Sports Vision for Student-Athletes Enhancing Performance and Safety

Sports Vision for Student-Athletes: Enhancing Performance and Safety

  • By:Dr. Katie Dugan

When students are going back to school, it’s also a time when sports training and practices are getting underway for the year. Does your child participate in an extracurricular activity, such as playing on the school’s sports team or another club program outside of the school?

As practices are getting underway, it’s the perfect reminder to schedule an eye examination for your child. Not only does vision play an important role in sports performance, but your eye doctor might also be able to provide recommendations for eye safety while the young athlete is on the field.

Is Vision Impacting the Child’s Sports Performance?

It’s no surprise that sports performance is closely related to a child’s visual skills. The athlete needs to be able to see clearly in order to catch a ball or pass to a teammate. If a child has visual problems, then these issues could be affecting their performance in sports activities.

Watch for these potential signs that vision issues are impacting your child’s sports performance:

  • Diminishing interest in sports
  • Difficulty throwing or catching the ball
  • Complains that they can’t see the ball clearly
  • Struggles to track other players or the ball
  • Poor estimation of distances
  • Strong athletic skills but poor sports performance
  • Practice doesn’t seem to improve skills
  • Difficulty remembering details or game plays

Eye Exam for Student Athletes

There are various vision skills that athletes need so they can perform well in the game, including:

  • Eye tracking
  • Eye focusing
  • Depth perception
  • Ability to see moving objects
  • Peripheral vision
  • Focusing stamina and flexibility
  • Hand-eye coordination

When you schedule a comprehensive eye examination, not only will the eye doctor check to see if the child needs vision correction lenses, but there are other tests that can look at these necessary visual skills.

Make sure to talk to the eye doctor about the child’s participation in sports. Then, the doctor can provide recommendations about eye protection or other equipment that might be helpful to not only optimize vision but also protect against the risk of eye injury at the same time.

Good Vision on the Field and in the Classroom

When the child is struggling on the field because of vision issues, then it’s likely that these same issues are showing up in the classroom as well. So, scheduling an eye exam is not only important for sports performance, but it is also essential for their educational learning at the same time.

Schedule an Eye Exam for Your Child

Is it time to book an eye examination for your child? Contact us at Temecula Creek Optometry to schedule an appointment: (951) 302 -1331.

Posted in: Eye Exams