sports vision training in Grande Prairie

What is sports vision training?

Sports vision training (SVT) is a specialized program designed to enhance the visual skills of athletes—across all sports, from amateur to pro. Training visual skills allows athletes to enhance their performance in ways that traditional training alone cannot.

It involves a series of exercises and activities prescribed by an optometrist that are customized to an individual’s sports, position, and visual profile. Unlike general vision correction, SVT focuses on improving how athletes use their vision in dynamic and high-pressure situations.

There is so much more to perfect vision than having 20/20 eyesight. Your vision encompasses a broader meaning as the mental process of deriving meaning from what is seen and is the output of visual pathway integrity, visual efficiency and visual information processing.

Approximately 80% of the sensory information we perceive in sports is visual. No matter what sport you’re involved in, your ability to respond, concentrate, and react quickly can determine whether you lose, win, or avoid injury.

After participating in sports vision training, our athletic patients can improve their performance, reaction times, and overall strategy by developing specific visual skills.

check out our vision training clinic in Grande Prairie

We pride ourselves on truly getting to know our patients and creating a personalized vision or sports vision training program to suit your needs. Our team is ready to welcome you into our friendly environment, where we help you train your eyes and elevate your performance.

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who can benefit from sports vision training?

We customize sports vision training programs for children, teens, and adults

Short answer: everyone! Adult, child, and teenage athletes can benefit from sports vision training. Anyone who steps onto a court or a sports field, whether amateur or professional athletes of all ages.

Want to up your game on the field, track, court, or rink? Sports vision training can be the game-changer you need. From precision tracking to faster reactions, improved peripheral awareness to better depth perception, vision training targets the visual skills specific to your sport.

At Aurora Eye Care, we customize your sports vision training plan to fit your needs. We look at the various visual issues you might struggle with and create a personalized program using several techniques, including object-tracking exercises, and state of the art technology including strobe glasses, and LED lights.

Our doctors provide a personalized sports vision training approach to help transform how you see the world.

key visual skills targeted with sports vision training

Some of the most common issues sports vision training can help address include:

Hand-eye coordination
Depth perception
Peripheral vision
Vergence: The ability of your eyes to team together to maintain single vision. The basis for accurate depth perception.
Accommodation: The ability of your eyes to adjust lens curvature to focus on objects at varying distances.
Dynamic visual acuity: Vision sharpness and clarity, specifically in fast-paced or complex situations.
Reaction time
Visual tracking

benefits of sports vision training for adults, teens, and children

Some of the key benefits of sports vision training include:

Enhanced performance: Better decision-making and execution under pressure.
Faster reaction time: Quickly process visual information and respond effectively.
Increased accuracy: Better depth perception, spatial awareness, and tracking abilities for precise movements and plays.
Reduced visual fatigue: More efficient visual processing reduces strain and fatigue during extended play.
Improved mental focus and cognitive performance: Selective attention, increased endurance for sustained attention, and high concentration levels.
Boosted confidence: Mastering visual skills reduces anxiety and decreases distractions.

what’s included in your sports vision training program?

Initial assessment:

Start by booking your or your child’s routine eye exam and let Aurora Eye Care’s optometrists help you determine if vision training can help improve your outlook on life.

Eye exams are essential to ensure the eyes are healthy and that the glasses prescription is the best possible (if necessary). They can determine if further testing is recommended and connect you with our sports vision therapy team.

The next step is a functional eye exam to assess your visual skills and review an extensive health, vision and athletic history with you or your child.

Then, we will determine what areas of visual skills need to be enhanced. This could include:

Our behavioural optometrist, Dr. Charlotte Forgie, will provide a consultation reviewing the findings of the assessment, as well as the recommendations.

Using the findings from your assessment, we will create a customized training program specific to your skills, sport and goals.

Professional athletes typically have superior visual skills compared to the average person. Even if your test results fall within the normal range, we can still create a plan to enhance your skills beyond ‘average’ and elevate your performance to the next level.

Want to know if vision training is right for you, your teen, or your child? Fill out our online assessment or book an eye exam with Aurora Eye Care.

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sports vision training grande praire alberta

customized sports vision training plan

A solid foundation of visual skills is essential for establishing a healthy connection between the eyes and the brain.

Your sports vision training team will create a personalized plan for your deficits and needs. The plan will include 45-minute in-office sessions each week and 15-20 minutes of home practice 4-5 days a week.

A program length of 16 weeks is the minimum recommended for best results This ensures the visual skills are not only developed but also retained upon completion.

Each session is conducted one-on-one (therapist-to-patient) under the doctor’s supervision. Most athletes see improvements in their game within 4-6 weeks.

When your eyes and brain are in sync, working seamlessly to process what you see, you can sharpen your focus and elevate your performance in sports, academics and recreational activities.

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ongoing monitoring and progress evaluation

Athletes who use their visual system to its maximum potential will gain optimal performance and a competitive edge.

Regular progress assessments will be performed by your doctor every eight sessions, and adjustments to the training program will be made based on your progress and performance.

our sports vision training technology

The highly technical sports vision training tools we use to take your athletic abilities to the next level include:

quickboard: A dynamic visual training tool that helps athletes develop faster reaction times and improve eye-foot coordination.
senaptec sensory station: A state-of-the-art sensory evaluation and training station which assesses ten visual and sensorimotor skills. We are currently the only location north of Edmonton that has this technology.
neurotracker: A cognitive training system that enhances attention, mental focus, and peripheral awareness using 3D multiple object tracking exercises.
fit lights: Interactive training tools that use LED lights to create drills that improve reaction times and agility.
senaptec strobe glasses: Using liquid crystal technology, they challenge the brain to process visuals more efficiently, sharpening reaction time and focus. Activate each visual region independently, allowing you to customize patterns to train different regions of your vision.

vision training for specific sports

To showcase how sports vision training can improve your athletic abilities, here are the skills that vision training helps you improve in different sports.

Hockey

Tracking a fast-moving puck
Peripheral vision for awareness of other players
Quick decision making
Vision training for sports improves reaction time and accuracy in passing and shooting.

Basketball

Court vision
Spotting teammates
Anticipating opponents’ moves
Better engage peripheral vision to see the whole court
Sports vision training enhances dribbling, passing, and shooting skills through improved focus and coordination.

Volleyball

Tracking the ball’s trajectory for accurate serves, spikes, and blocks
Precise eye teaming for the most accurate plays
Vision training for sports helps improve visual perception for better timing and positioning

Baseball

Batting
Catching
Fielding
Tracking the ball from pitch to hit
Sports vision training will improve hand-eye coordination and visual processing speed.

Football

Peripheral awareness of entire field
Depth perception for accurate passing and receiving
Fast decision making and strategy
Tracking passes and other players
Strong mental focus and cognitive stamina

call to get started

interested in sports vision training for your team or class?

We offer team circuit training to improve the visual skills necessary for your team—no matter what sport!

We also offer concussion baseline testing. To make it easy, we’ll come to you and perform comprehensive testing on your athletes to assess the visual skills that can be affected by a concussion. If any injury occurs, we will have the necessary baselines to retest the athlete and help them get cleared for play.

For more information, please email us at vt@auroraeyecare.ca.

Please contact us if you would like more information about sports vision training.

Looking to refer an athlete to sports vision training? Please fill out our Patient Referral Form.

Referral form