Jjen....you may find this helpful. I posted it several years ago.
From Outside Magazine October 2004
The drill is called rapid eye movement from Burton Worrell's ocular drills. He recommends spending at least three minutes a day on doing the drills. That is very little time for what I believe will improve your ability to not only track the ball better but improve your balance and ability to field the ball while changing direction. He calls the drill "Walk the Plank".
The challenge as he puts it is, "When you are multitasking at full tilt, balance is one of the first things to suffer. Forcing yourself to focus on a moving object throughout your line of sight-while you're moving and keeping your balance-trains you to maintain your inner equilibrium."
The Drill: Lay a two-by-four flat on the floor and stand on it with one foot in front of the other. Pick up a pen that has text printed on the side and with your arm fully extended; lift it (the pen) to eye level. Make a wide, sweeping figure eight pattern (in a horizontal path not vertical) with your arm and moving only your eyes (not your head) stay focused on the letters on the pen. Finally walk forward and backwards on the beam while continuing the figure eight pattern."
The way I have found to use this is to first have them stand still and get the motion of the horizontal figure eight path first. Then walk a straight line next while doing the figure eight pattern. They will be unbalanced as they begin. Once they can do that then put them on the board. I've seen when they begin this drill the head trying to move in the pattern of the figure eight and that is when they get dizzy and start to stumble. Keep working on this as the kids say it improves not only their vision but also their balance.
Another great drill he recommends is Ocular Acrobatics.
He goes on to say in another drill, "One of the trickiest aspects of most sports is staying focused when everything is moving around you. Think of a wide receiver in football: He has to concentrate on the ball while he and the other players around him are in motion-a situation that easily overtaxes the brain. Skiers face the same task when speeding down a line on a crowed slope."
The Challenge: "You want to be able to identify objects instantly, says Worrell. If you're kayaking and you can't ID that gnarly rock on your right and then quickly shift to the waterfall straight ahead, your system (vision) becomes disoriented and you might miss the safest line through the Class V rapids."
I think trying to watch a ground ball when a runner is passing in the line of your sight or sliding towards you is another example of why this drill is important.
The Drill: "From a deck of cards, pick out the ace through six of one suit. (I like using 10 cards) Tape the cards randomly on a wall close to eye level, spacing them about one foot apart, with the ace in the center. Memorize where each card is located. Standing seven feet from the wall, jump your eyes (move the eyes not your head) from card to card in sequential order (ace through six) as quickly as possible, starting with the ace. You want your eyes to land on the card without having to refocus, but you don?t want to move to the next card until you can clearly see the current card. If you loose focus return to the ace and start over."
While doing this drill I put my hand on top of their head and usually in the beginning you can feel them want to move the head versus using just the eyes.
Another drill I think really works well to drive the point home on tracking the ball is called the pencil drill.
While at the Cleveland Clinic in March 2002, I was reading the Sports Illustrated March 2002 edition. An article called Hitters Rule by Tom Verducci, talked about vision training and how players exercised their eyes by focusing on objects up close and then looking at objects in the distance to improve what is termed accommodation. The hitter while in the on deck circle held his bat up close to his eyes looking at the trademark on the bat and then looked at the center fielders position. Go back to pages 6 and 7 and reread it again.
The Drill: Get two pens or pencils that having writing/ advertisements printed on it. Holding one pen in the left hand slowly move it at eye level toward your nose until you get it up close to your face and it is difficult to read. Your eyes are doing what is termed accommodation or moving closer together to focus on the object that is nearer your face. You will feel the strain on your eyes as you do this. Now holding the other pen in your right hand at arms length repeat this movement with the left hand and when you feel the strain switch your gaze to the pen/pencil in your outstretched right hand and your eyes will feel rested again. Doing these 6 to 30 minutes a day improves your ability to track a ball and hit it in my opinion.
The string drill is another great one to do. I've seen this drill recommended by Dr. Bill Harrison and Dr. Worrell for what is termed ,Eye Teaming."
The Drill: "Thread a half-inch bead on a 6 foot cord. (I found small key chain softballs to use) Attach one end to a doorknob. Face the doorknob and hold the other end taut to the bridge of your nose, so you're 16 inches away from the bead. (I put a leather patch at the end of the string that is placed by the bridge of the nose/ forehead) Look at the bead. You should see two strings, as if one is coming from each eye. The two strings should appear to meet at the bead, (baseball) forming an X. (If they form a Y or only one string, the information from one eye is being suppressed: blink your eyes rapidly to "turn on" both eyes. If you X is in front of the bead, your eyes are aiming closer than it really is. In baseball or tennis, that might cause you to swing too early for the ball. Practice deep breathing and "looking softly" to move the X into the bead. If your X is beyond the bead, your eyes are aiming further away than it is-hence, a late swing at the ball. Practice looking in front of the bead to slowly get the X to the bead. When you find it easy to see the X at the bead, move the bead further out, according to your sport. Then add more beads and shift so one appears as one and the rest as double. (I mark the cord every 16 inches and move the ball as I see the X on both sides of the bead/baseball.)
Howard