Summary
1:11 - Exciting news for Kasey.1:56 - Trying to keep ecological dynamics as a part of Kasey’s coaching style.Guiding set of principles3:45 - Introduction to visual occlusion.Anticipating faster7:51 - Explaining Gaze behavior and how visual occlusion is used to help develop it. Active v. passive gazeIntercepting objects10:08 - Why should athletes take time away from studying and visualizing patterns of movements?11:32 - Finding better information by occluding everything else besides a specific ha
Key Points
- Visual occlusion training forces athletes to attune to earlier, more useful information by removing part of the visual field (spatial) or cutting vision at a specific time point (temporal).
- Systematic occlusion that progressively removes more visual information over weeks is far more effective than random strobe goggles that just flicker on and off.
- Novice athletes tend to fixate on less useful visual cues, so occlusion training redirects their gaze behavior toward the earliest actionable information.
- In baseball, infrared beams near the plate occlude the ball at the last moment, then the cutoff point is moved further back as the hitter improves.
- In volleyball, spatial occlusion using barriers or body part covers can train passers to read the hitter's shoulder and arm rather than the ball.
- Safety matters when implementing occlusion: use tennis balls or softer equipment when athletes cannot see incoming objects.
