Cira Collins, MPH, ABOM, NCLEC, a 2024 #EBGameChanger, presented a course on sports vision during Vision Expo East 2025 in Orlando, FL.
Ahead of the course, held on Wednesday, Feb. 19, EB spoke with the industry leader to learn more about key educational takeaways and how eyecare professionals can benefit from learning more about sports vision.
EB: What inspired you to present on sports vision at Vision Expo East?
Cira Collins, MPH, ABOM, NCLEC: To be perfectly honest, I am not a sportsy person and I’m not particularly inspired by sports vision as a topic. What does get me very excited is to explore all the ways in which we can optician (if I may verbify our profession). As optometry develops subspecialties, opticians need to be prepared to meet our optometry partners fully equipped, with all the tools to support our mutual business. In sports vision, that means that we must understand the unique visual and safety needs of athletes and match those needs with tools. I like to think the optometrist works from the tear film and back to the brain; opticians work with everything from the tear film forward! Optometrists are asking for this kind of expertise. Athletes merit it.
While it won’t be me, can you imagine a day when there is an optician on the sidelines of every major sporting event, ready to signal the need to change lenses for changes in lighting conditions, or there with an additional set of contact lenses for every player, in the event they lose one on the field? Maybe the person attending this class wants to be that optician. This is the first step to getting there. Where vision and cognition are so important to performance, we opticians are first-line providers to ensure peak performance.
EB: What are the key factors that an optician must learn to become proficient in the sports vision subspecialty?
CC: First, the athlete is not a patient. I define athlete as a person who seeks their flow state through movement with tenacity. If you force athletes to be patients and use the medical model, you begin to take away their self-concept. In the case of professional athletes, when they are a patient, they are not able to play, which means they can’t earn their income. This mindset shift is mission-critical.
Second, sports vision requires you to think about visual acuity and cognitive ability. As opticians, we often get stuck in providing acuity. In sports vision, we get to enhance the ability to focus the eyes and mind.
Finally, the No. 1 tool we currently have to enhance cognitive ability is color filtration. We need to get good at learning how the ambient light, the color of the target, and the ability of the player to see color come together to make the color of the target pop and suppress the color of the unnecessary information. Getting the right information to the brain and filtering out the wrong information makes players better.
EB: What would you say to an optician who may be on the fence about getting involved with sports vision?
CC: There are not enough examples of people who have taken their opticianry careers beyond the four walls of the clinic and there are no examples of people currently on the sidelines of every game. It is exciting to be in an emerging field. But know this: Sports vision practices need you. I was recently invited to the International Sports Vision Association’s annual Sports Combine (a really elevated, fascinating conference experience I highly recommend) and the optometrists there told me about what they need from sports vision opticians. There is a need for this subspecialty!
If that wasn’t enough, sports vision is a gateway to all that is coming as we learn more about the brain science behind vision and perception. I believe we are in a place of diminishing returns in the lens design, materials, coating, and treatments space. We have long had a problem of reliability and validity in leveraging color. [Artificial intelligence] is helping us address those issues and brain science is telling us specifically which colors to enhance and which to suppress for maximal performance. Color, with precision, will start in sports vision and neuro-optometry/opticianry, but will soon be one of the industry’s greatest wellness tools. Sports vision subspecialty is a great way to get ahead of the curve.
EB: How does understanding safety standards help opticians provide better care for athletes?
CC: As opticians, we have often confused occupational safety and sports safety. In this class, we teased that apart and set the record straight. Sports eyewear is so specific! [The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] worries about injuries on the job; the [American Society for Testing and Materials] provides guidelines for sports use cases. I was astonished to learn how specific safety recommendations are by sport! There are even different safety eyewear needs for men’s and women’s lacrosse, for example.
But let’s imagine that a basketball player takes a basketball to the eye. Ugh! They probably blink it out and play on. But now let’s imagine that Lebron wannabe takes a finger poke to the eye. They’re out of the game. Lose one eye and you lose a lot of depth perception.
Safety eyewear not only protects our vision, but it protects our fun. With so many really cool styles and the differentiation between dress eyewear, safety eyewear and sport eyewear being clearer, the industry has the ability to support all athletes in keeping their fun...well, more fun.
Stay tuned for more from this industry leader in the April sports-centric edition of EB.
Vision Expo East takes place Feb. 19-21 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Keep up with the action from the event on Eyecare Business’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and see EB’s BIG Vision Expo East Guide for a curated selection of education and events here.
