I'd say that I can see WQKE. But also the speakers beside my monitor and the clutter beyond that. It's a nice exercise but it doesn't prove that video gamers spotting a sniper at the top left of their 19" screen are improving their peripheral vision.
I don't really have any problem with the size of the screen. Presumably if/when you play video games, your 10" monitor would be much closer to you than your opponent on court, even when you're on front court playing net shot. Your visual coverage would probably increase in distance. What I don't understand with the magazine advocated article is the need to tell one letter from another. Firstly, is it realistic? I mean, how do I know that I didn't really lose focus of the red dot at center while I try to tell an A from a D surrounding it. Maybe my eyeballs do move ever so slightly, and loses focus of the red dot. Does that count? Would it help in real badminton game if I lose focus of the birdy for the same fraction of a second? Secondly, do I need that level of details about what is around the shuttle? My opponent would be much bigger in size compared to the shuttle, and her movement would be more apparent.
The point about discerning which letter is that it means that you are really seeing it .... just like you want to be sure that you see, out of the corner of your eye, that your opponent is moving to the net as you desperately reach for that bird going behind you in the forehand back corner. As for how to tell if you are "cheating" by moving your eyes on that chart test ... you should be able to sense that if you've done the exercise a few times. (However, when I do crude peripheral field testing for driver's license exams, you would be surprised how many people think they are fooling me with quick little glances before "facing front" again.)
Not really. The point of peripheral awareness is that you keep your focus on the birdy, while you "sense" your opponent's presence, his distance from your position, and movement (is he moving away, as in the case of moving to rear court, right after his net drop?). You don't need to refocus your eyes to see this. You just sense it. However, to do the drill on the website, I don't see how anyone can do it correctly without re-focus. The lack of proper focus is one reason while some of us need eyeglasses. Again, in the case of the drill, you don't really need to refocus to be able to tell there is something near the red dot.
Good points. So in the final analysis, you and I agree that practicing 'awareness' on the court is better than playing Call of Duty. Cheers.
Central focused vision spans only 3% of the visual field -- anything outside of the central focused vision engages the periphery. The point of the drill is simply to lock your central vision on the red dot in order to condition your peripheral awareness (it is not a visual acuity test). It is one drill among many that can be used to develop peripheral awareness -- the tennis ball-bucket drill above, and certain video games like Call of Duty are others. The challenge in training peripheral awareness on the court is to ensure that such practice is deliberate and purposeful.
How do you get that piece of information if you don't use peripheral vision? . The concept of deception at Badminton is to trick your opponent. A common deception is to get your opponent wrong-footed (moving/running in the wrong direction). Another is to get your opponent to move/place his/her racket-head in the wrong position. Peripheral vision is not required. An example (hold the shot and flick): Your opponent can be postioned nearer to the net, say two metres away (after a 'good' net-play from him/her)). There is a big space behind your opponent for you to hit the shuttlecock to. But you can still pretend to perform a net-play stroke to lure your opponent to move further forward, nearer to the net. You hold the shot, and as your opponent transfers his/her weight to move forward, you flick the shuttlecock over his/her head. Another example (hold the shot and smash into the opposite space): Your opponent can be postioned exactly at the center of his/her court (after a 'bad' lift of the shuttlecock from him/her). There is equal space to the right/left of him/her. Your opponent expects a smash from you. His/her racket-head is positioned about knee high right in front of the body. You can pretend to smash to the right side. You hold the shot, and as your opponent moves his/her racket-head to the right side, you smash the shuttlecock to the left side. .
Resources on peripheral vision Peripheral vision is truly amazing and you can train it. Just take a look at the articles here: http://www.navaching.com/hawkeen/nwalk.html These guys did an amazing research. Actually night walking is fun on its own but the skills it encompasses look like what raymond was asking about in original post. An other thing I found is the soft eyes technique. Instructions from NLP course http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/softeyes.htm Quotes in context of martial arts http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id21.html Context of Carlos Castaneda's practices http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id9.html A beautiful exercise for activating your peripheral circuitry in the brain http://www.eaglespiritministry.com/shared/esa4.htm I find new skills are best learned through an activity that promotes best practice for that particular skill. When you become confident with new skill go back and practice with it like with a new tool/toy I hope that helps.
Today, someone gave me a tip about the idea of improving peripheral vision and how that it's a skill one must have at high level. The person said that a lot of people disregard peripheral vision and focus too much on the bird even at high levels. But the really elite ones have this ability. It allows you to see where your opponents are while paying attention to the bird at the same time to help you decide where and what shot to make. I'm curious about what else to know regarding peripheral vision as I didn't really get a chance to ask more questions about it when the person gave me the tip.
The lesson I learned from expereince - exercise your legs for a better peripheral vision! A stronger legs will allow you to get behind the shuttle quickly. You can see your opponents while waiting for the shuttle. Also being well behind the shuttle allow you to have both the shuttle and the opponents in your field of view at the same time.
It will come with time Birdy. Also, its all about positioning. Picture it yourself, assume you're on one side of the court, your partner on the other side, wherever it is, if you play this shot or that shot, instinctively both of you are going to move or should be moving according to your initial positions and what shot was played. The next step, is know how the opponent is going to move, where to move them to open up the court and take advantage.
Just a suggestion here. A lot of your questions, including this one, had been heavily discussed before on this forum. After all, this forum has been around for 13+ years. Virtually all that you could ask today had been asked (and answered) already. You may want to do a search, e.g. with Google.
I agree. I think it's about the sense of court awareness as well that gets developed over time as you play more and can anticipate or picture where people are moving or are. It's less having to use peripheral vision than it is to be aware of court positioning. I guess that's why the person who gave me the advice said that even some really high level stil don't use this peripheral vision to their advantage. It is because some high levels use court awareness of positions instead and picture the position in their head instead. But what do you guys think? Is peripheral vision really something to work a lot on or should we just play and let it naturally build over time?
Actually the search engine of this website often does not yield good/appropriate links, way too many. You can also try searching using google.com and add the magic word 'badminton' in front of the search terms. Google often produces better links
Everyone has peripheral vision. Jugglers have exceptionally good peripheral vision. You, Birdy, have peripheral vision. If you don't have peripheral vision, all you are left with is tunnel vision. You must learn to trust your senses! Just think of this: even while your awareness is focussed in the general region of the shuttlecock, you can still detect, or are peripherally aware of, motion or other movement outside the tight arc of focus. Your brain processes the shapes that the movement has and tells you "object moving right" or "front" or "left" or whatever. Once you can trust your own game and instincts/awareness, you can use this information to your advantage, in many ways. There is no need to focus on the micro steps of this entire process. It just comes - with practice of your game, with more confidence in your abilities, and with trusting your physical senses.
I think it's an ability that can have too much weight attached to it. Do elite players have better peripheral vision? Or are their choices of shots determined by years of training, games and being able to predict opponents behaviour?
Play ice hockey. After being crushed by body checks from every direction, you start to get very good at using peripheral vision.
The worst thing you can do in an attempt to improve your peripheral vision is to sit, staring at a computer, reading about improving peripheral vision.
When using Google Search, be site-specific... and it works better. Here's an example of how to refine your search: powerful smash site:badmintoncentral.com
