Focused Shuttle – VB Drill

Cognitive Vision Training (CVT)

Cognitive Vision Training (CVT) is for all athletes and fitness minded humans.

CVT with Vector® Ball improves athletic performance for practically every sport including Basketball, Hockey, Baseball, Football, Pickleball, Softball, Volleyball, Lacrosse, Tennis, Soccer, Cricket, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Motor Sports, and more.

CVT with Vector® Ball is scalable. It improves athletic performance regardless of your skill level or age (youth to professional).

• True agility is decision-based movement.
• True quickness isn’t just physical – It’s mental.
• Don’t panic, train your brain. #BrainSweat

1. Focused Shuttle Instructions

All you need is a Vector® Ball and 3 cones.

Place the cones in a row about 8 feet apart and have the athlete stand about 6 feet behind the center cone. The coach stands in front of the athlete and bounces Vector Ball on the floor. When Vector Ball turns red, the athlete touches the cone on the right, when Vector Ball turns green, the athlete touches the cone on the left, when Vector Ball turns blue, the athlete touches the cone in the center. After each repetition, the athlete returns to the center position.

Once the athlete gets the hang of it, the coach should increase the tempo by bouncing Vector Ball immediately after, or even a little before the athlete resets. This increases demand on the athlete’s focus and concentration by forcing them to look for the next visual cue during rapid movement.

This drill forces fast visual processing, quick decision-making, peripheral awareness, and quiet eye concentration during an intense cardio and rapid movement drill.

As always – “Go as fast as your brain can.”

Drill Multipliers

To increase difficulty and cognitive load to this drill:

A) Place the 3 cones in a circle/triangle and have the athlete stand in the middle. The coach stands in front of the athlete and bounces Vector Ball on the floor. When Vector Ball turns red, the athlete touches the cone on the right, when Vector Ball turns green, the athlete touches the cone on the left, when Vector Ball turns blue, the athlete touches the cone behind them. This variation of the Focused Shuttle drill adds a depth component, forcing the athlete to move to their front and back as well as left and right.

To make this variation even more challenging, the coach can change positions, moving around the outside of the cones while bouncing Vector Ball. The athlete is then forced to execute the drill while maintaining awareness of the coach’s movements. This adds further chaos and requires extra concentration.

B) Add working memory. In this variation of the Focused Shuttle drill, the coach bounces Vector Ball multiple times before the athlete moves to any of the cones. For example, the coach bounces Vector Ball five times and it turns green, blue, green, red, blue, respectively. On the fifth bounce, the athlete must move to each cone, in order, based on the order the visual cues were presented.

To make this variation even more challenging, increase the number of bounces and visual cues the athlete must remember for each set.

And As Always – Go As Fast As Your Brain Can!

2. Benefits

This Vector Ball drill improves reaction speed, agility, and ability to maintain focus when your heart rate is elevated.

In sports like Hockey, Basketball, Football, Lacrosse, or Soccer, you are repeatedly required to make split second decisions when your heart is racing and your body is tired. This drill helps you make better decisions more consistently and under pressure.

The “game” is blasting visual information at you like a firehose, and your ability to see and process that information is the difference between amateur and elite.

Cognitive Vision Training with Vector Ball helps you obtain elite.

• Elite Visual Processing Speed
• Elite Focus and Concentration
• Elite Reaction Time
• Elite eyes to brain to muscle coordination

Don’t panic, train your brain. #BrainSweat

This challenging drill will sharpen your focus, enhance your concentration, and improve your real-world quickness. True agility is decision-based movement, which is what Cognitive Vision Training is all about.

See the visual cues:

See the ball, opponent, teammate, boundaries.

Process what they mean:

Process, calculate, assess, and choose action set.

Execute decisive action:

Execute precise actions that provide a vector to victory.

Train the executive functions of your brain to coordinate with your body.

3. Let’s Go

We recommend about 5–10 minutes per session, and 2–3 times a week to achieve full benefits of Cognitive Vision Training with Vector Ball.

We also recommend Cognitive Vision Training with Vector Ball during pregame warm-ups. This helps get your mind and body ready and gives you the Cognitive Vision Training edge.

Perfect for athletes, physical therapy, fitness/health enthusiasts, or anyone training to think faster under pressure.