Training an athlete’s visual system holds the highest priority for priming the nervous system because our brain relies most heavily on vision. Second in importance is vestibular awareness, which pertains to balance and spatial orientation, followed by proprioception, which involves movement and body position. All movements are first mapped in the brain, from everyday actions like brushing teeth to athletic feats like scoring a goal. These actions are first processed in the brain to create an image that the nervous system translates into physical motion. Training the eyes and inner ear (vestibular system) forms the foundation of elite athletic performance. Welcome to the world of applied neuroscience, where enhancing these systems, combined with individual nervous system priming, can bring an athlete to that 1% of elite performance.
