Sports Vision Success Stories
"Vision therapy brought me back to peak performance. You can enhance a key skill to a higher level than by practicing or playing your sport." Kiki Vandeweghe - Portland Trail Blazers
"I used vision therapy
to improve my hitting. Your hands must go where your eyes tell you. When I see
the ball, I hit the ball."
Don Mattingly -
New York Yankees
"Vision
therapy helped my concentration and my quickness."
John Vanbiesbrouck - Florida Panthers
"Sharp eyesight has played the most critical role in my success throughout the years. If you are serious about your game you can turn to sports vision specialists to help develop fast reliable reaction time with your eyes." Jimmy Conners - Tennis Professional
"Vision training helped my visual concentration and depth
judgments. It improved my shot and my putting is much more consistent."
Dee Dee Lasker -
Professional Golfer
Minnesota
Viking receiver, Jake Reed underwent a series of visual exercises
designed by Dr. Alan Reichow, O.D, and Brad Coffey, O.D and, "…he began
snatching just about every pass thrown his way", according to a former Viking
Coach.
Before visual therapy, Reed caught 11 passes in two seasons
After visual therapy, Reed caught 85 passes the next season
Reed has also received "The Eagle Award" for his part in promoting sports vision
and vision training to the public.
Veteran
San Diego Union columnist Tom Cushman called San Diego Padres' left fielder
Greg Vaughn's improvement in "the most astonishing turnaround I've witnessed
in 30-plus years of covering major league baseball."
Early in the season Greg was
referred to optometrist Carl Hillier, O.D. Dr.
Hillier, a behavioral optometrist who specializes in vision therapy and sports
vision enhancement training, evaluated Vaughn and found visual inefficiencies he
felt were limiting Greg's ability to perform to his full potential.
Vaughn began a program of in-office optometric vision therapy
designed to enhance the speed and accuracy of his visual motor response to
visual stimuli.
Vaughn saw immediate improvement in performance and has become an advocate for
optometric vision therapy. Greg has discussed
the benefit he derived, which resulted in the referral of several other Padre
players, as well as those from other teams, to Dr. Hillier to begin vision
therapy programs. He was also the catalyst for several national media articles,
as well as an outstanding ESPN interview which highlighted the important
relationship between vision and hitting.
Vaughn has stated, "The whole concept for going to vision therapy is to be able
to pick up and recognize objects and get the information from my eyes to my
brain; taking advantage of opportunities you have to make yourself better."
Says Hillier, "Greg is a professional and will do whatever he knows will help
him improve. In the case of Greg's vision therapy program it worked for him. He
was consistent in coming in for treatment whenever the team was in San Diego and
diligently performed his home VT on a daily basis throughout the season."
The results were dramatic. Vaughn
finished the season with a .282 batting average, 50 home runs, and 119 runs
batted in. To quote eight-time batting champion
Tony Gwynn, " I shudder to think where we would have been without him. I know
that we would have never been close to finishing in first place. Greg saved us."
When
University of Florida football player Travis Taylor stepped up to the podium to
accept the Orange Bowl MVP award, he attributed his success this season to help
from many people.
Dr. George Kaplan is one of those people. The optometrist's keen interest in the field of sports vision has been very beneficial for the Florida football team and local athletes.
Kaplan, an optometrist for 20 years, has spent the year working off and on with Florida football players to improve their vision skills and thereby enhance their athletic ability.
It's all part of the growing, specialized field of sports vision. "It's really like physical therapy for the eyes," said Kaplan. "Sports vision is a sub-specialty within optometry and it's the enhancement of the vision skills of any athlete that plays sports at the highest level and in the "zone.' " By zone he means "the place where an athlete is at his ultimate level of performance in competition."
After years of studying the field of sports vision, Kaplan decided he'd like to get more involved first-hand with sports teams. For about four years, he lobbied University of Florida officials about the possibility of working with its players. The tough part was getting someone to listen.
"I was knocking on their door for about four years and basically bouncing off it," Kaplan jokingly said. "It was tough because if they don't have the time or the understanding, they aren't going to want to listen. So for years I tried to figure out the crack in the armor."
Finally, he found it.
He approached Mike Wasic, head trainer at that time, saying simply: "I think I have something to offer your players that will help them to play better."
Wasic invited him to Gainesville to make his pitch to the trainers of the UF tennis and baseball teams. Afterward, the trainers expressed a strong interest in Kaplan's program and he was told to contact them again after the season ended.
Two months later, Kaplan got an unexpected call from Wasic. It seems Florida football coaches were concerned that their receivers had become more well-known for dropping passes than catching them, and they were looking for help.
"Right before the Citrus Bowl, they broke their own rules and said they wanted me to come up to Gainesville," Kaplan said. "I knew I had to make a quick pitch that would grab their attention. Otherwise, because they are kids they are everywhere and they don't have time."
So Kaplan headed up to Gainesville and his first two pupils were Taylor, then a freshman out of Jacksonville Ribault High, and Darrell Jackson, a second-team USA Today High School All-American from Tampa Catholic High.
Kaplan worked with the players for about three hours that day. He gave them the basic rundown of how things are supposed to work when you're in the "zone." He presented some quick demonstrations to break down their resistance and preconceived notions.
"I demonstrated some stuff and within an hour these guys were absolutely amazed at how their eyes could help or interfere with how they walk and how they balance," Kaplan said.
"We did some things with special lenses where they couldn't even bend over and grab the ball. It absolutely wiped out their entire visual system, their balance mechanism, hand-eye coordination, sense of equilibrium and direction. Then we made them do some drills, run some patterns, catch the ball, throw the ball -- absolutely like they were first-graders who had never caught a ball before.
"I showed them how important vision is and how important eye movements and peripheral vision is," Kaplan said. "And they were riveted by it. They witnessed an improvement in a couple of hours, particularly Travis."
Kaplan's initial session was done without Florida coach Steve Spurrier's knowledge.
When Spurrier found out about Kaplan's work, he asked that he be brought in to help some other players. So Kaplan went up six times during the off-season and worked with such players as Zac Zedalis, Nafis Karim and Jesse Palmer.
The more word spread, the more the players turned out. They gave up free time on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons to work with Kaplan. He would ask for three players, but eight or nine would show up.
Spurrier took the most notice of Taylor's improvement.
In a recent Sports Illustrated article on Taylor, he mentions the help he received from Dr. Kaplan.
The doctor also has worked with the Citrus girls basketball team to help with eye coordination in shooting free throws, with local golfers, and with area baseball players to help with hand-eye coordination.
Kaplan said the ultimate goal of the sports vision system is simple: to help top-caliber athletes recapture the learned and innate skills that made them elite athletes.
"What I'm basically doing is helping (athletes) to relearn everything they learned as a kid and have no conscious recollection of," Kaplan said. "I make them witness their own learning process so if they see how they have to adapt and adjust, they'll be able to sense when their timing, depth perception or eye movements are off."
The
following have been successful with laser surgery (LASIK):
Pro golfers:
Tiger Woods, Scott Hoch, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite,
and Mike Weir
Major League Baseball (MLB)
players: Jeff
Bagwell, Jeff Cirillo, Jeff Conine, Jose Cruz Jr., Wally Joyner, Greg Maddux,
Mark Redman, and Larry Walker
National Basketball Association (NBA) players:
Amare Stoudemire and Rip Hamilton;
National Football League (NFL) players:
Troy Aikman, Ray Buchanan, Tiki Barber, Wayne Chrebet, and
Danny Kanell
Eye Therapy
Gives Athletes An Edge
Southeast News - The News of Southeast Baton
Rouge by Susan D. Mustafa
Matthew Mistretta has played baseball for most of
his 18 years, but he was born with a lazy eye that gave him problems with seeing
the ball. He went through many of the typical treatments - a patch over his
stronger eye to force the weaker one to work harder, glasses, then bifocals. By
the time he was 13, he went from being able to hit homeruns to not being able to
see to hit the ball.
At 14, he had surgery to cosmetically straighten his eyes. But before
long, his father, C.J., noticed that he had switched batting sides. Whereas
before he had batted right-handed, he now batted with his left hand because he
could see better with that eye.
"He had no depth perception," C.J. said. "He wasn't using both eyes
together. In sports, you have to be able to see where the ball is in space."
After Matt's surgery, C.J. ws told there was nothing else that could be
done for his son. C.J. began to do research, searching for any information that
could help his son continue to play the game he loved. He discovered that
sometimes professional athletes who have problems seeing balls undergo sports
vision therapy.
Recently Dr. Susan Jong opened the first clinic in Louisiana to offer
sports vision therapy. "Some clues that a child may have difficulty with depth
perception include if the child is swinging at the ball too early or too late,
if the child can't follow the ball, or if the child loses the ball in space."
The eyes have six extraocular muscles around the eye and one muscle
inside. The extraocular muscles allow a person to point the eyes in a specific
direction, align objects vertically, and pull objects in and out. The inside
muscle allows a person to see clearly. Many of the patients that Jong treats
have 20/20 vision, but still cannot see a ball coming at them.
"Most people do not realize that through training the muscles of the eyes,
you can make vision better," Jong explained. "There are so many kids walking
around not using both eyes together. We train not only sight, but how to
process the information that comes in. It's more than if you can see
something. The question is can you process it and react to it."
Jong's patients are first given an evaluation to determine dynamic acuity
(how fast moving objects are processed), focusing time, reaction time, and
binocular vision (if both eyes are used together). Once a determination is
made, Jong sets about changing the way the brain interprets what is seen.
Through the use of prisms and lenses, strobe lights, eye charts designed to
shake up the system and build speed, balanced boards and walking rails, Jong
works with each child to enhance the speed with which information is processed.
By using computer and optical devices designed for this specific purpose,
visual-motor skills and endurance are developed over time with repetition of the
exercises. As the brain's ability to control eye alignment, teaming, focusing,
movement and processing improves, the child's ability to master his/her sport of
choice also improves.
"Many professional baseball players can see the seams on a fast ball coming
at them. But if you can't see a ball, you can't hit it. So many kids in Matt's
condition would have stopped playing ball," Jong said. "They give up because
they don't realize what is wrong."
Sports vision therapy not only helps kids in baseball, but in football,
tennis, soccer and even gymnastics where being able to accurately navigate a
balance beam and a landing is of utmost importance. Recently Nike has even come
out with contact lenses specifically designed for athletes to enhance vision
while playing. Amber-colored lenses make the ball pop out for those playing
soccer, tennis, baseball and football. Grey-green lenses are for golf players
to enhance detail and contour recognition.
"Most athletes work on technique, physical ability and mental toughness,
but don't focus on their vision," Jong said. "We introduce that fourth
component to give them an extra edge. And for children, not only does this
improve their athletic abilities, but it extends into the classroom as well.
For many of my patients, their academic achievement improves because they learn
how to process information faster."
Jong offers an eight-week or a twelve-week program of sports vision therapy
that includes an hour in office once a week and at-home practice each day.
Matt's treatment lasted 11 months.
"Matt was a worst-case scenario. He had lots of different things going
on," C.J. said. "After we finally figured out what his problem was, he went
from sitting at the dinner table accidentally knocking over glasses because he
couldn't see their exact location to not only being able to hit the ball
accurately in baseball, but also to playing football for St. Michael's. He
worked very hard to improve his eyesight. His confidence is so high now."
100 North Rancho Road, Suite #1
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Phone (805)495-3937 Fax (805)373-9843
E-Mail