Keep your eyes on the ball

With the 2011 Rugby World Cup in full swing in New Zealand at present, world-renowned eye coach Sherylle Calder - a member of the 2007 World Cup-winning Bok squad - wonders if the players' handling skills are up to scratch at rugby's global showpiece.

I am wearing my Green & Gold hat and have my feet firmly planted behind our Springbok rugby team who will be competing for the Rugby World Cup 2011; hoping to become the first-ever team to win back-to-back world titles!

South Africans love rugby and we love to win.

To be able to bring the cup home for the third time our boys will have to be on top of their game and beat very strong adversaries such as the All Blacks, a favourite this year to win the World Cup.

In the past decades there have been huge advances in sports training and brain-storming about how sportsmen can fulfil their full potential. But one fact that never altered is that fitter teams win more games.

It is as simple as that. In sport, as in all other areas of life, there is no substitute for hard work, perseverance and dedication. If you want to reach the top and stay there, you have to be 100% dedicated to your game.

Therefore the increase in this year's Super 15 rugby in handling errors on the rugby field is a matter of concern.

Super 15 statistics supplied by Willie Maree, a well-known technical analyst, shows that there was an average of 19.53 knocks per game in the 2011 season. It thus seems the standards are not as high as last year and are slipping a bit.

I recently read through an online chapter of Oxford's PDHPE Application & Inquiry series (published in 2009) in which certain characteristics of skilled performers were identified.

Many of these are directly applicable on rugby players:
- Skilled athletes have an ability to utilise the sensory information gained from within their body concerning body position and limb awareness.
- Skilled athletes rely on external environmental information, memory and 'feel' during the performance.
- They have quick and efficient responses (reactions and movements).
- They are consistent and make very few errors during an activity.
- They maintain correct technique despite fatigue or the game situation.
- Skilled athletes are able to respond to many cues and recognise and respond only to relevant cues.
- They are more aggressive, competitive, ambitious, self-assured, adventurous, confident, determined and committed; have better concentration; are able to self-regulate anxiety and arousal; and can understand and use complex skills and patterns.
- They are able to perceive, decide and act in a manner that is efficient in terms of both energy and time. They are faster and more accurate and have greater consistency.

Other characteristics that were mentioned were that the skilled sportsmen are able to adjust to changes in plans, are relatively unaffected by the competitive environment , are able to overcome physical demands and pain, are able to cope with poor officiating and can handle the pressure in the final stages of a contest.

These are all skills and characteristics we love to see on the rugby field. Many of these skills can be taught, trained, perfected and accelerated with visual performance skills training. The modern game of rugby is so fast and there is so much movement in attack and defence that the player must have excellent visual skills to succeed.

Observing fast movements place a big demand on a players vision. Your eyes instruct your body what to do and therefore it is very important to have good eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral awareness and vision, focusing skills and visual concentration skills.

Just as training improves physical ability (speed, agility, flexibility), visual performance training (following a ball, reacting effectively, judging depth accurately and successfully executing eye/hand co-ordination) enables players to improve their overall sporting ability.

Sportsmen are always eager to investigate new concepts or techniques they feel might enhance their performance and give them a leading edge. The game of rugby is currently going through an attacking phase and therefore catching and passing, and spatial awareness have become even more important.

For rugby players like South Africa's Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers, who are masters of scoring intercept-tries, all-around vision, reaction times and handling skills are crucial.

During the training for the Rugby World Cup in 2007 we devised very specific training drills to prepare their visual skills for what they needed to perform on the field. Habana scored eight tries during the 2007 RWC - including a crucial interception against Argentina in the semifinals.

EyeGym, at the Sport Science Institute of South Africa, is in effect training players to improve their visual fitness and giving them the edge to perform at the highest level.

To improve a team's performance handling errors must be minimised. During the two Tri-Nations matches played in South Africa prior to the World Cup there was an average of 25-30 handling errors per match. The same trend is currently seen in the Currie Cup as well.

Players constantly have to work on the basic rugby skills of passing, catching and off-loading because it leads to better control of the ball and improves your team's amount of possession. Technical skills can be greatly improved and handling errors minimised with consistent visual performance skills training.

Your edge, our passion!

Until next time,
Sherylle

* To find out more about Sherylle Calder's work, visit her website: www.drsheryllecalder.com