Dr. Sherylle Calder is a former elite athlete, scientist and visual skills coach. She played international hockey and now works at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa.

Ernie Els was introduced to Calder by a mutual friend Johann Rupert at at the Volvo Golf Champions at Fancourt where she was working with Robert Karlsson and Retief Goosen among others. Ernie was in the doldrums over not having been included in the Masters field and the pair decided to work together.

Their sessions included a 10 day intensive camp in the USA after which Els noticed a significant improvement in his PGA Tour putting statistics.

Dr. Sherylle Calder is a renowned visualisation coach and is a household name in South African sport for well over a decade.

She has worked with several of the nations top rugby players including Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery. When the Springboks won the 2007 World Cup Calder met Nelson Mandela but needed no introduction as Mandela declared ‘Of course I know who the “Eye Lady” is.’

Dr. Sherylle Calder | Visualization Coach

Dr. Sherylle Calder teaches a visual performance programme, the Eye Gym, which she claims can give athletes an edge and “lift their performance”. She believes that in sport negativity is present at the highest level of competition, this is rooted in poor visual skills.

Among those Dr. Sherylle Calder professes she would to work with in the future are tennis player Andy Murray and Tiger Woods.

The influence of visual skills enhancement programmes has been investigated (Coffey & Reichow, 1990 ; Calder, 2005 ; Love, Kluka, & Young, 2006 ; Kluka & Love, 2006). Researchers (Kluka & Love, 2006 ; Kluka, Love, Covington, Bristow, & Allison, 2000) have reported that elite athletes, when compared to nonathletes, have superior visual abilities, measured through contrast sensitivity function, peripheral vision, visual reaction time, static visual acuity, eye movements, visual concentration, visual recognition and static / dynamic balance.

Practical limitations, however, involves applicability to athletes. Where geographical location is considered, access to such training is a factor.

Contact us at Speakers Inc and subscribe to our Podcast Channel