What Friday was doing seems extraordinary, but it is necessary. “I am asking for discretion”

Krzysztof Piątek Probably many fans wondered then, what was Piątek doing then at the sideline?

Such a situation could be observed during the warm-up during the October match between Poland and San Marino. His friends were kicking the ball while Hertha’s sniper was warming his eyes. He has been using vision training since his last injury, as he once admitted in “Foot Truck”. – In addition to warming up the legs, I also warm the eyes – he was saying straight.

What Piątek did may be extraordinary for some, but specialists confirm that nowadays it is almost necessary training. Psychologist Mikołaj Markiewicz, who was a guest at the Legia facilities, has been involved in the optimization and training of vision since the 1990s. Athletes work with him often, though often in discretion.

Volleyball players with side mirrors

– Many athletes turn to me, although many also ask me not to say that I work with them, because it will reduce their competitiveness – explained Markiewicz, suggesting that currently many players are looking for details that will make them better than their rival. The psychologist points out that work with athletes is diverse and is determined by individual disciplines.

– Recently I cooperated with a trainer who teaches motorcycling. There, the most important elements of the training were eyes and balance. Looking broadly is important in football. It turned out that one of the main challenges was to judge the distance above three and a half meters in the jump. Another thing to train was to master the defensive reflex of the eyes – not closing them, for example when a ball or a hand was flying towards the face. Wide vision was also important, because in each discipline it is good to know where, for example, is the end of the dance floor or the pitch. Be aware, but do not look at the end line especially – he explains.

Markiewicz admits that he cooperated with the volleyball team, which probably remembered him from the glasses he offered to the players. The psychologist himself constructed glasses with attached mirrors, which allowed to significantly expand the field of view.

– I treated them as a tool to make them realize how many things are going on around them. It was building awareness of the surrounding reality, although of course the exercise caused some laughter – Markiewicz admitted to us. adds that during longer technical exercises with the eyes, for example, wearing glasses that turn the right side to the left, a person may even get in a bad mood, colloquially speaking: catch the bottom. The brain adapts to the new reality, but it takes about a week to get used to it. This is why players feel relieved after taking off their glasses after such strange exercises. They often feel that this is when they see better.

T-shirts no one has seen

Coming back to the pitch and dance floors – Krzysztof Piątek’s pre-match vision training methods would have surprised anyone even two or three decades ago. It was then that Sir Alex Ferguson was attending the late Gail Stephenson, an ophthalmologist and vision specialist who had worked with the team for 20 years. In her day, warming up the eyes and muscles of the eyes was as obvious as warming up the quadriceps. Stephenson also paid attention to reflexes and the perception of reality. This includes thanks to her comments MU played in 1996 two halves of the game against Southampton in two different jerseys. After 45 minutes, Ferguson ordered the team to take off their gray clothes, which, in Stephenson’s opinion, made it difficult for the players to play quickly, because they were not easily visible to the eye, they blended with the surroundings. With 0-3 to the half-time and a minimal second half win (after switching to blue t-shirts), it was fair to say that Stephenson was right. Interestingly, no match was won. The uniforms were dropped after the fifth game and it was easier for United players to score points by the end of the season.

Reach where untrained eyesight cannot

What is important for athletes, especially those playing team games? Even something that can be described as broad vision. The moment a player takes the ball forward, but knows well what is happening to his right and left. He can see where the partners are, whether his rival is approaching him, and it’s best not to shake his head in all directions – rather, he notices everything out of the corner of his eye. This, as Markiewicz points out, is difficult because – as he says – it takes place outside of consciousness, but it can give a significant advantage. In addition, there are many exercises that can sensitize us to stimuli on the periphery of vision. The simplest exercise is to raise your hand in front of you and walk with your eyes focused on the center of your hand. You can also use an outstretched finger (crosshair), as Piatek did. In the same way, only by looking into the distance and moving slowly you can practice motor skills.

Mikołaj Markiewicz, vision trainer / photo by KS

One more exercise that can activate broader perceptions is the one below. During it, you need to focus on the sign X i try to read as many letters or numbers as possible around him. But without taking his eyes off X. The average score is two letters on the right and two letters on the left.

Wfefwervwehjflvwnefw36m95l57wedvqxpdqwkjfwjfwekjhhqoui4uejbjqo9u3jenkgknxvveeue
jfer934urhrifkrfiruhfj2f39478fhydsp2vql4ifuXocrtfiofonfl38474lf4fosisbbxlapjlagxbxnwmi370
kjewqfh74yusjoasdfkncxbask0w837udj25258asksbxvslw88e4kerkemmrkde9e9wpokslpaxb
kwe73709ekdjhfy8eoeiofr9ero9ejkdkldnnzcwwe7oekledkdfkfjfdhdheyeueuiwowdldlkleertjkl

If someone thinks such exercises are strange, it is good to realize that the average person uses from 40 to 60 percent. efficiency and the possibilities of your eyesight. So let’s work to make better use of its potential. As part of exercises for athletes, Markiewicz recommends a standard eye warmer: with a small head movement, large movement of the knobs to warm their muscles. – In addition, it is worth doing something to help the eyes cooperate and stimulate peripheral vision. For adults, even the simplest exercise will be good, that is, looking ahead and wondering what thing I see farthest to my left or right. This realization of what is around is the stimulation of peripheral vision – the psychologist tells us.

It is worth adding that the human field of view can be as high as 210 degrees. For comparison, in a cat it will be even 285 degrees. It is also worth using those activities that have a good effect on hand-eye coordination and reaction time. Many scientific studies recommend regular table tennis, which, as you can see, for example during training camps of the Polish national team, is very popular.

Our interlocutor also draws attention to other factors that affect vision: rest and stress. The more lactic acid accumulates in the eyes, the faster this organ will tire, and tired eyes can see less. Under stress, the field of vision narrows, and there are other disorders, which can be a big problem especially for beginner athletes. In general, however, exercise in the fresh air and task games have a positive effect on eyesight.

Ciliary muscle civilization. Athletes have an advantage

Professor Simon Bennett of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences has shown that the eyesight of people practicing sports (professionally and amateur) works much better than that of non-training people. Bennett conducted the research together with experts from Liverpool John Moores University. They described that players from the Premier League (49 respondents) and 31 intermediate students of a physical education academy, coped better with, inter alia, perception of reality, sensitivity to contrast, response to stimuli from close and far distances, than the average healthy people who have no contact with sport. Even the player’s position on the pitch mattered here. they dominated, for example, in the speed of shifting eyesight between objects located near and far. As described – it probably had to do with catching rivals in an offside trap. Defenders must quickly shift their attention, and thus their eyesight, between several opponents in close and distant locations.

Eye exercises – whether conscious or not – can affect the quality of life and vision. On Science 4 Football, Markiewicz presented data on vision problems (myopia or farsightedness) among teenagers in Warsaw. According to the estimates of prof. Jerzy Szaflik, in the capital city every second boy has a visual impairment. As reported by Markiewicz at the Legia Football Academy, with which the vision specialist cooperated, only. One may, of course, wonder if football attracts people who see better and is a barrier to those who see worse, or if it distracts teenagers from phones and computers and contributes to eye hygiene and reduces the tendency to defects.

For more sports content, see also

– When reading, looking at the screen, only one muscle in the eye works – the ciliary muscle, it is tense all the time – explains Markiewicz, suggesting that nowadays you have to take care of its relaxation, and the way of life does not make it easier. In Seoul, 96% of men under the age of 19 must wear glasses. Such numbers have not been met so far. Interesting in this context is also the old research of professors of ophthalmology from Sacramento, who once examined the eyesight of illiterate Greenland Inuit, who were then far from civilization. Among them, only 1.5 percent had a visual impairment. It was 1950. However, when compulsory schooling was introduced, in the following generations the percentage of Inuit who needed glasses rose to 60 (1979).

They also have trouble. According to a 2014 study, as many as 45 percent of elementary school students, 74 percent of middle school students, 83 percent of high school students and 86 percent of students required vision correction there. This is why a vision training program was created in the country. Sport is recommended in it, and the other main points of the daily guidelines are: often look into the distance, massage your eyes, and function in good lighting.