Binovi for eSports

Get in the game with Binovi

eSports 101

That, according to Newzoo, is the estimated revenue for all eSports for 2019. By 2021, that’s expected to grow to $1.65B, with over a third of that (~38%) coming from North America alone. Importantly, this money is coming from a number of sources: investors, sponsorships, the audience (in the form of ticket sales and streaming subscriptions), and more. Investment, especially for sports-related eSports ventures, is coming from traditional markets like TV (ESPN) and other sports teams (the NBA, MLS, NHL, and soon MLB), in a cross-pollination of brands and fans alike. Teams are only now beginning to see the advantages of dedicated training —both physical and mental— that have been hallmarks of professional sports teams around the world for years.

In his research, Professor Ingo Froböse from the German Sports University has noted that eSports athletes are “exposed to physical strains similar to those of ‘normal’ athletes.” What, exactly, does that entail? At the surface, he notes similarities as simple as heart rate: eSports athletes in competition may appear to be simply hammering away at their controls, but in reality their brain chemistry and heart rates are more similar to those of race-car drivers or marathon runners. in strategic team games, however, what can sometimes go unnoticed is the high degree of complex thinking and brain activity that goes into planning and executing well. What’s problematic, Froböse says, is that many eSports athletes are, physically, “average.”

There’s big money here, and obvious growth to go along with it, and that’s proving to be a driving force in the design and development of eSports training facilities and opportunities.

Setting Up for Success

At all levels, eSports organizations are now getting into the world of athletic performance, whether that’s physical (through diet, and exercise), mental (sport psychology), or cognitive (sports vision training). Professional teams competing in the Overwatch League will be required to be physically based in the cities they represent, meaning the team’s 20 teams are getting their hands dirty developing facilities for their teams, the most elaborate of which is the $50M stadium Comcast Spectacor is developing for the Comcast-owned Fusion as part of the 47 acres of sports and entertainment facilities under construction in Philadelphia —right along side Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies, MLB), the Lincoln Financial Center (Philadelphia Eagles, NFL), and the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL).

Some of the biggest players in the NCAA are also launching their own eSports initiatives, some even including eSports as options for their scholarship programs. Ohio State University, for instance, will open a facility to coincide with their eSports program which includes undergraduate and graduate degrees, courses in eSports content production, and more.

The Alienware Training Facility, home to Team Liquid (Starcraft, CS:GO, Rainbow 6: Siege, Fortnite, Player Unknown’s BattleGrounds) includes a full kitchen with a chef and personalized meals, a nutritionist, and a sport psychologist on staff. The GameStop Performance Center (built right next door to the Dallas Cowboys HQ) was designed for “eSports 3.0” with the goal of treating eSports athletes in very much the same way as other professional sport athletes. Complete with training rooms that replicate main-stage competition settings, the facility includes a Mind Gym, developed in partnership with Mamba Sports Academy and HyperX, designed for performance training, cognitive preparation, and mental wellness. Complexity is also investing in the future of their athletes —and the eSports industry— with their own innovation lab where they “can have a space to research, develop and test products in real time to enhance the industry standard for esports wellness and to boost player performance and longevity, as well as protect against injury.”

Sports Vision Training for eSports

Clearly then, if high-performing athletes in more traditional professional sports can benefit from vision training and vision therapy to improve their performance and recover from injury, eSports athletes are no different. While your average eSports athlete is unlikely to suffer from a concussion or other TBI during the course of their playing career —at least as a result of competition— their performance in the games they play relies similarly on the same key vision skills.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 key vision skills to help improve performance and help athletes of all kinds reach new heights.

Visual Acuity

Visual Acuity determines how clear and sharp an image is. Generally, issues with acuity are treated with prescription lenses (glasses, contact lenses) or through laser-eye surgery, or even a combination of the two.

Eye Movement

Ensuring that both eyes move together in harmony is a key first step in establishing and improving other key vision skills that rely on the binocular nature of human vision If the eyes don’t move together to locate and track targets other skills suffer.

Focus

Binocular vision doesn’t end at movement: overall vision can depend on the eyes working together and focusing in the same way as well. Athletes need to be able to achieve and sustain focus on targets at all times, even when their positions shift.

Alignment

Part of being able to properly track targets is ensuring the eyes are properly aligned to ensure they can work together effectively to move together and focus properly.

Peripheral Vision and Awareness

Athletes are constantly being put into busy situations. Being able to track a single object is one thing, but keep tracking of teammates, opponents, and other possible distractions, can help athletes maintain situational awareness.

Depth Perception

Determining where objects are in 3D space is crucial to all athletes. Accurately judging distance can mean the difference between a headshot and a miss, or missing the braking zone and blowing through a corner on track.

Colour Perception

Discerning between colours can be crucial for athletes in some sports in determining friend from foe, or deciding whether to speed up, slow down, or stop.

Visual Perception

Sports are never played in a vacuum: athletes have to be aware of their environment and what is going on in their entire visual field to be able to make good decisions in a split second.

Visual-Motor Control

Particularly with eSports, the connection between the eyes and the hands is crucial in ensuring that the correct movements are processed and completed in the correct order, at the right time. Most eSports movement is limited to fine-motor control (pressing keys, moving a mouse) and the speed and accuracy of those movements is of the utmost importance.

Visual Integration

Vision is one thing, but it’s only a part of the senses that make up the entire spectrum of inputs for athletes, being able to combine vision with auditory and verbal signals is crucial for team sports, and properly integrating touch with vision can have an impact on overall performance at the micro and macro levels.

Included in all these skills are underlying physical, visual, and cognitive processing skills that can have a huge impact on the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of player actions. Reaction time is key in all skills and is the result of the constant cycle of Locating, Identifying, and Reacting to events as they happen. This cycle is mentally taxing but it can be trained to be improved, further improving the rest of an individual’s key vision skills.

Enter Binovi

Say hello to Binovi, a purposeful powerful tool for vision training and vision therapy. Binovi combines software, hardware, expert knowledge, and data to provide trainers and coaches with proven tools to improve the vision skills and performance of their athletes.

Binovi Touch is the result of over 30 years of experience in more than 1,500 practices in over 20 countries around the world resolving issues in development, improving performance, and helping in rehabilitation. Binovi Touch helps primarily train reaction time, hand-eye coordination, depth perception, and peripheral vision and awareness, but ultimately affects all vision skills. Along with Binovi Balance, Binovi Touch is at the forefront of data capture, creating a rich web of connected datapoints with each and every exercise and routine completed.

Binovi Pro and Binovi Coach help trainers and coaches monitor progress and assign exercises to their athletes. When paired with a qualified partner optometrist, trainers can plan warm-up, cool-down, and rehabilitative sequences of tests that can serve as part of an athlete’s day-to-day training regimen alongside physical activity and gaming practice. When paired with the Binovi Platform‘s hardware, the Binovi apps provide an informative and actionable analytics package to help drive training.

  • We’re happy to collaborate with Binovi! We’ve made it part of our new neuro/ocular training Facility

  • The game of soccer can be heavily impacted by the different components of an athlete’s eye; visual acuity, depth perception, “blind spots”, visual recognition, and hand eye coordination. With Binovi Touch, vision training will become a tremendous asset for each athlete and it will help to enhance their game on the field.

  • The Binovi vision therapy and training aid is an industry leader in vision training and can sharpen any player’s shooting, improve their shooting percentages, and separate themselves from the competition.

  • Athletes are always looking for anything that can give them a competitive edge. When asked when they perform at their best, all say that “the game slows down” —in reality it all starts with vision. I would highly recommend that any serious athlete own or work with a facility that has Binovi Touch.

  • I am excited to be a part of the Binovi Team. After a cochlear concussion had left me sidelined for an entire hockey season, vision therapy along with sports vision training alleviated my visual symptoms and played a crucial role in my return to playing hockey in the NHL. Not only did the therapy help me recover from this injury, but it also enabled me to see the game in a way that I hadn’t before. In joining Binovi, I have the opportunity to use my first-hand experience to contribute to the development of Binovi’s high performance products for athletes and non-athletes alike.

  • In a race, you have tenths, or even hundredths, of a second to respond to unexpected opportunities or threats. Binovi is a great training tool for this reaction speed which is critical in a formula car.

Download the Info Package

Learn more about key vision skills for sports, the Binovi Platform, and how you can use it for Sports Vision Training and Rehabilitation.

Still have questions?

Contact our customer success team directly using our chat client, by e-mail at info@binovi.com, or by phone at 1.855.416.7158