Peripheral vision
When a player looks at something out of the corner of his eye, he or she is using their peripheral vision. It is important to have this ability since many of the plays in soccer, rugby, and many other sports do not happen directly in front of you. The action is generally happening on all sides. Try watching TV with your head turned to one side and when watching a live sports match, you can turn your head to one side and see if you can still follow the game.
Eye tracking
In the game of cricket, rugby or soccer, which involves a moving ball/opponent, it is important to be able to follow the ball/players without using much head movement. The visual skill of eye tracking allows the player to balance properly and react more quickly to events on the field. To train this skill, paste small targets on a turning blade such as a fan or CD player turntable and try to accurately touch the targets at different speeds (the targets can be made smaller as the skill improves.)
Focus ability
The split second that it takes the player to change focus from a player far away to the ball near or vice versa may improve reaction time allowing the player to perform better in certain situations on the field. To improve this ability, keep changing focus back and forth at a target e.g. newspaper/calendar on wall (i.e., near/far focus) and try to do it quicker with practice.
Graham van Rensburg
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens.

