SA guru: Cellphones killing rugby players’ ability to concentrate

Put down those cellphones!

That is the message of renowned South African sports scientist, Dr Sherylle Calder, to the England rugby team.

Calder, who was a consultant for Jake White’s World Cup-winning Springbok side in 2007, is currently in Britain as the Roses’ visual awareness coach.

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She believes the extensive use of cellphones is “deteriorating” professional athletes’ ability to concentrate for long periods of time.

“Yes, (rugby players) are using their phones far too much. We all do, don’t we,” Calder told BBC Radio 5.

“And elite players more than others because they have more spare time.”

Visual awareness is especially important at senior-level rugby, where space on the field for attacking play is severely limited.

“You’re really looking in onto a small little screen,” said Calder.

“If you think about what they do on this huge field, having to make decisions on what they see, it’s not ideal to do that.”

But her biggest gripe is the lack of concentration the players eventually develop.

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“You’re losing awareness and we really live in an age of distractions. One of the skills that is really deteriorating is the ability to concentrate and that’s probably one of the first skills any coach asks of a player,” said Calder.

“Because we’re in distraction mode all the time and the phone has a role to play in that, that ability to concentrate has deteriorated.”

While it’s unlikely that head coach Eddie Jones will issue a blanket ban on the use of phones, Calder hopes the English player limit their use in the build-up to the upcoming Six Nations tournament.

“We would advise them closer to competition on what they should be doing, what habits and behaviours to have,” she said.

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