On the occasion of its 5th anniversary, La Toupie Bleue shares with you the 5th part of its new column: “Make a “par 5” during a padel trip!”

This monthly column aims to give you 5 tips/recommendations/guidelines around the themes of padel travel and the practice itself.

In our first part, we shared with you 5 good practices … before leaving!

In the second part, we share you here 5 tips on the theme of “taking a plane for your padel trip in Europe.”

In the 3rd part, we recommended you 5 exercises to strengthen your ankles (joints under heavy strain) before going on a padel course.

In the 4th part, we wanted explore the possibilities for progress in your padel practice, thanks to supervision during a course.

In this 5th part, Rémi interviewed Ms. Lecat, a sports orthoptist, who explains to us the importance of vision / the eye in sports practice.

We asked him a few questions that are sure to surprise many readers of Padel Magazine … so much the eye being a muscle of the athlete often neglected, but nevertheless preponderant in the quest for sports performance.

What recommendation for the padel player?

  • Can you introduce yourself ?

“Ms. Lecat, orthoptist in Wattignies, south of Lille. I have been practicing since 2011 and since 2013 on the sporting aspect. I am an orthoptist at the CREPS in Wattignies.

Since 2021, I have also been a trainer on the E(Y)E MOTION program.”

  • Can you talk about the sportsman's eye. How can thinking about strengthening / training your eye, regardless of your level of practice (even amateur), improve your performance in sports?

“At the eye level, 80% of the information perceived on the (padel) court comes from vision. We have 6 oculomotor muscles in each eye. Having good eyesight (appropriate optical correction) is essential.

More and more, sports frames are adapted to sports practice, with filters on the lenses depending on the type of terrain and at the orthoptic level, good binocular vision is important.”

  • What is the first recommendation you make to the padel player in your field?

“Obviously I will preach for my parish. I would recommend an orthoptic checkup.

The classic assessment: to see if there is low visual acuity, a need for glasses; check that binocular vision is well established, is good.

And then to go further, an orthoptist specializing in sports could analyze and study the visual performance of the player.

  • Do some players have visual predispositions?

“You have players who have visual predispositions indeed. Most are average. Conversely, you have players who are in deficit.

Some excel thanks to their experience, to an orthoptic development, which allows them to compensate at this level.

When we analyze high-level professional athletes, with athletes in training, we obviously notice that the high-level athlete has more performance capacities.

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  • There are many writings on the existence of a dominant eye sometimes called "dominant eye". Can you tell us a bit more?

“Precisely, we all have an eye which is the director. We speak of the dominant eye when we have binocular vision, that is, we use both eyes to see.

We will however talk about dominant eye/preferential eye for people with strabismus.”

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  • Does everyone have a guiding eye?

“Yes, on the other hand, it is possible to have two of them (quite a rare case): a directing eye from near and a directing eye from afar.

But it is often due to a problem of refraction (problem of “glasses”).”

  • Do you have an anecdote to share with us about a player known far beyond tennis, namely Rafael Nadal?

“Yes, if we take the example of Nadal in the field of orthoptics, he has a dominant eye on the right. Initially, he started tennis by taking his racket right hand.

Despite everything, he learned to play “left hand” to go faster (faster in taking in information, and therefore in executing the blow).

The dominant eye does not depend on the dominant hand.”

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Chess can help the padel player!

  • Do you have an exercise to give to padel players, to do in pairs or threes to train and improve their eye (exercise without a racket)?

“Juggling is a good exercise because there is coordination and appreciation of ball trajectories, juggle several balls and then juggle several.

The game of chess also makes it possible to anticipate moves and trajectories. The exercise here is therefore cerebral.”

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  • As a former tennis coach, I have seen differences in appreciation of the movement of the ball, the perception of the ball in space, both in terms of the distance between his body and the ball, both in trajectories than information gathering.

“For the assessment of trajectories, this remains a big question. We don't have certainties, but we are working on relationships with exercises in spatial vision.

The notions of trajectories include 3D. The neurotracker is quite well known, the E(ye) motion and the strobe glasses can be used in the office. The big job is to work on anticipation.

We differentiate the padel player who has vision problems from a player who has all his abilities, but does not have the experience in practice.

In any case, it is necessary to start with a complete assessment. Many athletes are unaware of the defects they have in the eyes.

Glass defenses: do not lose sight of the ball...

  • The window defenses can be more complicated to understand visually (beyond being well armed physically, being reactive at the level of the legs). We can lose our “visual” bearings.

“On these shots, you must above all develop peripheral vision to see further “on the sides”. Know how to better orient your body and your eyes, work on your positioning, have better coordination at the level of the head and the eyes.

This will reduce fatigue and reduce the risk of injury. Poor information gathering will inevitably lead to bodily compensation. And visual fatigue can lead to knee and ankle injuries.”

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  • Did you know about padel?

“Yes, not necessarily all the shots but yes, I know the practice. One of the French padel champions also uses one of the technologies that I use in the office, the E(YE) MOTION technology.

E(YE) MOTION Technology consists of working on visual optimization. We train to see faster, better.

The E(YE) MOTION exercises have been patented by an orthoptist who has developed exercises from orthoptist rehabilitation carried out in the office on learning and on patients who are visually impaired.

Beyond being re-educated, visual perception can also optimize our visio-attentional capacities (short-term memory, visual attention, awareness of peripheral vision).

It's about sending information quickly to the brain to increase responsiveness, precision of movement and reduce injuries.”

  • How is it for support in E(YE) MOTION?

“For the orthoptic assessment, we work on medical prescription from a doctor, an ophthalmologist. We need an orthoptic check-up order.

However, for the E(YE) MOTION we are more on visual optimization (5 to 10 sessions on average) and therefore on treatments outside the nomenclature.”

Remi Collat

The founder of the agency La Toupie Bleue offers themes on padel courses and holidays in Europe. The padel holiday specialist does not hesitate to give us his opinion on these themes.

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