At some point, a child who is blind in one eye or an adult who becomes blind in one eye might wonder what sports they can do. To answer that, you first need to remember this: depth perception with two eyes only offers advantages out to, say, 20 feet. Distances beyond that aren’t going to be helped nearly as much by having two points of view a couple of inches apart. (At greater distances, we use other things, like nearby objects, to help determine distance.)
Case in point: I’m as good as anyone with binocular vision at getting under a pop-fly out on the baseball field. It’s actually making the catch at the end and not having it hit my head or bounce off my glove that makes me a terrible baseball player. It’s the last 20 feet or so of the ball’s drop that kills me.
But there’s also good news: there’s more a monocular person can do than maybe you might think.
With that in mind, here’s a rundown of my thoughts on some sports.
Probably not
Baseball and softball. A pitcher might be able to get by to an extent without depth perception, but most other aspects of the sport require it. The ball is small and moves very fast, and that is hard to track without two good eyes. (I won’t lie: one of my great regrets is that I can’t play baseball.)
Tennis. It’s heavily dependent on quick-reflex depth perception. Even with the racket having a larger surface, it’s hard to judge the ball well enough to be a decent player.
Volleyball. I’ve tried, and even though the ball is bigger than some other sports, it’s really hard to hit the ball with precision. I can often make contact with the ball, but hitting it on center as to get it to go in the right direction is rough. Hard for me to see how a person blind in one eye could do it.
Anything else with a small object. Badminton, table tennis (ping-pong), handball, and other sports with small objects is pretty much a struggle.
Maybe
Football. Depends on the position. Wide receivers, defensive backs, and other players who need to catch would be at a disadvantage with monocular vision (although there are exceptions). Quarterbacks would also be at a disadvantage, having a larger blind side. Offensive and defensive lineman, who don’t have to worry about catching, would have a better opportunity. A running back would not be the best pass-catcher, but there are examples of running backs who are blind in one eye.
Hockey. Haven’t tried it myself, but there are a few people who have done it (here and here) so I suppose it’s possible.
Soccer. It probably isn’t the easiest, but there are a few examples out there, so maybe. Not sure that I could be an effective goalie or head a ball, but some of the basic footwork and passing is more doable.
Yes
Bowling. Bowling is about technique, with depth perception not being a major factor. No reason why a monocular person couldn’t be a solid bowler.
Cross country. Anything running is accessible for a person blind in one eye. One consideration is that, because you don’t have the same range of vision, that you’ve got to be more aware in a pack, but otherwise a person with monocular vision could do this. Same for any other long distance, like marathons. Case in point: I haven’t done a ton of competitive running, but I did compete in a 5K once and finished in first place for my age group.
Golf. Golf is a lot of mechanics. Depth perception isn’t really an issue, since you’re usually dealing with long distances where two eyes aren’t any better than one at judging depth. Even with putting, a monocular player has plenty of time to see all the angles and determine depth from walking around the green.
Gymnastics, Dance, and Cheerleading. All of these deal with routines and practice, so I think muscle memory would probably be more important than depth. I know some aspects of gymnastics and cheer (i.e. uneven bars in gymnastics) may require some depth perception, but I figure floor / cheer routines would be mostly okay.
Skiing. There can be depth perception issues to some aspects of skiing, but no more than driving. I’m not sure how easily a monocular skier could handle split-second turns, but for casual skiing, I would think so.
Swimming and diving. Both of these are about technique and muscle memory, so depth perception is not a factor.
Track and field. Many track and field sports do not require depth perception and are every bit as doable for a person with monocular vision as a person with binocular vision. Sprints, middle distance, long distance would all be fine. The shot put and javelin, which are based on technique, should also be doable.
Wrestling. I know something about this, as I was a high school state medalist in wrestling despite being blind in one eye. Depth perception can be an liability in some aspects of wrestling, such is when both wrestlers are on their feet, but so much of wrestling involves the wrestlers being in physical contact with each other that a person with monocular vision can compensate. (Wrestling even has rules for competitors who are completely blind.) With practice, a monocular person can be a competitive amateur wrestler.
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Chris,
My grandson had an ocular removal at 8 months old. He is 4 years old now. Reading this article was very disheartening. I’m very excited to read your response. Otherwise my outlook would have been very bleak. His mom and dad are full of hope and looking forward to their some participating in sports. Thanks for your insight
I wrote this piece based on my own experience with one working eye and the science of how depth perception works. I’m not aiming to be bleak — as I noted in the post, I was a successful athlete — but I also want to be realistic. I’ve lived this, and others I know have lived it, too. With apologies to Christopher, I can’t see how a person with one eye could be good at some of the sports I’ve listed, certainly not when you’re talking about a competitive level like high school or college. A person with one eye probably cannot be a competitive baseball player (outside of maybe pitching) or a competitive tennis player. They lack the ability to track a small ball in space well enough, and it will become worse the more competitive the sport gets.
There’s a reason, though, why my list of sports they *can* do is longer than the ones they can’t, because a child with one eye could still be a competitive runner, or bowler, or wrestler, or swimmer. I don’t have a problem with the parent of a monocular child trying out different sports, but I would encourage them to let their kids experience sports that play to their strengths. I would hate to see a kid go through the trauma of a sport that requires a depth perception they don’t have. But that’s just me.
There is always the risk when small balls are flying at your good eye. You don’t have any to spare. Please encourage that your grandson wear protective goggles.
I lost my right eye in an accident more than 20 years ago, in my early 20’s.
Back then I was a keen squash player and enjoyed playing rugby and American football.
I’m sorry to say that I found squash and tennis to be basically exercises in frustration and embarrassment since then.
I did continue with Rugby though mainly playing forward where my role was more tackling than having to be good with the ball.
I also played ice hockey for a couple of years and found that to not pose any issues. The puck generally stays on the ice so its pretty much a 2D situation that doesn’t rely as much on 3D depth perception.
In addition, I did several decades of full contact Karate. In this case it had to be full contact, as lack of depth perception means that you can’t judge distance accurately enough to pull your punches.
In Karate, you are actually trained to punch ‘through’ the target, so this actually worked quite well, though in sparring with lighter or female opponents, there were a few incidents where I looked like I was trying to play a bit rougher than appropriate.
All respect to Christopher, as he must have extraordinarily developed reflexes to compensate for lack of stereo vision.
My experience though, has been identical to Josh’s, and ball games have basically been off the table for me, along with 3D movies and stereo pictures.
I recently loss vision in my one eye and thought about doing sports like sailing, rowing, bow and arrow, swimming, cycling (on road).
I think those sports don’t need constant object tracking and would be easier to master.
Any other ideas? 🙂
I’ve been blind in one eye since birth. Gym class was a huge struggle: anything with a fast-moving ball and/or fast-moving people was impossible (baseball, football, tennis, badminton.) I was fine at running and general fitness, and I did archery and gymnastics for several years. Shooting a stationary target doesn’t require much vision at all, really.
I’ve avoided martial arts because of the no depth perception thing, but I do wonder how difficult it would be.
I lost my right eye when I was 30 years old. Prior to that, I was an excellent softball player. I tried again when I was 40, and I actually did very well fielding in the outfield, just nowhere near as good as I used to be at batting. I gave up softball and took up golf. I LOVE golf! Sometimes life just throws you curve balls and you have to change up.(puns intended!) I also love bowling, and I recently took up Pickleball which I am happily surprised to find playable! The more you play, the more your body and mind will adjust. So, I say no, these sports aren’t impossible for someone with one eye to play or to play well, it will just be something they have to work at and practice more than the average bear.
Jorgen, I read what you wrote and it gave me hope. I can’t see out of 1 eye and tried pickle ball, as I knew I would love it. I only played once with some patient people. I couldn’t see the ball well at all . What do u suggest
?
When I was a kid I hit a tennis ball against garage door to
Practice . But I had my sight in both eyes then. Do you think that would help?
Marilyn
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I’m getting my left eye removed (ocular melanoma) on 2-22-22. As soon as I made that decision I bought an eye patch. I see no difference. I have full depth perception with one eye. I bought a pair of swim goggles, blackened out the left eye, and I’m night surfing in head high waves without issue. This part is very important because I switched to night surfing exclusively 10 years ago to get away from the crowds. So my life will be the same in all ways that truly matter to me when I only have one eye.
I played football, defensive end, successfully in Junior High (8th grade) but was disappointed at being blindsided from right side when playing running back. (Had the legs and the reflexes not the vision in right eye.) Wished I would have continued, at least tried, into high school but “defense” wasn’t glamorous enough for my narcissistic Mother so I was shamed and gave it up, defeated, again! I never got any advise or encouragement because I hide my blind eye as much as possible. My Dad was told (wisely?) by a shrink after it was confirmed my eye was too damaged (cut by flying glass at 1 years old) to let the kid,me, learn on his own by doing, what I could do or not. (My heart was broken earlier in Little League, when I realized at that young age that baseball, which I loved, was not going to be my game.)
Blind at birth, I didn’t realized I was different growing up. When I wasn’t good at volleyball or tennis I assumed I was stupid. Terrible feeling!! I was blessed with being stubborn and never gave up but never excelled in it. Now 70 and enjoy bowling, I was glad to read your article regarding bowling because I always wondered what I was missing. Thanks my friend!!