VISUAL PROCESSING TIME

We have all seen the remarkable save out of nowhere, is it muscle memory or just advanced visual, mental skills?

Any learned sports skill begins in the thinking part of the brain. After years of practice, the movement and save selection required is second nature to the goaltender. So it is easy to think that the skill resides in muscle memory. But even those rote actions involve a tremendous amount of mental processing. They are just happening to fast for the goaltender to realize that they are going on.

Elite performance depends on good vision! Good visual skills fire signals to the mind that then controls the Body. Elite goaltenders want to be in the zone. The magical place where visual, mental and physical skills work in perfect synch. Movements seem to flow without conscious effort.

A major input to performance breakdowns is ineffective and inefficient visual processing abilities. Anxious thoughts trigger the release of adrenaline that sets the heart racing, primes the muscles to run and puts all senses on alert. The eyes slip into tunnel vision, the last thing a goalie needs when he is relying on peripheral perception to read the play and a possible on-coming shot.

It therefore logical that the Goaltender that enhances their “Visual Processing Time” will enhance their overall skill set.

In classroom sessions, MTN has often asked goalies what physical attribute they feel is the most important to their game. Vision is rarely mentioned. MTN will then ask them to close their eyes and catch a thrown soft object. Their reaction time is none existent, pushing home the power that vision plays in their game.

So let’s start with

WHAT IS VISUAL PROCESSING TIME?

• Visual processing time determines how fast you can see.
• How much you can visually process per millisecond determines whether or not you can react properly to a 98 mph puck before it goes flying by you.
• The speed that you can see something is 100% dependent upon the visual processing time required for conductivity of information along the nerves connecting your eyes with the visual processing centers in the brain.
• Faster visual processing time allows you to see a slap shot as if it were traveling at a much slower speed.
• Put another way, if you have heightened seeing speed due to fast visual processing time, the slower and bigger the puck seems to be.
• Training your visual processing time will allow you to see things sooner so you have more time to adjust to the unexpected.
• How sensitive or alert your visual brain cells involved in visual processing time are, can often spell the difference between whether you rise to the challenge of making the save or not.

VISUAL CONCENTRATION

Visual Concentration will improve your visual identification speed and accuracy, allowing for more time to make accurate decisions. Pucks can come at you from different locations so you must be able to find the puck with your vision and then see it clearly as you observe it for fine details (the spin, its trajectory, its speed, etc.) Slow inaccurate visual identification results in slower eye-mind-body reactions and in mistakes, which include reacting improperly shots.

EYE-MIND SPEED

Your physical reaction speed is a direct result of how fast your eyes see visual information in your central and peripheral areas of vision and transmit that information to your brain and into your body. Being able to increase your ability to see action to the side without having to turn your head—is known as peripheral awareness. You will improve at your game when you improve the ability to move your eyes. This will enable you to take in more information will allow you to process critical visual information in games more quickly and accurately.

SHOT RECOGNITION

When the shot is taken, what you see is what you get! Accurate shot recognition is a must if you are going to make the proper save selection. Learn to recognize the shot sooner and you will slow the save process. REMEMBER: Follow Your Eyes; They Control Your Mind and Body!

DYNAMIC FOCUS

When a goal is scored on what should have been an easy save, it may be that you were distracted by things that were happening around you. Our eyes normally react to anything that happens in our field of vision....spectators, other participants and even the reactions and /or comments of your own teammates. Visual Concentration is the ability to stay focused on the puck or game situation to the degree that you are unaware of potential distractions.

TRAJECTORY RECOGNITION

You must be able to see the difficult, to see just noticeable differences in trajectory. Superior recognition of a puck’s trajectory results in faster body reactions and more accurate eye-hand coordination. The initial trajectory of a puck (off a foot, off a stick) can alert you to the puck going high or low, inside or outside of your positioning and the type of shot you are facing, so you can make the proper decision and reaction to the puck. The sooner you recognize the possible trajectory of the puck the better decisions you will make and reactions you will have.

DYNAMIC VISION

Vision in hockey is directly related to how well you see when the puck is in motion, when you are in motion and/or both you and the puck are in motion. Dynamic recognition skills allow you an awareness of a slight variance in trajectory. Adjusting to the speed of the puck and recognizing slight trajectory differences is what often separates great game players from practice players. Reduced dynamic vision ability results in slower mind and body reactions; whereas a superior capability in this area results in faster body reactions and more accurate eye-hand coordination.

WHAT WILL SLOW YOUR VISUAL PROCESSING TIME?

Alcohol, stress, lack of sleep, thinking, feeling

At lower levels a good skill set will probably dictate your success; however as you progress and skill sets are now equal it is the goaltender that has developed anunderstanding of “Vision” in their game that will enhance their chance to climb up the hockey ladder!

References:
MTN: Visual Article and Mind and body article,
www.sportseye.com