How to improve vision

[Utd16]

I play midfield and I want to improve my vision and spotting players and creating dangerous plays. I am looking for good drills I can do in my backyard. Keep in mind my backyard is not really big but medium sized. All I have is a ball and some cones.

[Kevin8833]

I play midfield and I want to improve my vision and spotting players and creating dangerous plays. I am looking for good drills I can do in my backyard. Keep in mind my backyard is not really big but medium sized. All I have is a ball and some cones.Scan the field before you get the ball and have a first, second and sometimes even third option so that you aren't recieving the ball and then making a decision. This makes you play much quicker and it will be easier once you have done it more, things will slow down and your vision will improve.

[BigGuy]

The more skills and confidence on the ball you have the longer you will be able to get your head up. That ball confidence will open up your field of vision. So work on that in that small space you have to practice in.

All new players have tunnel vision so you can see only what is in front of you. Later that field of vision should open up.

Sometimes you just don't see your space. You need someone to be on the field with you near with experience. To point things out to you that you presently don't see. So coaching can be usefull after all :-)

Don't just look at a team mate in a space. because if a defender is just outside that space your vision will stop. Look at the bigger space beyond the defender. Then put the ball in that space beyond the defender so if your team mates keeps running you will hit him in that space beyond that defender. So your not merely looking in the team mates immediate open space.

If you can do that, and the team mates knows you can do that your in business. Then people watching you play will talk about your genius vision on the field.
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Incidently a team mate who put's himself as a short pass option away from pressure for you. Is not the guy you want to pass to. He is an outleyt pass in case you get in pressure trouble. But that player can also help so you can keep your head up longer and look for better options further down field. Pressure get's too great then you always have that go to option so you don't lose the ball if you can't hit the harder to hit option.

[BigGuy]

This is a post I made years ago on the subject of "Chunking"


"Span of perception/ chunking"

What this really means. See the field and the opponents and team mates. Then instantly do something from the picture you saw. Without having to waste time thinking about what you saw. So it is see the picture and do an action. The action being making a good decision pass or taking on the defender or defenders or making a good shot.

"Teaching it scientifically in a non sport context was done in the 1950's. "The Perceptional Speed Test was developed in the 1950's by LL Thurstonand TD Jeffrey of the University of North Carolina and is still used to test for checking the span of perception. It contains a 140 mini test search consisting of a picture in the farthest left column and five more figures to the right You must write down the column number of one figure to the right that is identical to the one in the farthest left column. It is now published by the Human Resources Center at the University of Chicago."Span of Perception; Ability to visually process a sequence of information instantly."

I kept this because I thought it was very interesting, and can be applied to our game. I like to get my hands on this test, and actually test my players. To see how they do. Maybe by taking this test at different times during the season maybe they can get better at it, and use it in games.

I talked to Tab Ramos and he said for him beating the first defender 1 v 1 is not a big problem, but beating the second defender if he is spaced well in support is a problem he could not focus on the second defender instantly. Especially at the beginning of the season. He improved on beating the second defender later in the season. He would get injured by the second defender and not the first defender especially playing at a wing mid position. He loved the wing mid position.

I thought chunking could help him focus on the second defender faster, but did not know how to teach that. I just said maybe move to the inside mid, so the second defender could not take a big run at you. Or he could move inside the field after beating the first defender on the flank so you can lose that second defender. I tell all my wing mids to use the inside of the field after beat the first defender when you see a second defender close on that flank. he opted to play an inside mid in his last years of MLS play. He was hurt less then before after doing that. Plus both sides of the field benefited from his passes instead of just one side.

I think some players are born with this ability like Valderrama.

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Now can we use chunking in our game?

Even if you could, before you could you have to be confident skillful player with the ball to make it actually useful in a game.

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You still have to be able to hold off pressure, you still have to think ahead before the first touch, have to be able to dribble, and you have to be able to pass accurately, and you have to be able to shoot. You have to be able to get your head up confidently and take that picture.

Then you can immediately see and do without taking the time to think.


I think peripheral vision exercises is part of this. Ever play handball the one where you can pass the ball with the hands and find open players. Do that but try not to make a pass directly in front of you.

Don't worry about making a mistake take a risk to be great.

Put some skill on your pass to make it go where you want it to go. Like passing with the right foot on the inside of the ball with the outside of the foot to give it a right swerve for example.

So you have to have an abundance of skill to do instantly when you see something, and do it accurately. it might be the only way you can get the ball to the receiver

[Utd16]

Thanks for the responses :)

[snolly g]

I play midfield and I want to improve my vision and spotting players and creating dangerous plays. I am looking for good drills I can do in my backyard. Keep in mind my backyard is not really big but medium sized. All I have is a ball and some cones.

i will add that one thing you can work on by yourself is dribbling with your head up and looking around.

don't forget to do this before games too as part of your warm-up. (i find that if i don't do it during my warm-up, i tend to dribble with my head down during the game.)

[ChrisSSBB]

Lots of good suggestions from previous poster that will help you in your back yard. Here is what I would suggest, fwiw:

* As BigGuy said, new players tend to have tunnel vision. Even when they don't have the ball, they are still continually ball watching preventing them
from having a view of what is going on around them. When off the ball, make a habit of continually taking glances around you (about every 5 - 8 seconds) to monitor defenders and team mates position relative to you. Then when a pass is made to you, use the quick look up before receiving and then again after receiving. I find I can process the information I get when receiving the ball faster if I already have a picture in my mind of what is around me.

* I also like what BigGuy said as far as doing something each time you take a new picture, including off of the ball. This may not mean making a 40 yd off the ball run but maybe subtle adjustments to the spacing between you, defenders and opponents.

* You can do a lot of work with the ball in a very small space to help with your vision. As mentioned, dribble around the yard with your head up and practice moves where you look at the ball only when absolutely necessary.
Become as comfortable with the ball as possible. Toss the ball in the air and receive so you are sure and consistent with your first touch. Also. work on receiving the ball into space rather than just standing still as this will give you more time on the field which gives you better vision. Imagine you have a defender positioned next to you, behind you etc. and then control the ball with your first touch away from the defender. How quickly you can get your head up after receiving the ball will depend on the quality of your first touch. If a player's first touch is poor, they will rarely have time to see anything as they are too busy trying to control the ball.

* Be sure to open your body in the direction you want to go when receiving the ball. If you are facing the direction the ball is coming from, all you are seeing is what the passer was trying to get away from and not the next opportunities.

* Be quick to recognize when things get crowded in an area of the pitch as this often means there will be a lot of space somewhere else. A quick glance can be used to confirm and to make the devastating pass, dribble, shot, etc.

* Have in your mind's eye a picture of your team's formation allowing you to anticipate where your team mates should be in a given situation. I find this very helpful where a quick glance can confirm what I was expecting to see.
Also, I believe watching soccer on TV can be helpful from the standpoint of recognizing patterns that can occur on the pitch. Anything that you can anticipate in your mind's eye I believe will make it easier to process with your actual vision (can't say this is true for everyone or a fact, but I do believe this is how I do it on the field)

Mostly a rehash of what was already posted, but it is a great question and a vital part of being a good player. It made me think about how to improve on one's own.

I always liked the simplicity of a poster on the wall of a football club that I frequent. It says something like: "When we have the ball, we want to play with our heads up. When our opponents have the ball, we want to pressure them to play with their heads down". Certainly a lot goes into making both scenarios happen, but whenever a team does make it happen, they will win almost every time.

[urtel]

Study probability and kinesiology. If you're opponent is at a certain angle, there's only X amount of passes he can make.

[rca2]

Study probability and kinesiology. If you're opponent is at a certain angle, there's only X amount of passes he can make.

Defenders do add pressure making things more difficult, but defenders do not make passing impossible. Balls can be bent around and over defenders. Big guys' posts are the best I have seen on this topic.

[BigGuy]

Defenders do add pressure making things more difficult, but defenders do not make passing impossible. Balls can be bent around and over defenders. Big guys' posts are the best I have seen on this topic.

On bending the ball around defenders to get it to receivers is a lost art now a days. Now it is put yourself in a position as a receiver so that you can see the ball with no defender in the way.

So you hardly ever see the player make the bending pass anymore to a stationary receiver.

I don't think of it as a lost art because there are other uses for this skill.

Here is how it is done. You hit the ball on the outside or the inside to give it a lot of spin. You still have to put a little air under the ball got to get that spinning ball off the ground, but not too hogh off the ground.

If you want to get the ball to bend around the back. You air the ball far enough so it goes past the defender but not too much past the defender. Then when the spinning ball touches the ground the spin bites and the ball curves right to the now open receiver. It is not that hard to do just have to practice it a little. It is called "putting eyes on the ball" So it moves just like it had eyes and can see where it is supposed to go.

It is useful in todays game when finishing a chance to the far post mostly. Example your on the right and want to score just inside the far left post. Keeper had that angle covered. At least he thought he did. Take the placement with the left foot put spin on the ball using the inside of the left foot. Air it low to the ground so that it is far enough to just pass the keeper. Then the ball hit's the ground the spin bites and like the ball had eyes into bend on the inside of the far post.

You hardly ever see it down except with guys on my teams because I thaught it to them. Clint Mathis used to be able to do it, It is a very nice little skill.