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Dominant Eye & Aiming
Most individuals exhibit a preference to process visual information with one eye or the other, which is their dominant eye. Approximately 65% of individuals are right eye dominant, most others are left eye dominant and a small number exhibit no eye dominance.
In sports and other activities that require aiming individuals who use their hand or foot on the same side of their body as their dominant eye have an initial advantage (archery, darts and shooting sports). For individuals who are cross dominant and use their hand or foot on the opposite side of their body from their dominant eye balance, perception and accuracy are very often off. Either of two approaches can improve balance, perception and accuracy issues:
Dominant Eye ScreeningThe fastest check to determine the dominant eye is to ask the individual to take a hollow tube and put it up to their eye as they look through the tube at an object that is 10 to 15 feet away. The eye they use to look through the tube is almost always their dominant (aiming) eye.
A great technique to show how the dominant eye works for aiming is to put your hands together so that the fingers interlace at the top and the thumbs overlap at the bottom and there is a circle in the middle. Now hold that circle at arms length and look at the same object 10-15 feet away and do not move the circle as you:
Your dominant eyes is the eye that is still focused on the object when you close the other eye. The non-dominant eye is the eye that loses sight of the object when you close the other eye. Cross Dominance Training ObservationsOnce cross-dominance is determined work to subtly adjust the player's body positioning and movements to take cross-dominance into account. And be prepared to think out of the box:
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Cross Dominance LibraryWe would like to create a page of cross dominance training success stories for the Good of the Game.
Please use the Feedback Form at the bottom of this page if you have had success helping players with cross-dominance issues. |