About a little over a year ago, my friend and trainer told me how VR had been helping him with his baseball training as a way to stimulate the brain and nervous system during times when he was injured or didn't have access to getting live at bats. Basically what the app provided was a live at bat simulator, where you would be facing virtual reality pitches against whatever level appropriate from amateur all the way up to MLB standard. This allows the brain to see different pitches over and over without worrying about the physical fatigue either from the pitcher (since the pitcher is a computer) nor the batter since the batter can opt just see the pitches instead of swinging every time, and has the added bonus of not having to worry about wild pitches hitting the batter. At the time I didn't think much of it, but as I got into a position in my football playing career where I wasn't on a team but wanted to keep my nervous system primed and ready, I remembered this conversation I had with my friend and thus looked into VR and any sort of available football simulator.

And guess what there it was waiting for me to find it, a football VR simulator called Be Your Best. Be Your Best basically allows you to get virtual reps in real game situations, that allows you to work on your decision making, field awareness (scanning), timing, and positioning. In practice and career mode, you are put into different in game scenarios in which you are required to constantly scan in order to make the best decision when the ball is played to you, by either playing a pass or shooting depending on the situation. What I like about practice mode is that you can select the speed at which the game moves and it allows you to go over 100% speed therefore I can get reps in that would be faster than the speed at which the actual game is played at, which is something you can only do I feel in something like VR. Career mode is fun but can be frustrating as it naturally gets harder the higher leagues you get promoted into. I've been struggling in between div 3 and 2 of the gold league, which is one below the championship league. As you move up, the faster the pace of the game, and the stricter the requirements are in order for you to pass each level.

The app also has a beta edition of free play, in which you play a normal game for 5 minutes, 11 v 11. You can choose the level and speed of play as well as the position you want to play. I've been utilizing this more as it is much more realistic as you must control your player while still maintaining the ability to scan your surroundings constantly, which is improved through practice and career mode. The main difference is that in practice and career mode, your player moves automatically for you, therefore, you can focus solely on scanning and final decision making. In free play, however, you have to do everything on your own from moving yourself into good positions to being aware of your surroundings, to decision making both in attack and defense. And as with practice mode, free play mode can be played at much faster speeds than you are normally used to, thus when I step on the actual field on game day, the game feels much slower as my brain has been trained to process things at a faster speed via Be Your Best.

I've also been playing around with my VR headset as a method of hormesis. Besides the football simulator, I've been using a first person shooter app in order to engage in simulated firefights as a form of stressor and to teach my brain to stay calm within situations that would naturally fire up my sympathetic nervous system. Boxing is another one that I use as well as a fun way to get my heart rate up but also as stimulus for my nervous system.

I honestly feel if you use VR in a mindful and purposeful manner, there is plenty of potential there. Literally you can do things in the virtual world repeatedly without fear of making mistakes that would normally prove immensely costly in the meat space, possibly life threatening or ending (think taking a wild pitch to the head during batting practice). Is it a complete replacement for actual training and practice in the real world, no, but I for one have improved my footballing ability quite a bit by implementing VR training into my overall regimen. Thus, VR has been a wonderfully welcome complementary tool to my arsenal of training tools.

What do you all think of VR? Have you found a useful way to use it or do you view it as another dopamine and attention hijacking distraction?