Nike’s Sparq Shines a Light on Visual Training | Playbook | Wired.com

You wouldn’t think that old saw, “practice makes perfect” would apply to, say, tracking a baseball as it comes toward you at 95 mph. Nike says it does, and wants to prove it.

The company’s funky new Sparq Vapor Strobe eyewear works with the equally geeky Sparq Sensory Station to analyze and improve 10 vital visual and sensory skills. The eyewear’s lens work a bit like a strobe light — hence the name — by alternating between clear and obstructed fields of vision to improve your ability to target an oncoming object. Think of it as watching that baseball through a venetian blind you’re opening and closing dozens of times a minute.

It sounds crazy, but evidence suggests it works. The system has been used in particular by NFL players like St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings. But you don’t have to be catching long bombs to benefit from the technology. Nike swears it can help any athlete in any sport where keeping your eye on the ball is critical.

“The clearer you see, the better the reaction, the better the depth perception,” says Dr. Alan Reichow, Nike’s vision and science research director, who’s been studying visual and sensory performance in sports since the late 1970s.