By Jade Bulecza - bio | email
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) –Valdosta State University is the first college to use a 3D technology program to improve mental agility for student-athletes.
A VSU alumnus donated the technology to the school that he says will help athletes become even sharper on the playing field.
It may look like a video game but not only is it interactive, it's designed to improve an athlete's perception, peripheral vision and decision-making.
"It's frustrating sometimes because you're trying to follow a certain amount of balls and you lose some of them about halfway through," said Colette Rollins.
Softball player Colette Rollins says she's already telling a difference in just a month.
"I'm starting to notice that I'm able to pick up spins a lot faster from the pitchers and see the different speeds and locations of the pitches," said Rollins.
After you walk in the cave, you're immersed in a 3-D environment.
The balls light up for a moment. Then you must follow them while focusing on the green dot as they bounce and get mixed up with other balls on the screen. Then the balls light up with numbers and if you pick the right numbers, the next level is a little faster.
Alumnus Mark Powell played baseball at VSU. He donated the program to the school.
"Like in the weight room, you can train them to get stronger but nobody's ever looked at how you make them better cognitively," said Powell, the vice president of market development for CogniSens Athletics, Inc.
The VSU strength and conditioning coach is incorporating the training into sports teams' schedules like softball and baseball.
"It's a process the athletes are doing three times a week," said coach Michael Doscher. We're seeing great strides and gains in their movement and they're tracking at higher speeds.""
So far it seems to working, the athletes say their already reaping the benefits.
The perceptual sports training program has been used all over the world by the National Hockey League, rugby and soccer teams.
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