About Sports Dynamic Visual Acuity

Visual acuity to see moving objects = "dynamic visual acuity(DVA)" is one of the most important senses in sports. It is an important key in ball games such as baseball, soccer, tennis, table tennis, and hockey, as well as in martial arts such as boxing and kendo, where the opponent's movements needs to be instantly detected. Top athletes active in the world are required to have high DVA, and there are even teams that regularly measure the team members' DVA.

What is Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA)?

Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) is the ability to persistently identify a single moving target without taking your line of sight. DVA can be divided into the following two types.
● KVA: Ability to discern forward and backward movement (e.g. seeing a ball thrown by a pitcher)
● DVA: Ability to identify lateral movements (e.g. following the movement of a ball or opponent from the side, such as in a soccer game)
Visual acuity to see moving objects = "DVA" is one of the most important senses in sports.

Humans first obtain about 80% of information through sight. Then the information is converted into an electrical signal and sent to the brain, where it is further processed and transmitted to the muscles. By quickly identifying fast-moving objects with high DVA, the transmission time from the brain to the muscles is shortened, resulting in increased instantaneous power. Of course, it is necessary to train not only the DVA but also the muscles. However, in order to move the trained muscles, it is important to increase DVA to obtain information as soon as possible.

The Importance of Deep Vision

"Deep vision" is important in sports as well. Soccer, for example, is a sport where the player and the ball are in constant motion. In order to make an accurate pass, it is necessary to instantly grasp the positional relationship between each other. Also, the sensing the distance from the ball is important for shooting and heading to the centered ball. Deep vision is greatly involved in these "understanding of positional relationships" and "sensing the distance". Of course, deep vision is also necessary for many sports other than soccer, such as golf putters and volleyball.