One of the most common phrases a youth hockey coach yells at his/her players during practice is to keep their eyes up. What the coaches are really trying to emphasize, however, is for players to utilize their “split vision.”
Also referred to as “Peripheral Awareness” by vision professionals, split vision means being to effectively see objects out of the corner of your eye. It is just one of the many dimensions of having good “vision” in the sport of hockey, in that having effective split vision allows a player to identify teammates open for a pass, see the opposing players about to challenge them, avoid collisions, maintain puck possession, and create scoring opportunities.
Perhaps lesser known to athletes is that sports vision is something that can be trained. In fact, there are experts in this field that operate sports vision centers, such as Hopkins Eye Clinic in Hopkins, Minnesota, where players ranging from children to professional athletes train with doctors to understand and strengthen dimensions of vision to improve performance in their particular sport.
Most athletes, however, who seek to improve can achieve substantial gains in vision skills by training at home by performing a series of stickhandling exercises. Over time the player will want to perform vision training with passing and shooting exercises as well, but we encourage players to start by performing eyes up stickhandling exercises to develop base competency there first. You will gain the added benefit of developing muscle memory for stickhandling skills as well, to where your stickhandling can become almost automated while you focus on objects in front of you.
The key is repetitions, starting slow and working through the progressions. It’s okay to look down at times, just make sure to be looking more up than down.
The best results will come from practicing on dryland slick tiles or synthetic ice with pucks, but using stickhandling balls and some other surface will work as well.
Here are the “eyes up” stickhandling progressions we recommend:
- Start with simple stickhandling movement that you can execute with little to no mistakes, such as side-to-side handling with the puck in front of you.
- Next, look up to an object approx. 10 feet in front of you while you continue back and forth.
- Next, increase your speed while continuing to look straight ahead.
- Next, start walking forwards, and then walking backwards, while stickhandling and with eyes up.
In each case, make sure the puck or ball remains visible from the corner of your eye the entire time, and “feel” the puck in your hands as it hits the stick. You’re not only training your eyes, but also your brain is learning to multi-task between eyes, hands, and feet.
Once the player can master the simple stickhandling movements, graduate on to Phase 2:
- Start with the same stickhandling movement, but now practice by focusing even more deeply on something in front of you, such as looking at wall art, family photos, or reading something on the wall.
- Consider setting up your stickhandling exercises in front of the TV. Start by simply watching the images, and then start to read the captions.
- Have a friend, sibling or parent stand 10 feet in front of you and hold up certain # of fingers, and you need to guess how many.
- In each case, gradually increase your stickhandling speed. Then, start introducing movement forwards, and then backwards.
Once these exercises can be performed with ease, consider how you can create more-complex stickhandling patterns and challenges to continue to enhance both stickhandling and vision. Continue to focus on puck control, eyes up, and increase in speed over time.
Some examples for more-advanced stickhandling techniques to practice with eyes up include:
- Front-to-back on forehand side
- Front-to-back on backhand side
- Stickhandling in a circular motion around an object, such as a puck
- Stickhandle around multiple objects, such as two pucks in a figure-8 pattern
- Walking forward or backward while stickhandling through a row of pucks spaced out
- Using the balance board to also train
Vision training for hockey is just like any skill set in that it has specific steps, takes time to develop, and requires a lot of repetitions. The payoff is worthwhile in that the next time you receive the puck in a breakout situation, having strong split vision will ensure you can get the puck off the wall, skate through traffic, and see your teammates surging up the ice so you can make the effective pass and create a scoring chance.
