As we experience winter weather conditions, through the flurry of disgruntled travelers and burst pipes, there are those among us who are raising our mulled wine glasses in glee…winter sport enthusiasts unite!
However, as we take to the slopes with childlike abandon, the cold snap brings its own challenges for the outdoorsman (and woman) and one hazard that’s easy to forget—protecting our eyes. That’s surprising, considering eye injuries are a common injury suffered during ski and snowboarding activities, and the glare from the snow can make it very difficult to see where you’re headed.
The surface of our eyes often become irritated by harsh winds, and snow sport enthusiasts should protect their eyes using properly fitted, sports-rated eyewear that filters out 100% of UV light. Those with less than perfect vision benefit from the availability of prescription goggles. In either case, the risks of not protecting your eyes include keratitis (inflammation of the cornea), conjunctivitis, and retina damage, not to mention direct injury to the eye.
While our body is able to repair much of the damage we do it, the lens of the eye can’t repair itself. The risk of irreversible damage is too high to risk. We also have a tendency to think the sun is less intense during the dark winter months, but the winter sun sits lower in the sky and exposure can actually increase.
So, while you raise your glass to toast the winter events, remember it’s a lot more fun when you can clearly see the smiling faces around you celebrating a day on the slopes together.
Visit The Center to learn more about keeping your sight safe this winter.
Oh my! Who knew there was so much to a sportswear lens? I am not an elite athlete, so I’ve never been in a position to know that my eyewear could mean the difference between winning a race, hitting a hole-in-one, or digging a sweet hit out of the sand. But it can and it does. The science and technology behind what each lens can do for the athlete’s vision is amazing.
I recently attended an employee brownbag to learn about Nike Vision lenses. Among other things, they demonstrated how and why the different technologies are important to an athlete’s success: the lens, tint, weight, temple, shape, and more. They all work together to create superior and intensely clear line of vision for athletes around the world and in every sport.
Experiencing Nike this way got me pumped not just to pay closer attention to how I see while participating in activities, but it also lit a fire bringing out my inner athlete. Like Nike says, “if you have a body, you’re an athlete.” I better get to it. I wonder how it will change my game and what I’ve really been missing.
Vladimir Efimkin leads teammate Rubens Bertogliati into a breakaway on stage four at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
Team Type 1 has been cycling through Colorado competing in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. While racing hundreds of miles in often extremely sunny conditions, sunwear becomes crucial to protecting the riders’ vision as well as to enabling their top performance. The team wears Nike Vision sunglasses to reduce glare and keep the sun out of their eyes so they can relax their eyes and focus on the race. The team also has extra interchangeable lenses, which they can quickly swap out as the light conditions change, to ensure they always see their best.
In the sunny fourth stage of the race, Vladimir Efimkin paced ahead of the group and took home the Most Courageous jersey. Efimkin is a Tour de France stage winner who retired last year and returned to professional racing in August.
“I’m feeling better and better every day. This race has been a great place to come back to cycling and find my legs,” Efimkin said.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes affected by diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
To learn more about the importance of routine vision care, particularly related to diabetes, visit VSP’s Diabetes Discovery Center.
To learn more about Nike Vision eyewear, visit nikevision.com.
The sun is out, the days are long—perfect time to grab your clubs and hit the links. But is your eyewear helping make every swing your best?
Golf is a game of precision. That’s why Nike Vision sunwear, in prescription and non-prescription, offers the patented Nike MAX Golf Tint™ to help make the ball “pop” and highlight the contours of the green.
Specially tuned to the game of golf, this tint is ideal for any course, in the sun or under the clouds.
It enhances critical details of the fairway and green and helps you navigate the unique visual challenges of the golf course.
Exclusive to VSP Members As a VSP member, you can use your benefit towards prescription Nike sunwear. Interested in adding the Nike MAX Golf Tint? Just talk to your VSP doctor.
About Nike Eyewear Nike eyewear is superior and trusted by the best athletes in the world. Why? Because Nike has developed proprietary technology that allows athletes to see their sport better, such as:
Nike Max Optics: virtually distortion-free optics
Nike lens tints: specially tuned for specific sports to provide maximum performance
Nike eyewear’s fit and function: based on work with elite athletes to gauge their sport needs.
Find out more about Nike Eyewear Visit The Center at vsp.com for more information and to view the different styles for both men and women.
Are you a hiker, mountain biker, or other outdoor enthusiast? Then you need to check out the patented Nike MAX Outdoor Tint™, available in both prescription and non-prescription Nike Vision sunwear. This tint is designed to enhance natural environments by dimming the sun and brightening shadows. It enhances your view of everything around you, relaxing your eyes at the same time.
Exclusive to VSP Members As a VSP member, you can use your benefit towards prescription Nike sunwear. Interested in adding the Nike MAX Outdoor Tint? Just talk to your VSP doctor.
About Nike Eyewear Nike eyewear is superior and trusted by the best athletes in the world. Why? Because Nike has developed proprietary technology that allows athletes to see their sport better, such as:
Nike Max Optics: virtually distortion-free optics
Nike lens tints: specially tuned for specific sports to provide maximum performance
Nike eyewear’s fit and function: based on work with elite athletes to gauge their sport needs.
Find out more about Nike Eyewear Visit The Center at vsp.com for more information and to view the different styles for both men and women.
VSP has been invited to participate in the PGA Championship for Healthy Sight, an official 72 hole PGA Tour Golf Tournament held at Innisbrook Golf Club and Resort on the Copperhead Course at Palm Harbor FL, from 3/13-20 (2 weeks before the Masters). This will be the third year we have a presence.
Transitions Optical (TOI) sponsors this event on 2 levels, first as the National Eyewear provider for the PGA Tour and also as the signature sponsor of this specific PGA tournament, held in Tampa, their own back yard. Sheila Johnson, owner of Innisbrook, is a well-known African American entrepreneur, she, and her former husband, founded the BET cable network.
The entire area behind the 18th green at Copperhead is known as the “Healthy Sight Village” in honor of Transitions’ partners that are working together to create a unique spectator experience at the Transitions Championship.
VSP’s participation is made up of two primary areas:
Community Outreach
In partnership with VSP network doctors who donate their time and services on the clinic, we were able to provide free eyecare and eyewear to nearly 150 children in the local area last week.
The VSP/Transitions mobile eye clinic is featured at the Championship to educate spectators about the importance of eye health and annual eye exams while increasing awareness of our charitable programs.
The Competitive Advantage Tent at the Healthy Sight Village
The Competitive Advantage Tent, created in partnership through Nike Vision, Transitions and VSP, will help spectators learn how to gain a competitive advantage in their golf game by improving their putting through personalized golf and vision tips. Spectators will learn how they can use their healthy sight to their advantage to shave strokes off their game on and around the greens, and will meet PGA pro Kenny Perry’s dream team, including Matt Killen, the TOUR’s youngest swing coach; Dr. Larry Lampert, sports/vision expert and Tyler Parsons, certified kinesiologist and golf fitness specialist, to get personalized golf and vision tips.
The Nike, Transitions and VSP Competitive Advantage Tent
Keep up on all the event details, videos and pictures this week by visiting VSP’s Facebook Page!
VSP is excited to be joining Transitions Optical at the 2011 Transitions Championship this week as part of the “Healthy Sight Village.” We will be included in the “Competitive Advantage” tent where we will host golf clinics and provide attendees information on how vision impacts athletic performance. They will also get to preview the latest Nike athletic eyewear line.
Dr. Larry Lampert is an optometrist who specializes in sports vision and will be stopping by our tent throughout the tournament to offer helpful tips. Here’s one from Dr. Lampert on how identifying your dominant eye can instantly improve your golf game. Check back with us as I’ll be sharing more tips throughout the week.
Members of the U.S. Army National Guard of Idaho stationed in Baghdad, Iraq wearing new Nike sunglasses.
I just love stories like this! Recently, VSP Global CEO Rob Lynch saw a photo on the desk of one of our employees, Marsha C. Her son Myles is currently serving in the U.S. Army National Guard, stationed in Baghdad, Iraq. Rob said, “We need to send him some sunglasses … Actually, find out how many are in his platoon and send them all sunglasses.” A few weeks later, Marsha C. is proudly displaying the photo above!
VSP wants you to turn heads with your eyewear so we’re giving away a FREE pair! Visit VSP Vision Care’s facebook page and click on the Contests tab to submit your entry. There is no cost to enter, just submit a photo of yourself wearing your current frames/sunglasses and vote, everyday! Whoever has the most votes by July 13 will get to choose from this season’s trendiest frames from brands like Calvin Klein, Coach, Diane von Furstenberg, FENDI, Jil Sander, Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, Tommy Bahama, and Nike. Any one of these can be yours!
Coach Sunwear
Nike
Tommy Bahama
VOTING: With over 120 entries, there is a lot to choose from! Whether you’re voting for yourself or for someone else, vote for your favorite today! Everyone can vote once a day so invite all your friends through Facebook to participate! The last day to enter is July 13th. Good luck, everyone!
Over a quarter of the race down, and I’m somewhere in Colorado. The Milky Way is an incredible sight at night, and the Monument Valley just after sun up is truly breathtaking.
It’s 4 p.m. mountain time and I’m off to “bed”. We’re on the road for the next 3-plus hours in an RV to meet the squad that’s riding now. Sleep is hard to come by in shifts of approximately three hours in the RV. I’ll be back on the bike around 1:00 am, and there will be more climbing tonight.
We’ve logged 321 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona to Durango, Colorado in the past 24 hours at an average speed of 17.5 miles per hour. This puts a total of 857 miles behind Team Type 2, and we have 2,147 miles still to complete. Fortunately, the climbs and elevation of the Rocky Mountains will be complete soon, which will bring us to the rolling hills of Kansas and Missouri.
The team is really making good use of our Nike sunglasses which have replaceable lenses. I looked up as I was swapping out the dark lenses to the clear lenses for night riding and saw that two of my teammates were doing the same thing.
If you’re anywhere near our route, come out and cheer us on. We’d love to see you!
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
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As we experience winter weather conditions, through the flurry of disgruntled travelers and burst pipes, there are those among us who are raising our mulled wine glasses in glee…winter sport enthusiasts unite!
