In any sporting match or event, a split second decision or movement could determine an outright result. Athletes these days are expected to have lightning quick reaction speed and awareness.
Athletes are constantly being pushed to their physical limits in training regimes, but what if you could train the mind to help maximise sporting ability?
This brings OKKULO into the conversation.
“We’ve always known what this project can do and we knew the power of what it is able to achieve, I’m surprised it’s taken this long to come into the spotlight” are the words of CEO and founder of OKKULO Mel O’Connor, who for the best part of 20 years has been using scientific research and action to perfect this groundbreaking training system.
To put into simpler terms, OKKULO uses different levels of light to train the eyes and the brain to react quicker and faster, which helps athletes see the ball earlier and quicker when in normal light conditions, giving them more time to make a decision that could be vital in a sporting situation.
It has the potential to improve an athlete’s reaction speed by about 50 milliseconds, which equates to around 20% -25% improvement, at which the athlete can comfortably control or save a ball.
“What we’re finding is that in the perceived light level in OKKULO, the ball is coming at you almost in an instant because of the dark. It’s 50 milliseconds faster than you are, so you have to improve your reaction time.
“It’s not like you’re pressing a button on a wall or reacting to something else in actual physical time, you’re constantly pushing yourself. Nobody has ever been in an environment like that when they train using OKKULO for the first time, so when they keep using it, it makes the visual system really alert.”
It’s also got Arsene Wenger talking recently, who stated “the speed of decision making and how quickly people analyse the situation around them will be the next avenue of player development.”
Football teams like League Two outfit Salford City are starting to use this training system to improve performance levels from their players, and some unnamed Premier League teams are beginning to install OKKULA facilities into their training grounds.
