Fielders’ visual search strategies for catching the ball while judging the runner

Abstract

In softball games, fielders need to not only handle the ball, but also concurrently judge the current situation. To do this, they need the visual information of the ball as well as the situation around them. As such, how do fielders obtain the visual information to concurrently handle the ball and judge the situation? The purpose of this study was to measure fielders’line of sight when they catch a ball and judge a runner at the same time. Ten fielders participated in the study. Experiments were conducted under three conditions: (1) catching the ball, (2) judging the situation, and (3) both catching the ball and judging the situation at the same time. Findings indicate that skilled fielders could catch the ball while quickly and accurately judging the situation. Furthermore, they turned their line of sight away from the ball in the early stage of catching and judged the situation, without following the runner with their eyes. In conclusion, the present study suggests that fielders who perform well at simultaneously catching and judging tend to utilize visual search effectively by acquiring the visual information of the ball and the runner at the same time through peripheral vision.