Adam Gilchrist vs Shaun Tait | Access All Areas

This is great footage of Adam Gilchrist facing Shaun Tait at Lords last Saturday. Wearing a GoPro camera on his helmet shows great insight to his vision and movement to enable him to hit 2 boundaries!

The A - Z of Sports Vision - Umpires

I was recently one of the tutors on a course for aspiring cricket umpires. There was a discussion about where the bowler’s end umpire should stand so that he can see the bowler’s feet land (making sure it’s not a No Ball) as well as the flight of the ball.

They were given the standard advice that they should keep their head still and flick their eyes down to see the landing of the feet, and then flick them up to watch the ball and where it pitches so they can adjudicate for LBW and other decisions. It was assumed that I, as an optometrist, would back this up. It was a little awkward when I had to say that conventional wisdom was actually wrong. It is true that batsmen, for instance, should keep their head still at the moment of contact. You’ll see many batsmen lift their head when they go for a big shot and either miss the ball or sky it into the air. I used to think that this was due to over-anticipation of where the ball was going to go, or just some kind of “red mist”. But I’ve now come round to the idea that it’s our old friend balance. If you’re moving forward and you’re not well balanced, you’re likely to fall flat on your face. In order to prevent this, your brain brings your head up so that your centre of gravity moves backwards. You don’t execute the task very well but at least you don’t fall over. If your rugby scrum half is firing the ball over the fly half’s head, it’s for the same reason. Anyway, I digress. None of this means that keeping your head still is the best way to track a moving object. Hold a finger in front of you and move it slowly from side to side. Follow your finger with your eyes only, keeping your head still. Gradually increase the speed of your finger. You’ll very soon find that you’re losing focus. Now try again, this time moving your head and eyes together. You’ll probably start to get dizzy before you lose focus on your finger. It’s one of those lovely examples when conventional wisdom – everything you thought was right – turns out to be wrong. David Donner

The A - Z of Sports Vision - Brain Waves

Millions of nerve cells in our brain are being activated all the time, which means there is electrical activity in our brain, even when we are asleep. This electrical activity can be measured by an electroencephalogram, or EEG. The combination of electrical activity causes wavelike rhythms, which are recorded by the EEG as alpha, beta, gamma or delta waves according to their frequency. Alpha waves are the prominent pattern when we are awake, but relaxed with our eyes closed, and still aware of what is happening around us. Beta waves are emitted when we are alert or under stress. They also during deep REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and may be associated with recalling memories. Delta and theta waves are mostly associated with sleep. However delta waves may occur when we are really concentrating hard on a difficult mental task and theta waves can occur briefly during emotional responses to events. Gamma waves are high-frequency waves that are associated with increased mental abilities, greater awareness and feelings of happiness. We’ve already seen (Olympic Countdown – Shooting) how elite marksmen exhibit more alpha and less beta and gamma activity than novice shooters, but similar findings have been made in other sports. An overall increase in alpha wave power has been found during the time that karate experts break wooden boards (Collins et al 1990). More left hemisphere alpha power has been shown in the preparatory period before putting (Crews & Landers 1993). They also found that in the last second before the putt, increased right hemisphere alpha activity was associated with more accuracy. Babilon et al found that an increase in high frequency alpha waves in the parts of the brain that controlled fine motor movements were indicative of successful putting. And Hartfield (1984) found increased alpha activity in the left hemisphere of professional basketball players just before making a winning shot. It’s likely that these alpha states occur when sportsmen are able to clear their mind of distractions, and concentrate fully on the task in hand. There are different methods to achieve this, such as the use of music and meditation. But a simple way may be to give 100% concentration on what you can see; whether it’s the precise spot of the ball you’re about to kick, or studying the defensive alignment of the opposition so you can see threats and opportunities at the earliest stage. David Donner