Phone addiction not such a smart move!

ENGLAND’S rugby players are to have restrictions placed on their use of mobile phones as part of a drive to improve skill levels leading into the next World Cup.

The crackdown on electronic devices begins todayu on the instruction of visual awareness coach Dr Sherylle Calder, who has been added to Eddie Jones’s backroom staff on a consultancy basis until Japan 2019.

Calder, whose CV details spells with elite golfers, Formula 1 drivers and NFL teams, insists the immersion into smartphones and tablets that is a feature of contemporary life is inhibiting the development of England’s stars.

“In the modern world the ability of players to have good awareness is deteriorating by the nature of mobile phones etc,” said Calder, who stated that she would recommend players are told to limit their exposure to technology. “I always use the analogy that we develop skills by climbing trees, walking on walls and falling off and learning all those visual motor skills which people aren’t doing any more.

“Young kids spend a lot of time on mobile phones so those instinctive natural skills are disappearing.

“We have seen in the last five or six years, when we assess elite players in

different sports, that there is a decline in skill levels.

“When you look at your phone you are losing awareness because you’re in the screen all the time. There are no eye movements happening – everything is pretty static. We are losing the ability to communicate well and all those skills are declining.

“We will be working really hard on awareness because awareness makes you make effective decisions under pressure. We don’t only train the eye movements, the ability to judge and the ability to recognise early, we also train the brain, which is really a muscle.

“That has an impact on what you see, what you process and how you respond on the field. I’m not going to give too many secrets away because we want to share it with the English players, but there are definitely principles that we want them to follow.”

Calder’s initial brief, as outlined by Jones, is to work with the wings and full-backs, but she will also spend time with all the threequarters over three stints each year starting with this week’s training camp in Portugal.

There is already a ban in place on the use of mobile phones during squad meal times, but this could now be extended.

“The important thing that people misunderstand is that I don’t work on eyesight at all. It has no relevance,” Calder said.

“I work on the visual motor system and how you make decisions based on that. We have worked with players with bad eyesight and worked with players with one eye.

“Our work is not sight related, it’s about sports science and individual motor performance

“One of the skills we work on is being able to see, or pick up, something early. The earlier you see the more time you have to make a decision. That’s a trainable skill.”