This article is best viewed in a PDF Format.
|
|
Rebello came to sports vision through a long-standing interest in helping children with learning difficulties. 'Kids with visual learning difficulties have to concentrate so hard on their focusing system and coordinating movement that there is nothing left for them to read with. The aim is to make their visual system second nature so their reading flows because they can concentrate their full capacity on taking in and comprehending what they read.
'Sports vision is the same but on another level. This is especially the case with elite athletes because they are so secure with their visual system that they rarely think consciously about it until they have a glitch. So you are essentially rebuilding to get them back to the level they were at previously.'
His twin interests were combined when helping Philip Smith, an England under-16 ice hockey player. Smith was having difficulty focusing on the puck and worked with Rebello to correct this via the use of Brock strings and fusional reserves exercises. Smith subsequently found his school work benefited because of his improved vision.
Getting started
As a passionate and active sports participant himself, Rebello was on the look out for a course that would enable him to further investigate his evolving ideas on vision and in 2005 became part of the inaugural intake for the Diploma in Sportvision Practice.
'My experience of it was that the eye dominance, focusing and binocular work I had done with kids with reading difficulties were transported across to the sports model. So it felt like a natural progression.'
Through the diploma Rebello got involved in Sportsvision UK, the non-profit organisation formed to promote the importance of vision in sport to optometrists and the sports community, and now serves as chairman.
While Rebello has seen athletes regain form after simple exercises to get their focusing system back on track, he is cautious about claiming credit.
'So many factors affect form in sports and when someone loses it they will go away and work at their fitness, nutrition and anything else because they are really motivated to get it back. However, vision must be a key piece of the jigsaw because it is so fundamental. If your vision doesn't tell you how fast or what direction the ball is travelling at it doesn't matter how fit you are or what diet you eat, you will mistime the ball.'
Looking to the future of sports vision, Rebello takes inspiration from techniques in Australia that stream children into the sports most suited to their body structure.
'Why not apply the same to vision? Certain sports like archery are dominated by people who are dominant on the same side for hands, feet and eyes because that setup is advantageous for aiming. Sports like judo are better suited to cross dominant types as they benefit from being less predictable in their preference for one side. I've adapted my practice to incorporate this and will suggest to the parents a suitable sport for a kid with a particular setup.'
Taking care of business
Asked how he attracts sports business, Rebello says word of mouth plays a key role, but he has directly reached out to local clubs and is registered with the British Olympic Association. He also maintains a website (www.sports-vision.co.uk) for his sports services, which allows athletes to understand what is on offer. Currently, Rebello is targeting winter sports. 'It is best to work out of season as altering a sportsperson's vision could potentially disturb other areas of their game.'
While Rebello looks to take advantage of the differentiation and marketing tool that sports vision gives him, he explains that the extra sales it offers is just as significant. 'At busy practices you don't want to increase chair time. What you do want is ancillary sales through encouraging part-time spectacle wearers to get contacts for sports field. All levels and ages are attracted to gaining an edge.
'I had a golfer with +0.75 sight that would normally not be corrected. But I asked him about his golf playing and particularly the putting side of things because I realised his dominant eye was more blurred than the other. His coordination was skewed because he would be using his clearer non-dominant eye. So we did some binocular work and sorted out a pair of distance glasses for putting. Since then he has been back and said his putting has improved and from a purely dispensing point of view that is a sale I would not have got without the sports angle.' ?