Liverpool FC Forum

by **zarababe** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:37 am

... interesting article... this stuff looks really interesting... it's known fact that we rarely use our bains to the max ... but to think someone like rooney is ... well almost is fascinating..

shall we botle him up or stick him under a miroscope and observe him ...

by **kindaconfused** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:53 am

Redrider

The article is interesting and confirms my view of peanut that there is no way he knows what he's doing and his talents must be listed as natural.

I think in football as the stakes get higher and the difference in the teams gets smaller then they will rely on more and more scientific methods to gain an advantage. Remember the butchers plaster over the nose.

I think football has a long way to go to catch up some of the other sports and I think America lead the way in sports science but will bow to correction on that one from others.

I for one would like more stats and analysis but then accept it might not push everyones button.

I had a thought about using a scientific approach to measuring a players performance, which I think Sky may touch on at present.

Yer know like passes made, left foot, right foot ability, heading, speed etc. I realise this is probably talked about when the managers look at videos but yer know in more depth and more scientific. The info could then be used to compare values of players.

by **zarababe** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:59 am

.. mmm.. but we don't want to end-up with manufactured .. robotic -type talent... natural talent enhanced by the % missing to be good or grt or effective.. whatever.. is what will do...

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:10 am

My'sred,
Another article from the Times, although it is focussed on Rooney, note the references to other players who have been tested and club's making use of the research coming from Liverpool University :

October 03, 2004

Rooney scores with Jedi knight vision
Maurice Chittenden

SCIENTISTS believe they have discovered one of the secrets behind the match-winning performances of Wayne Rooney and other leading footballers. They have exceptional peripheral vision and awareness that helps them to see sideways across the whole pitch as they run forward.

Rooney, who joined Manchester United in a £27m transfer from Everton in August, is among an increasing number of top-class players now receiving special coaching to develop and refine their visual talent.

Gail Stephenson, an optical scientist at Liverpool University, helped prepare him for his debut in last week’s Champions League match in which he scored a hat-trick in 37 minutes.

United, Tottenham Hotspur and other Premiership clubs have hired ophthalmologists to help their players score goals. It was Stephenson who persuaded Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s manager, to drop the team’s grey away strip after proving the colour blurred into crowds at the edge of vision.

The drive to improve eyeball skills follows the success of Sir Clive Woodward who took a visual coach to Australia last year to help the England team win the rugby World Cup.

The coach, Sherylle Calder, trained the team to form a habit of continually looking around the pitch during a game. She used banners draping off the goalposts and hung at each corner of the pitch and a mantra of “CTC” — standing for “crossbar, touchline, communicate” — to teach players such as Jonny Wilkinson to scan the pitch all the time.

Now research by scientists has identified key traits in how top footballers and other sports stars differ from the rest of the population. They have measured which hand and eye are dominant across various sports and compared this with the national average. In 68% of people the right eye and right hand are dominant. This rises sharply in precision sports: 84% for archery champions and 87% for medal-winning rifle shooters.

But footballers are much more evenly balanced and have a higher rate of mixing where the left eye might be the strongest but the player is right-handed and right-footed when kicking the ball.

This “cross dominance” is found in at least a third of all footballers compared with 5% of experienced archers and 9% of rifle team members.

It helps a player’s performance because they can see much more of the game around them. Bobby Moore, captain of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team, is now recognised as the first player to have had exceptional peripheral awareness. When he was a 13-year-old schoolboy he was coached by Malcolm Allison, the future Manchester City manager, who insisted that he should know at every instant of a match what he should do if the ball came to him. This was directly related to an awareness of the position of other players on the pitch.

Ron Greenwood, Moore’s manager at West Ham, would blow his whistle during a practice match and Moore would be the only player to know exactly where everyone was.

Players such as Rooney are now being taught to improve their own widescreen vision by standing directly in front of boards of electronic lights 5ft high and 4ft wide. Each time a red flashes they have to touch it to show they can see it out of the corner of their eye. Martina Navratilova, the former tennis champion, had such a board at her home in the United States and trained on it every day.

Geraint Griffiths, a former British international high-jumper who is chairman of the Sports Vision Association, which has links with Loughborough University, said: “Visual performance is the single most important consideration in preparation for competitive sport. It is more important than weight, diet and how much you sleep.”

by **mynameisred** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:26 am

I wanna test.

by **106-1093504160** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:46 am

ive had one, its ney good man

by **106-1093504160** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:47 am

you sit round in circles with yer eyes closed going ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:50 pm

These tests could become part of the Signing medical. Fail and the deal is off !!
Baros looks to have next to no Peripheral Vision, he might have failed the test.

by **Dom1** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:02 pm

load of bull if u ask me!

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:11 pm

Take the test Dom, and see how much vision you really have !!

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:58 pm

What happens if you wear Sunglasses ? Perhaps this is why these wrap around styles are so popular !!

by **Dom1** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:02 pm

how can i take the test?

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:06 pm

Get along to Liverpool University and offer yourself for Scientific Research !! :laugh:

by **Redrider** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:07 pm

Dom,
If you do really well you will be able to score as often as Shrek !!

by **kindaconfused** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:34 pm

Dom 1

You go first for your test and if you come back normal I know its worked

Liverpool FC Forum

Redprof is the man - Lfc sign deal with local uni'

Who is online