Visual and auditory training in football

The perception ability allows to gain information from the environment through different senses. The capacity with which we receive and interpret informations depends on cognitive processes and the available knowledge. Visual perception involves the receiving and processing of information through the eyes. The result of this processing can also be called visual ability. Auditory perception refers to all processes from the moment the sound reaches the ear, to the transmission of information through the nerves into the brain, and finally to the processing of this information and the related reactions and abilities.

In football the visual and auditory abilities are of great importance and can be regarded as performance determining factors. The older the players get, the less time is left to assess the information and react accordingly. This reduction of the possible reaction time already begins in the youth and extends to professional football level. As a result, space and time are becoming increasingly limited for the player in possession of the ball. After receiving the ball, it is often too late to think about the next action. Rather, the player should already know before the actual action what his action will look like and pre-orientate himself.

In order to implement this concept successfully, a fast and reliable visual and auditory perception is needed. In addition, verbal support from the other players is helpful to get as much information as possible about the current match situation.

An eye patch supports the visual training. You can find these in our shop:

Accordingly, these skills should be trained at an early age in order to establish a basic level of performance. The skills can be trained very well on a smaller playing field. In this way, the game becomes more important on the shortened large pitch and the offside rule is added. As a result, more space needs to be overviewed, especially the deep field. This succeeds above all in the team.

The series of exercises in the catalogue "Visual and Auditory Training for the Shortened Large Field - U13" provides 30 exercises on the main topic described. This includes a detailed description of the exercises as well as illustration with pictures and video material. The following is an example of a presentation method for an exercise.