SPORTS VISION TRAINING FOR THE PROFESSIONAL TEAM PART 4

image: bernell.com

What we're going to suggest for Professional, College and even Olympic teams is a little different than what the current landscape of Sports Vision Training allows. In order to understand where we think the market will head, you really need to understand what the market is currently doing and look at the history of training as a whole. The current condition of the market has professional and elite organizations scraping together different programs to help their players succeed visually. Most programs work (to a certain extent), but there is a better way to do it. Often times they'll refer their players to an Optometrists who just wants the story of checking a Professional's eyes, maybe take a picture, get an autograph, etc.

 I remember talking with a doc in the industry who was the team eye doc for a team in the NHL. I asked him about how he got to become the referring Optometrist for the team and he relayed this story: He met a player out of a referral from a friend and he came in asking why he was doing so poorly on the ice. During the exam the doctor realized that he needed contacts and the player was blown away! He'd been checked by another O.D. who the team referred him to and he said his vision was fine. Turns out the other doctor was doing it for free and just wanted to meet some professional athletes. The exam wasn't thorough, but just your typical run-of-the-mill exam; "can you see this? Yes.  You're seeing fine, have a nice day." The player was so appreciative that he told 2 other teammates who were also struggling and happened to need the same thing! Eventually the doctor was able to speak with the guy in charge at the organization and said "Look, I don't know who your sending them to, but so far the guy's 0-3 and keeps missing on these assets of yours." He eventually was designated as the teams eye doctor and has opened doors for other organizations to go to him.

In order to do Sports Vision right, the team or organization needs to hire someone full time to work with these athletes. We look at this industry as what people's perceptions were of lifting weights years ago. Everyone was told that lifting weights would throw off your mechanics and mess with your swing, throwing motion, etc. It wasn't until these athletes were succeeding at the highest level while lifting weights before teams succumbed to hiring strength and conditioning coaches. Look at the landscape now! Every team, college and organization has strength and conditioning coaches. If the proper program for lifting weights merits a whole unit, then why not something as important as your asset's vision? These athletes are your organizations assets and they need the best to succeed.

An eye doctor who is worth his salt is not going to leave his current practice for less than what his practice is worth. Avoiding any debate on the economics of Optometry, you don't want to hire someone who's been working at Wal-Mart either, checking eyes for the last couple of years for the retail giant is where O.D.s go to die. You want an innovative person who understands the game that you are playing. Someone that can deal with the psyche of an athlete, read through and apply sabermetrics to their training. Someone who isn't as expensive as a doctor is going to be, but more expensive than some personal trainer fresh out of college. I don't personally know of any team or organization that has this yet, but rest assured they're coming. It will only take 1 team to hire someone and word to get out before they start budgeting for this in their payroll. Consultants are great, but my experience has been that consultants benefit more than the organization does.