Visual has always been recognized as one of the most important sensory systems involved in the implementation of many athletic skills because of the close and necessary relationship with performing the movements, and it is considered particularly important by specialists in learning and motor control. Today, in addition to assessing the key indices in athletic performance (physical, medical, psychological and nutritional evaluations), visual skills assessment is also held in great importance. In this regard, the present study aims to answer the question of whether the difference between the visual skills of athletes (team and individual) and non-athletes is significant. For this purpose, 85 subjects (44 non-athletes, 22 athletes in team sports, and 19 athletes in individual sports) participated in this study and were selected using purposive sampling. The research instrument was "sports vision tests of Wilson and Falkel (2004)". The psychometric properties of this test were studied and confirmed through the correlation between the referees and retest method. The results of the statistical analyses showed that there were significant differences between focusing (P=0.001), tracking (P=0.0001), sequencing (p=0.009), eye-hand coordination (P=0.0001), and vergence (P=0.015) of all-girl teams and individual sports athletes with non-athletes. Just as female individual and team sports athletes were better in focusing and tracking than non-athletes, individual sports athletes were better in sequencing than team sports athletes and non-athletes, and non-athletes were better in eye-hand coordination and vergence. However, in regards to visualization, no significant difference was observed between the three groups. According to the results, participation in sports activities, regardless of the type of activity, helps an individual to obtain better abilities in the visual system and its skills. Additionally, the role of visual skills in individual and team fields is different; therefore, due to the importance of vision, it is recommended that coaches consider special planning along with other motor capabilities.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of spatial intelligence in predicting the web information searching behavior and performance of high school students. Design/methodology/approach The population of this study consisted of all female students who were studying in the eighth and ninth grades of Shiraz University School. The students searched an educational website by using keywords to find some answers to two tasks (one simple task and one complex task). Findings The findings of this study revealed that among the five components of spatial intelligence, the three components of spatial orientation, perceptual speed and flexibility of closure could better predict the web searching behavior and performance of the students. To elaborate, spatial orientation could predict the query length and the search time; perceptual speed was helpful in predicting the reformulation of the question, the number of results pages observed, the number of links viewed, and success; flexibility of closure also predicted the success in the search. Originality/value The results of this study can help researchers and others understand the searching behavior and performance of children and the cognitive factors which affect them. The results can also help teachers and school librarians to teach students the necessary skills and design interactive systems that take into account adolescents’ different cognitive approaches. While other studies have focused on adults’ and university students’ behavior, this study examined the adolescents’ behavior. Furthermore, although the previous studies have attempted to investigate just one dimension of the searching process, i.e., either behavior or performance, this study simultaneously focused on both dimensions and examined both searching behavior and performance through keyword searching strategy.

Like bodily, physiological, and psychological skills which are commonly assessed in professional sport, assessment of visual skills is also of high importance. In this regard, and in order to organize teams efficiently, the skills of each player, considering his/her post in the pitch, should be developed for superiority over the opponent. The present study attempts to clarify if there is a meaningful difference between visual skills of players, by considering their posts, age groups and sport records. A group of 100 professional footballers with average age of 25.09±4.47, average height of 178.66±6.53 cm, and average weight of 74.80±7.03 were selected, using an available sampling method. Wilson and Falkel's Sports Vision Test (2004), widely used in many researches, was the assessment tool of visual skills in this research, and is comprised of six skills of accommodation or focusing, tracking, vergence, sequencing, eye-hand coordination and visualization. The results indicated a meaningful difference which existed only in terms of tracking (p≤0.04) between adults and the youth, of which the superiority was shown by the first group. No meaningful difference was observed between post in the pitch (goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward) and sport record in terms of visual skills (including accommodation / focusing, tracking, vergence, sequencing, eye-hand coordination and visualization). The results of this study demonstrated a similarity between the exercise programs of team members. Coaches should notice that every post has different characteristics and the fact that in addition to specific physiological needs and skills, each post requires visual skills, and this marks the necessity for specialized planning for every post during the training sessions.

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