Sports Vision includes:

• Basic optometric care
• Correction of any visual defects
• Glasses/Sports Eyewear
• Contact Lenses
• Refractive surgery including laser eye surgery
• Specific Vision Training
• Improving reaction time
• Improving speed of acquisition of 3D
• Improving visual perceptual skills
• Improving consistency of fixation
• Improving consistency and accuracy of eye movements
• Improving Eye-to-hand and eye-to-body accuracy
• Expanding peripheral awareness

The Wellington Eye Clinic are delighted to be one of the sponsors of the TopGolfer Tour for Ireland's best golfers. 30 events have been scheduled across the country for golfers with handicaps of 9 and lower. At the end of the tour, the 30 winners from each event play off to determine Ireland's Top Golfer at a 2-day event at Carton House. Improved eyesight always leads to improved sporting performance and we endorse all activities that lead to a better quality of life. See www.topgolfer.ie for more information.

Sport Vision Facts

• A study in the US found that 25% of athletes competing at a high level had never had a complete eye examination, although 29% had visual symptoms and 28% had less that 20/25 (6/7.5) acuity with their habitual sports prescription and protective eyewear was not often used.1

• One original study found that 50% of athletes at the Lillehammer Olympics had never had their eyes tested and up to 30% attended the games with known visual problems.

• The vision performance specialist can be defined as someone who helps the athlete reach his or her maximum potential through various visual means, utilizing both products; contact lenses, spectacles, specialist and protective eyewear- and services; visual skills evaluation and, in some cases, training or enhancement and even laser eye surgery. Vision performance specialists are most likely to be Eye Care Practitioners but athletic trainers may also be involved.

• Several studies have compared visual performance among elite athletes with that of the general population and found significant differences. Researchers in the US measured the visual acuity, stereo acuity and contrast sensitivity of professional baseball players and found that they had significantly better visual skills.2 These athletes had an average visual acuity of 20/12.5 (6/4+). On all tests of contrast sensitivity, and at all spatial frequencies, the baseball players had a greater sensitivity than the general population. Distance stereo-acuity was also superior.

• Key sensory information needed by athletes during competitive sporting activities is provided by the visual system. It has been suggested that 95% of all physical movement is controlled visually and that this is the trigger mechanism for the first movement of the athlete.3,4

• Athletes often have a high visual demand and the literature has indicated that the optimal vision correction can enhance sporting performance even with corrections as small as –0.25DS. Correction over +1.00 hypermetropia is essential as this may relieve fatigue, especially for near and intermediate targets. Correcting small amounts of astigmatism (0.50D up) and anisometropia (0.50D or more) may also be beneficial.

• In elite athletes giving optimal visual correction (0.25) may just give them the edge. Consider the fact that of the five time-based Gold medals won by British athletes during Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the cumulative time difference these athletes achieved collectively over the silver medal winners was just 0.545 seconds. Any advantage, though seemingly small, can make a big difference to performance at this level.

1.Beckerman SA and Hitzerman S. The ocular and visual characteristics of an athletic population. Optometry 2001; 72:8 498-509
2. Laby DM, Rosenbaum AL, Kirschen DG et al. The visual function of professional baseball players. Am J Ophthalmol 1996;122:4 476-485
3. Werner W. Contact lens fitting for sports. Contactologia 2000;22:92-4
4. Spinell MR. Contact lenses for athletes. Optom Clin 1993;3:57-76