Neurocognitive skills combine visual skills and perceptual-cognitive skills. These differentiate good athletes from great because they directly impact on-field performance. While neurocognitive skills are trainable, not all training is created equal. Coaches and athletes want to know, “What actually transfers to the court, field, or ice?”
There is more to sports vision than meets the eye. We know that sports performance relies on interconnected systems of sensory input, processing information, and motor skills. We also know that the central nervous system relies heavily on visual information. However, when it comes to performance on the court, field, or ice, how important is vision in sports?
There is more to mental performance than visualization, productive thinking, and pre-performance routines. Although those are important, training an athlete’s cognition cycle is the next frontier. Collectively, the components of how athletes see, decide, and execute are referred to as neurocognitive skills. Advances in neuroscience and technology enable us to now train these skills to unleash athlete potential.
Athletes at every level know the importance of warming up before practice, competitions, and even workouts. Warm-ups are designed to increase heart rate, activate muscles, and prepare athletes for the demands of competition. However, given the importance of visual processing in many competitive sports, it is surprising that warming up the visual-motor system isn’t part of every pre-competition warm-up.
Almost everyone has experienced it. Many athletes call it “being in the zone.” Others refer to it as “clicking on all cylinders.” I’m talking about flow. Some say flow is elusive. But the reality is that we all crave flow – for good reason. Let me introduce you to the flow cycle and why each phase is crucial for high performance.
Time is every athlete’s greatest constraint. When I consult with organizations about neurocognitive training, I often hear that time is a primary concern. They often cite time as the #1 reason athletes don’t invest in training the critical neurocognitive skills that could give them a real competitive edge. However, there is a solution: integrate neurocognitive skills into physical training sessions.
In the heat of competition athletes face myriad demands. Dr. Vincent Walsh tells us, “If one considers the challenges that elite sport performance presents to the brain, it is difficult to think of any human activity that places more demands on the brain (with the possible exception of combat Soldier).” Competition requires athletes to meet extreme mental and physical demands simultaneously. Athletes need to train the mind and body together. Yet, too often, the mind and body are trained separately.
Why is training athlete cognition the next frontier of mental performance? Dr. Vincent Walsh, director of the Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group at University College London captured the value of training athlete cognition well. He shared, “If one considers the challenges that elite sport performance presents to the brain, it is difficult to think of any human activity that places more demands on the brain (with the possible exception of combat Soldier).” In Part 4 of this series, we explore how athletes execute on demand and how to train it.
Athlete cognition sets elite athletes apart from the rest. They see, decide, and execute faster and better than their competition. Training athlete cognition is the next frontier of mental performance. In Part 3 of the series, we break down athlete decision making and how to train it.
Training athlete cognition is the next frontier in mental performance. Cognition involves the way athletes see, decide, and execute on demand (Zaichkowsky & Peterson, 2018). In the second of a four-part series, this article will focus on the importance of sports vision and how athletes see the field, court, or course.
