Visual Skills
• VISUAL ACUITY - This is a measure of eyesight, or how clearly you see. This ability affects visual discrimination and reaction time.
• REFRACTIVE STATUS - The amount of nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and/or astigmatism as well as the equality of power between eyes (anisometropia). Refractive status is related to clarity of sight and the effort with which clarity is maintained during a match.
• EYE MOVEMENT CONTROL - The ability move both eyes from one point to another (saccades) and smoothly track an object (pursuits) with speed and precision. These abilities relate to accurately keeping the eyes on the ball.
• FOCUS FLEXIBILITY - The ability to modify and maintain clarity of focus with varying changes in target distances. Focusing is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance. This ability relates to the effort to maintain clarity of the ball, players, net and sidelines at all times and is a significant factor in visual fatigue. Testing conditions are performed with both a distant and near target.
• EYE TEAMING FLEXIBILITY - The ability to keep both eyes simultaneously aligned on a target with changes in target distances, and maintain this alignment in various positions of gaze and during dynamic balance to keep the target fused into one image. Eye Teaming is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance. This ability relates to the maintenance of depth perception, spatial localization and can adversely affect effort and fatigue. Testing conditions are performed with a near target, distance target, under stress and in motion.
• DEPTH PERCEPTION - A product of good eye teaming, fine depth discrimination is the ability to accurately judge and react to distances between objects in three dimensional space quickly and with precision. This ability relates to the prediction of the position of the players, ball and net, as well as the SPEED at which these judgments can be made.
• SPEED & SPAN OF RECOGNITION - The ability to take in an amount of visual information over a unit of time. This ability relates to the speed at which an individual can recognize that a change in visual input has occurred. It is key in making a quick response.
• CENTRAL-PERIPHERAL INTEGRATION - The ability to recognize and respond to information in different areas of the visual field while still maintaining focus, fusion and visual attention on the target. This relates to all game situations and is key in motor planning, maintaining court position, awareness of other players and reaction time. Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• EYE-HAND COORDINATION - The ability to visually know where an object is and make the appropriate visual motor response by controlling, guiding, and directing the hands with coordinated visual input. This ability relates to making the correct visual-motor responses when hitting or digging the ball. Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• VISUALIZATION - The ability to picture something in the “mind’s eye.” This ability relates to remembering plays, court position, learning from past experiences and planning future action.
• REFRACTIVE STATUS - The amount of nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and/or astigmatism as well as the equality of power between eyes (anisometropia). Refractive status is related to clarity of sight and the effort with which clarity is maintained during a match.
• EYE MOVEMENT CONTROL - The ability move both eyes from one point to another (saccades) and smoothly track an object (pursuits) with speed and precision. These abilities relate to accurately keeping the eyes on the ball.
• FOCUS FLEXIBILITY - The ability to modify and maintain clarity of focus with varying changes in target distances. Focusing is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance. This ability relates to the effort to maintain clarity of the ball, players, net and sidelines at all times and is a significant factor in visual fatigue. Testing conditions are performed with both a distant and near target.
• EYE TEAMING FLEXIBILITY - The ability to keep both eyes simultaneously aligned on a target with changes in target distances, and maintain this alignment in various positions of gaze and during dynamic balance to keep the target fused into one image. Eye Teaming is involved with all aspects of play, particularly at a high level of performance. This ability relates to the maintenance of depth perception, spatial localization and can adversely affect effort and fatigue. Testing conditions are performed with a near target, distance target, under stress and in motion.
• DEPTH PERCEPTION - A product of good eye teaming, fine depth discrimination is the ability to accurately judge and react to distances between objects in three dimensional space quickly and with precision. This ability relates to the prediction of the position of the players, ball and net, as well as the SPEED at which these judgments can be made.
• SPEED & SPAN OF RECOGNITION - The ability to take in an amount of visual information over a unit of time. This ability relates to the speed at which an individual can recognize that a change in visual input has occurred. It is key in making a quick response.
• CENTRAL-PERIPHERAL INTEGRATION - The ability to recognize and respond to information in different areas of the visual field while still maintaining focus, fusion and visual attention on the target. This relates to all game situations and is key in motor planning, maintaining court position, awareness of other players and reaction time. Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• EYE-HAND COORDINATION - The ability to visually know where an object is and make the appropriate visual motor response by controlling, guiding, and directing the hands with coordinated visual input. This ability relates to making the correct visual-motor responses when hitting or digging the ball. Testing conditions are performed with no additional distractions and under stress (with a balance board).
• VISUALIZATION - The ability to picture something in the “mind’s eye.” This ability relates to remembering plays, court position, learning from past experiences and planning future action.