Vaulting problems related to poor depth perception

[fishchimes]

First of all, this is not a medical question. I'm having vision therapy to fix this, so I don't need medical advice. I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this and how it turned out for them.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with amblyopia in my right eye, which causes poor depth perception. There is nothing physically wrong with eye; it has to do with how the brain deals with information from the eye. Or something. It's kind of hard to explain, so for information, I would suggest Wikipedia. I did an online program for my vision and went from 20/70 to 20/50, but the depth perception did not really improve. So a few weeks ago I started to going to vision therapy once a week.

I do think it has helped improve my vaulting, and I've started seeing things differently; they really pop out more and are clearer.

The problems I had (and still have, to an extent) with vaulting are:
-Slowing down just before reaching the spring board
-A vague feeling of not being in control
-Kept tripping on run; i.e ending up on the wrong foot

Of course, people could have perfect vision and still have these problems, but my doctor told me he had a patient who was a gymnast and had the same problems as me with vault. She had the same diagnosis. (Unfortunately she ended up quitting because of high pressure parents ).

Has this happened to anyone else? I'd really like to know how it turned out! Thanks.

 

[bogwoppit]

THis is why I stopped gym as a child, I have no depth perception, which is not so good for ball psorts or vaulting!

Maybe you need to count the steps in your run, practice into the pit etc. It might help if you knew your run, before you try to get to the vault.

 

[lilgymnast7]

I smiled while reading your whole post because I have amblyopia as well in my left eye. Glad to hear I am not the only one out there! I had amblyopia for quite some time now, and believe it or not my vision in my left eye is the worst it can pretty much be. My right eye, however, if perfect and nothing is wrong with it. To be honest, I didn't think it was affecting my gymnastics at all. I adjusted and moved on. But the problems with vault that you are having really got me thinking a lot. I experience many of them and I always have. I constantly mess up my running steps, and struggle with what you are having problems with as well. I am really not quite sure what the cause may be, but the points you have brought up make much sense to me. I'll do a little research out of curiosity.

 

[IrenicMom]

My daughter inherited my vision. She started wearing glasses about 6 months ago. Her rx is 20/70, plus she has astigmatism, which exacerbates the depth perception issue.

A year ago, her vault was atrocious. When they ran the time tests, her approach time was great, but she could never replicate it on an actual vault approach. She was always slowing down, sometimes even stopping once she got to the springboard. She was frequently on the wrong foot for approach, and never could quite get the timing down. She could do all the components of the vault, but couldn't put them together. Her coaches were perplexed. She was growing more and more aggravated and anxious about her vault practice rotations.

And then she went to the optometrist. Her first practice with her glasses, she nailed her vault. She could see! Problem solved

 

[CoachGoofy]

*raises hand*

I have strabismus. I wear glasses that correct the misalignment (and my awful distance vision).

When I vaulted I used the vaulting collar, even for lower level vaults, because bright yellow stood out more than springboard-on-blue. It was an indicator that once it looked like a vault collar, it was time to hurdle. Without the vault collar I ran into the vault a few too many times.