- The Premier League has employed the services of eye coach Sherylle Calder
- Calder helped Sir Clive Woodward’s England to their 2003 World Cup win
- The South African will put six referees and four officials through eye training
- Calder believes the participants can all ‘improve their ability’ with ‘EyeGym’
The Premier League has called in the services of England Rugby’s ‘vision awareness coach’ Sherylle Calder to train referees to see and respond to incidents quicker.
As with most Premier League weekend’s, talking points were a plenty in the top-flight with Brighton’s Bruno escaping red card despite a blatant elbow and a penalty decision going the way of Watford labelled ‘scandalous’ by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Calder, who specialises in eye training, was part of Sir Clive Woodward’s backroom staff during England’s 2003 World Cup win and now assists Eddie Jones at Twickenham.
Premier League referees to receive training to improve their decision making in crucial games
Visual awareness coach Sherylle Calder has been employed by the Premier League
Calder gave eye consultancy to Sir Clive Woodward’s England ahead of 2003 World Cup win
According to The Sun though, Calder has temporarily turned her attention to top-flight referees and officials, putting 10 through an ‘EyeGym’ training programme.
‘We work on many things,’ Calder said. ‘Including making effective decisions under pressure — and that’s exactly what these guys are doing on a consistent basis. It’s tough work.
‘They have to be able to see correctly and make sure their decision is effective.
‘With the linesmen, that offside call is so critical and you have to see it so quickly.
‘That’s exactly what we’re training with those guys.’
The South African specialises in providing eye training to sports stars and athletes
Her eye training has been well regarded by some of the biggest teams and individuals in sport
Robert Madley shows a yellow card during Tottenham’s win over Bournemouth on Saturday
Calder, who also given eye training to professional golfer Charl Schwartzel, is in her second spell with Jones after aiding his former South African team in 2007.
She is currently preparing England for winter internationals with Australia, Argentina and Samoa before beginning their Six Nations defense in February.
With her huge CV and the successes she’s had, Calder feels there is room for improvement in English football’s elite league.
She is in her second spell with Eddie Jones after aiding the Australian with South Africa
‘You have to practice any skill and prepare to perform under pressure,’ she added.
‘They all can improve their ability, which is exciting.
‘We’ve been monitoring them and are in touch with them all the time.
‘We know how many minutes they have trained, we see them do a warm-up on the day they officiate. They’ve been great.’