The Quiet Eye
Extended focus, offerings, etc.
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There are two spots left (two people per spot) in this Saturday's Double Trouble Workshop - for couples or friends who play together - at SPF in Chicago: https://spf.podplay.app/community/events/84687627-fa54-497f-b98e-fb32e2cda314
And starting in May, I'll be offering private lessons at Pickledilly in Skokie on Thursdays! Learn more and book here: https://calendly.com/baronpickleball
And as always, I’m continuing to work with life coaching clients if that’s something you're looking for.
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Good morning,
The other week someone asked what I would study if I went back to school; I said somewhat jokingly that I’d get a PhD in pickleball.
I felt less silly with this remark while reading an article about a sports concept called the Quiet Eye.
Coined by a professor at the University of Calgary named Joan Vickers, the Quiet Eye is described as “a period of sustained focus on a location before executing a motor skill.”
The article talked mostly about focusing on a golf ball while putting apropos of The Masters, but the phenomenon sparked Vickers’ interest decades ago. In an article in The Athletic, Vickers says:
“I’ve spent 44 years obsessed with this one variable called ‘the Quiet Eye. I’m not a great athlete at all, but I had these three occasions in life where my performance was magical. People keep trying to find something in the physical characteristics of the individual. They can see the characteristics. They can sense them. They know they’re special. And they keep looking at the physical systems, the biomechanics, the kinematics, the physiology. But very few people say: ‘Well, maybe something else is going on?’”
Her work dovetails with Flow State (“a positive mental state experienced when you're completely absorbed, focused, and involved in an activity”), and she was curious about “the mental processes that allowed amazing performance.”
The essence of the Quiet Eye is “the moment of focus on a specific spot [allowing] the brain to process the task while blocking out any distractions.” The concept was mostly studied by tracking the eye movements of golfers (thus it has been applied by many golfers and coaches). Vickers found that people applying the technique in other sports (i.e., when athletes would take a little extra time fixating on a basketball rim, hockey net, etc.) tended to yield success as well.
She says:
“If you’re doing the Quiet Eye properly, you’re going to be looking at the back of the ball. The Quiet Eye begins in golf putting before you begin the backswing. The Quiet Eye needs to be on the back of the ball, and it needs to stay in that one location through the backswing, through the foreswing, through contact. And this is the most important part. After contact, you need to leave the gaze in one location looking down at the green.”
After hitting a good shot in pickleball, I sometimes find myself admiring the ball instead of keeping my metaphorical head down and moving to where I need to be on the court. In this case, it’s common for a great shot to become moot when not applying a somewhat alternate version of the Quiet Eye.
I also thought about the Quiet Eye as it relates to other things I do. Whether it’s writing this newsletter, writing a song, hitting a nice shot in pickleball, or preparing food for the day, a little bit of focus on the right thing can go a much longer way than I ever expect it to.
While there might be less hinging on my taking that extra beat than a storied green jacket, the feeling of a job well done and giving myself a chance to slow down while in action is inherently rewarding.
What’s something you’d like to focus on for just a little longer? Is there a way to quiet down right now and forge ahead?
Until next time,
Matt