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Football related Vision Problems

Common Symptoms of Quarterbacks that may be related to Vision Problems

  • Difficulty scanning the field and reading defenses quickly
  • Poor timing on passes
  • Over- or under-throwing receivers
  • Inability to lead receivers
  • Unable to look off defensive backs and pick up secondary receivers
  • Difficulty spotting the open receiver

Common Symptoms of Receivers and Running Backs that may be related to Vision Problems

  • Dropping catchable passes
  • Running poor routes
  • Unable to run timing patterns correctly
  • Not seeing the ball quickly enough to adjust
  • Not getting off the line quickly
  • Picking the wrong hole or not breaking big runs
  • Dropping passes because of "taking eyes off ball"

Common Symptoms of Defensive Backs that may be related to Vision Problems

  • Difficulty with balance
  • Difficulty reacting to receivers
  • Inability to scan the entire field

Samples of Football related Vision Therapy

The Interactive Metronome is used especially for timing and motor planning.  These are tremendously important skills for football.  In the summer of 2001, St Thomas Aquinas High School, a Florida high school football team took the training.  The whole team took the training during their summer football camp. All the players of this team had learned focus, concentration, timing, and accuracy as part of the training. They ended the season with a 14-1-0 record. 

Other Samples of Vision Therapy Activities

Eyes Closed Drill

  • The quarterback and the receiver both have their eyes closed.
  • The ball is snapped and the quarterback drops back to pass and the receiver runs the play (both with their eyes closed).
  • The quarterback releases the pass where he thinks the receiver should be; the receiver runs to the spot where he thinks the ball should be for that play; the coach then yells "ball" when the ball is up in the air and on the downward location.
  • The Receiver opens up his eyes and must react to where the ball really is and try to catch it.
  • This is almost like a tach effect, but you must physically react to what you see in a very short period of time.

Yoked Prisms

  • Have two players throw the ball back and forth with them on.
  • See how long it takes them to recover and compensate for the prismatic effect.
  • Put the prism base in all different directions.
  • The prism effect shakes up the visual system - the player must compensate for it and overcome it.
  • It's almost similar to the player getting tackled - is all shook up - and then must shake it off and get back into the game.

Strobe Light

  • See the other sections for this technique.
  • The "visual noise" is very distracting and forces the player to concentrate extremely hard.
  • When they then go back into a normal lighting situation, the ball looks larger and appears to travel slower.
  • Improves visual concentration.

Peripheral Vision

  • Take a pair of goggles or glasses and put tape around the periphery of the lenses or eyepieces.
  • Have them run some plays with them on.
  • This cuts out their peripheral vision and it forces them to exaggerate their head movements to see.
  • Again it forces them to concentrate harder.
  • When they remove the glasses, it appears that their peripheral vision is enhanced and they are more aware visually of things happening on the field.

Tachistoscope Slides

  • In a meeting, have tachistoscope slides shown of various defenses.
  • Flash then on the screen and have the players identify the type of defense and how they would react to it or what play they would run.
  • On the field, have the receivers line up to run a play, but not knowing which one.
  • They should have their eyes closed.
  • When the ball is snapped, the coach yells out the type of defense that is opposing them and they should open their eyes and run (i.e. button hook, fly, post, etc.) based on the type of defense that is yelled out.
  • It forces them to think on their feet.
  • An option is to not have the coach yell it out, but that they should just open their eyes and based on what type of defense that they see, run the play.


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