Sport In Profile UK Issue 10 | Page 45

durham city hockey club SportsFocal Lenses What are they: Multifocal spectacle lenses designed specifically for individual sports The lens designs are sport specific and will generally mean altering the bifocal positioning and/or changing the optical centres of the lens depending on the demands of the particular sport. For example: SportsFocal for Golf The Current problem Standard bifocal and varifocal spectacle lenses are optimised for everyday living. They are designed to have the distance prescription at the top of the lens and the reading prescription at the bottom of the lens. The compromise for a golfer with this arrangement is that when looking down through the reading portion of the lens you cannot see your feet, or a golf ball. Varifocal lenses also introduce distortions into the outside part of the lens so often your eyes are not positioned in the correct part of the lens for playing golf. Single vision lenses do solve these problems but this means changing glasses to comfortably read or fill in a score card. The Solution Sportfocals for Golf are multifocal lenses optimised for playing golf and they incorporate two special features: The reading segment is placed where it does not interfere with either putting or driving, but where the score card can still be easily filled in. Generally this means for a right handed player the right lens will be single vision and the left lens will be a bifocal. The bifocal segment is smaller than normal and is generally placed at a 45 degree angle from the bottom of the frame. This enables the golfer’s down gaze to be unaffected by the bifocal segment, but the score card can be filled in by moving slightly to the left. The optical centre of the lenses are placed where needed to optimally see the golf ball rather than for everyday viewing. Who would benefit from Sportfocals for Golf Sportfocals for golf are designed for golfers who need a different prescription for distance and reading. They would suit any existing bifocal or varifocal wearer. Last season it would be fair to say that the men’s first team did not put together the campaign that they would have liked as they compiled a record of four wins, six draws and twelve defeats. This saw them finish near the bottom of the table with eighteen points on the board. They have been working hard during the off-season and were able to start with a convincing victory in their first game of the campaign. As long as they can retain their current group of players they should be well set up for a successful season. Their women’s first team faired a lot better last time around as they ended with ten wins, two draws and six defeats from their eighteen league matches. They claimed a top half finish with 32 points. This should provide them with the perfect platform from which to build as they look to the new campaign and there is a confidence amongst the players that they will be able to mount a title challenge. It will certainly be interesting to see how they get along. Durham City is not a club to focus solely upon their senior section however and this is reflected by the fact that they also have a number of youth sides. These teams look to provide youngsters with an oppo