparable.
If you want to take your game to the next level and out-perform your competition, the first step is to book a Sports Vision Therapy Assessment. This is different from a routine comprehensive eye examination as it involves a different battery of tests to assess the 17 visual skills required for optimum sports performance. After the assessment, our board-certified Developmental Optometrist will prescribe an individualized vision training plan. Each plan is customized to the sport, the position and the patient’s level of visual skills and demands. As part of the Sports Vision Therapy program at Vision Therapy Centre for Learning and Performance, the athlete works with a Vision Therapist every week to perform a series of vision activities that challenge their visual system to perform better than the previous week in a sequential manner. It is a goal-oriented approach, and the program can take anywhere from several weeks to several months.
No, you do not require a referral to book a sports vision therapy assessment. You can simply call our office at (825) 413-0912 to book an appointment.
Rise above the competition with Sports Vision Therapy
Book a Sports Vision Therapy Assessment with our board-certified developmental optometrist, Dr. Arora for a thorough assessment of your visual skills and visual processing speed.