Sunglass tint does not impact the indoor catching performance of cricket fielders

Introduction

Sunglasses are worn by outdoor athletes such as cricketers for many reasons, including comfort and glare reduction, which may help to improve vision. Anecdotally they are purported to have performance-enhancing benefits, but there is a lack of evidence for this. Further, it appears that fielders are the only position in cricket who wear sunglasses. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the catching performance of fielders when wearing three different colour sunglasses tints during an indoor, laboratory-based experiment.

Methods

Twenty-one male cricketers currently playing for a university or amateur provincial teams in Makhanda, South Africa, who were non-habitual sunglass wearers, were recruited for this study. An optometrist administered pre-screening tests. Players had four testing sessions during which they wore a different colour tint at each session indoors (clear, blue, G30 (rose), and red). Players were required to catch 18 balls projected from a bowling machine. The number of balls caught, as well as the quality of the catch, was recorded. At the final session, they were asked which tint they thought was best.

Results

Pre-screening tests showed that the red lens was best for contrast sensitivity and stereopsis. During data collection, sunglass tint did not affect catching performance. The players perceived the red lens as the worst and the G30 as the best.

Discussion

It can be concluded that catching performance indoors is not affected by tint colour.

Effects of a maximal cycling all-out anaerobic test on visual performance

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

All-out exercise may not impair all central nervous system processes, such as those related to visual-motor abilities, and may actually prove stimulatory to such tasks allowing athletes and sports conditioning specialists to develop strategies to take advantage of/mitigate the effects of such exercise on athletic performance.

BACKGROUND

Despite research indicating that visual-motor abilities play a critical role in athletic performance, research has primarily focused on the effect of all-out exercise on processes along the motor pathway, such as resultant force production or simple cognitive tasks. Such research has neglected to investigate the effect of all-out exercise on visual tasks. When investigations on visual tasks are forthcoming, they focus on prolonged aerobic exercise, which is not the primary metabolic pathway for all, or even the majority of sports.

METHODS

Sixty untrained males (experimental group; N = 30, control group; N = 30) completed a standardised six-item baseline sports vision test battery and one week later, the experimental participants returned to undertake a 30-second Wingate anaerobic test (30-WAnT) immediately followed by the same test battery.

RESULTS

Significant (P < 0.05) improvements were found in accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness and hand-eye coordination (P < 0.001 for all), but not visual memory (P = 0.242) following the 30-WAnT.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the mechanisms underlying these improvements in visual task performance have not yet been studied, this study suggests that simple anaerobic all-out exercise does not cause central- or brain-based fatigue impairing the oculomotor system but may rather provide "excitability" of the underlying motor cortex, motoneurons and/or corticofugal connections utilised in visual task response. It appears that the sweeping improvements in visual task performance elucidate the need for an intense anaerobic warm-up when training visual skills and when visual skills form an integral part of athletic performance.

Differences in visio-spatial intelligence between non-athletes and netball players

There is conflicting evidence regarding whether athletes have better visio-spatial skills than non-athletes. This gap may result from athletes' superiority in only some visio-spatial abilities (VSS), rather than all areas of vision. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference in the visio-spatial intelligence between female netball players (n = 40) and non-athletes (n = 40) when comparing six visual skills (accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness, hand-eye coordination, and visual memory). Following an optometric evaluation, the participants were assessed in six distinct established tests, including the hart near far rock, saccadic eye movement, evasion, accumulator, ball wall toss tests, and flash memory, to evaluate the VSS components of non-athletes and premier league netball players. For five of the six tests, there was a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) difference between netball players and non-athletes. Conversely, there is no concrete evidence that netball players have better visual memory than non-athletes (p = 0.277). When compared to non-athletes, netball players have significantly improved accommodation facility (p < .001), saccadic eye movements (p < .001), speed of recognition (p < .001), peripheral awareness (p < .001), and hand-eye coordination (p < .001), but not visual memory (p = 0.277). The findings that netball players perform better on a certain VSS have broad ramifications for theories of sport vision, the optimal way to choose tests, and the creation of VSS testing batteries for specific sports.

A review of the essential visual skills required for soccer: Beyond 20-20 optometry

In ball sports such as soccer, the visual system is critical in guiding a player's search for crucial information that underpins skillful behavior, which requires the incorporation of all of the relevant information in the environment in order to make successful decisions under pressure. However, vision in sport, and focusing on the specific visual skills required to be successful in a particular sport has largely been a practice ignored by experts and coaches as being an essential component of athletic performance. This is the first attempt to summarize and compile the necessary visual skills for soccer. This review's evidence suggests that, while current research still tends to focus on visual skills as a whole, there is a need to streamline this focus to the necessities of a particular sport. Furthermore, in identifying the visual skills essential for soccer, it allows for the effective training and testing of these skills, as well as for talent identification.

Effect of a Prolonged Maximal Bout of Exercise on Visual Performance

Background: Despite it being purported that acute, prolonged maximal periods of exercise may impair visual performance, little/no research on this topic is forthcoming. In fact, research has demonstrated that sub-maximal and maximal acute exercise may actually improve cognitive and sensory tasks and thus possibly improve visual performance. Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain the influence of an acute, prolonged maximal bout of exercise on visual performance. Methods: A quantitative study was undertaken with 60 untrained males being divided into a control group (CON; n = 30) or treatment group (TRE; n = 30). Both groups completed a baseline vision test battery consisting of accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness, visual memory, and hand-eye coordination using the following tests; Hart Near Far Rock, saccadic eye movement, evasion, accumulator, flash memory and Ball Wall Toss tests. Two weeks later, participants returned for follow-up testing using the same vision test battery, with the TRE participants first engaging in a standardized incremental maximal treadmill protocol immediately prior to their vision testing. Results: Following the incremental maximal treadmill protocol, statistical analyses indicated that statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences existed for accommodation facility, saccadic eye movements, speed of recognition, hand-eye coordination, peripheral awareness, and visual memory between pre-test and after the aerobic treatment (P = 0.00 for all measures). Conclusions: This study indicates that an acute, prolonged maximal bout of running improves visual performance. As such, an appropriate prolonged maximal warm-up may be required as opposed to a standardized and general warm-up when preparing an athlete for visual skills training or for participation in an athletic event that requires optimal visual performance.

Differences in visio-spatial expertise between 1st division rugby players and non-athletes

The present study aimed to compare the visual expertise of non-athletes (n = 40; 19–35 years old; age: 22.13 ± 2.37 years) to amateur, non-professional South-African Rugby Union (SARU) first-division club rugby players (n = 40; 19–35 years old; age: 23.88 ± 4.36 years; training age mean: 9.0 ± 1.5 years). Research suggests that athletes have enhanced visio-spatial expertise in comparison to non-athletes. However, conflicting research suggests that this is not always the case as non-athletes possess similar visio-spatial expertise in certain visual skills. Participants underwent an optometric assessment after which the following 6 visio-spatial intelligence (VSI) components were measured; accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness, visual memory and hand-eye coordination using the following tests; hart near far rock, saccadic eye movement, evasion, accumulator, flash memory and ball wall toss tests. Results indicated that first-division rugby players performed significantly better (p ≤ 0.05) in five of the six tests performed, except for visual memory (p = 0.893). While this study substantiates the notion that athletes, in this case first-division rugby players, performs significantly better in most VSI components, this is not the case for all, as with visual memory in this study. To more accurately distinguish between athletes and non-athletes, research should move away from tests that focus on basic visual function and develop sport specific testing methods that can be used by a variety of sports.