Playing sports is a lot of fun, and it teaches you a lot of life lessons along the way, including how to be patient, the importance of teamwork, and how being determined can get you far in life. For many, integration into the sports world is seamless and easy as young children learn at the same pace as their peers. While learning a new sport is fun, it can be difficult and frustrating, especially when it requires decent hand-eye coordination skills. These skills take time and practice to master; here are three ways to improve your hand-eye coordination.

Play New Sports!

Of course, we’d start the list with the most obvious answer to improving your hand-eye coordination, but playing new sports is the best way to do it! Whether it be baseball, tennis or hockey, each sport utilizes hand-eye coordination in a different manner. Tennis and baseball require a lot of mid-air swinging accuracy, while hockey requires you to utilize hand-eye coordination for control of the puck while it’s on the ground.

Video Games

Video games have unfortunately gotten a bad rep in modern society as many view gaming as a ‘waste of time.’ In contrast, video games are beneficial for growing and developing minds. In moderation, video games are great for the development of problem-solving skills as well as hand-eye coordination. There are many genres in video games that utilize visual perception as the basis for training, including sports games and racing games. You may see an improvement in your reaction speed, but the key is never to give up even when events get frustrating.

Crafts & Visual Arts

Being able to harmonize how your hands and eyes react with one another is important in establishing an excellent hand-eye coordination ability. You may not assume that creative projects can advance your skill set but being able to visualize an image or a construct and create it through arts and crafts can accentuate your ability to synchronize your hands and your eyes. Creativity has a lot do to with polishing your skillset. In sports, you will be put into situations that are unlike practice where you have no control over the movement of the ball or puck, and therefore you’ll need to adjust and be creative to hit the ball, catch the ball, etc. Trying new things and learning to adjust is essential, and art & craft projects can be beneficial in that sense.

We recommend that all children pick up a new sport to learn as it is a great way to learn skills such as hand-eye coordination, which will help them in their careers down the line. For more information, contact Crosslink County Sportsplex today!