Every moment of every game is decision based – the athlete thinks and then moves. This is the definition of TRUE agility. On the field, each pitch brings a new chance to make decisions, ranging from the simple to the complex. If the decision-making process is slow, the player’s reaction will be slow, forcing play to be slow. Therefore, it is important to be able to baseline an athlete’s

This test utilizes a 4-light Witty SEM system. The athlete begins inside of a box of four SEM surrounding him in a square. The Level 1 test is a simple decision: the athlete is tasked with finding a green light while other lights are off – 10 times. The time to do so is recorded. The Level 2 test increases cognitive demand to a more complex decision: instead of finding the green light, they now find a green 3 amongst lights of different colors, symbols, and letters – 10 times. The time to do so is recorded.

The focus is not how fast the Level 1 or Level 2 tests are completed, but the time difference between them. Comparing the times allows us to see if the cognitive demand is slowing the athlete in his play-making ability. The closer the time between the two tests, the better – indicating how fast the athlete’s cognitive speed of processing is.

To improve overall performance, cognition should be trained as often as any physical component. Scores can be increased in Cognitive School