As a tactical operator you often encounter situations where you have a divided focus. A divided focus requires quick, accurate eye movements between multiple targets. This utilizes a part of the visual system called saccades.
To execute at a high level in a condition of divided focus your saccadic eye movements will need the following:
- High velocity
- Quick reaction time
- Accuracy [1]
You can train to optimize your divided focus system, which takes your capabilities to the next level and reduces risk of injury. [2]
Repeated exposure to subconcussions can reduce the performance of your divided focus system. [3] This emphasizes the need to train proactively and continuously to optimize this aspect of performance.
As a tactical athlete it is vital to not only train your divided focus skills in a static position and controlled environment, but train to optimize when in a highly stimulating environment with positionally specific movements.
In other words – train to maintain the velocity, reaction time, and accuracy of your divided focus eye movements under chaos.
How are you training the velocity, reaction time, and accuracy of your saccadic eye movements? What conditions of chaos provide the greatest stress to your divided focus performance?
REFERENCES
- Leigh, R., & Zee, D. (2015- 06). The Neurology of Eye Movements. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Clark, J., Betz, B., Borders, L., Kuehn-Himmler, A., Hasselfeld, K., & Divine, J. (2020). Vision training and reaction training for Improving performance and reducing injury risk in athletes. Journal of Sports and Performance Vision, 2(1), e8-e16.
- Gallagher, V. T., Murthy, P., Stocks, J., Vesci, B., Colegrove, D., Mjaanes, J., … & Reilly, J. L. (2020). Differential Change in Oculomotor Performance among Female Collegiate Soccer Players versus Non-Contact Athletes from Pre-to Post-Season. Neurotrauma reports, 1(1), 169-180.