Improving your view can greatly improve your game!
- Your eyes play an important role in controlling balance and movements when skating.'
- Quick reactions and proficient skills allow you to change direction or stop on a dime and your eyes alert you to respond appropriately.
- When you get tired, you don't see well, so rest plays an important part in keeping your vision clear. Eye conditioning greatly helps with visual awareness. Small blood vessels carry oxygen to the muscles attached to your eyes. When the eyes are deprived of oxygen because you're out of shape, they fatigue. And when they are fatigued, it effects your ability to coordinate your eye-hand movements and your eye-foot coordination.'
- Peripheral vision allows you to see other players and locate the puck at the same time. A way to improve your peripheral vision is to hold you arms straight out to the side of your body so far behind you that you can't see them. Look straight ahead and bring your arms and hands from behind your body into your peripheral view. Improve your peripheral sight by focusing and being able to see your hands sooner and sooner.
- Depth perception is also very important and allows you to interpret distance changes as you progress toward the goal. It allows you to determine if there is sufficient distance to dodge or pass another player.
- In hockey, your constantly focusing and refocusing, first on the puck and then on a teammate or the opposing goal. Eye exercises are a great way to condition and improve your overall vision.
Eye Exercise
Start by standing in the hockey rink at one end where you can see the opposing goal and beyond. The idea is to flex your
focusing muscles by looking at several points at various distances.
1.
Pick something that is within three feet of you, (place a cone down if you want) and see it as clearly as you
can. As soon as you have noticed how clearly you see it, go to the next step.
2. Pick something about 30 feet away (about mid-court), and
see it as clearly as you can.
3. Next look at the opposing goal, and see it as clearly as you can.
4. Now pick a point
as far away as you can, outside the rink, see and focus on it as well as you can. When you see it
as well as you can, return to your closest point. Cycle through these four steps
at least ten times, twice a day.
Learn more to improve your game with the Bobby Hull Offensive Strategies DVD.