Quiet Eye: Locking Your Gaze Before a Precision Pass

A precision ground-pass task to a small goal used to train the quiet eye: holding a steady gaze on the target for about one second before starting the kick. Partners check it with slow-motion video and compare accuracy.

How to play

1. Explain the quiet eye with a video or demonstration: a long, steady final fixation before the movement (3 min).
2. In pairs, ground passes through a 1-meter cone goal 10 meters away; ten passes with no cue, recording hits (5 min).
3. The partner films three passes in slow motion and measures how long the gaze stays fixed on the goal before the kick (5 min).
4. Ten passes with the cue: look at the goal, silently count 'one' with a steady gaze, look at the ball and kick (6 min).
5. Film again, compare accuracy and fixation length, and share as a group (6 min).

Rules

• Film from the side, out of the ball's path.
• Only film your own partner, and delete the videos at the end of class.
• Pass toward open space, never toward another pair.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: pass by hand from the wheelchair to a closer goal.
• Visual impairment: use a sound-emitting goal and replace the visual fixation with turning the head toward the sound.
• Autism: watch their own video privately before discussing it with the partner.

Learning goals

• Understand the quiet eye and how it relates to accuracy.
• Measure the length of the visual fixation with video.
• Apply a visual attention cue to a precision skill.

Equipment for a class of 25

• soccer balls: 15
• cones: 30
• tablets or phones: 15
• worksheets: 30

Teacher tip

With phones that film in slow motion, students can measure the fixation accurately by counting frames. Without devices, the partner watches the eyes from the side.

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