Her visual performance skills helped both England and South Africa win the Rugby World Cup, in 2003 and 2007 respectively.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana credits "eye think", as taught by Calder for making his eyes move as quickly as his feet.
Calder worked with the All Blacks when Wayne Smith was coach. When he was ousted she worked with John Mitchell and Robbie Deans when they coached New Zealand.
She rates Deans highly.
"He is a vision coach," she said.
Mark Hammett, who was in the All Blacks at the time and is now the Crusaders assistant coach, attended the New Zealand Sports Medicine, Sports Science and Academy of Sport conference in Dunedin last week to re-learn the techniques from Calder.
Calder told the Otago Daily Times that half a second in rugby was worth 4m, and one second 8m.
She had much success working with individual Springboks before the World Cup. One of these was hooker and captain John Smit.
"In the years before the World Cup his throws to the line-out were accurate only 64% of the time," Calder said.
"At the World Cup he was 100% accurate."
The Springboks used to employ planned moves at each scrum and line-out.
"It was very predictable and easy to stop," Calder said. "I told them to make decisions on what they see in front of them."
She has also worked with Australian, Pakistan and South African cricket, Spanish hockey and the Italian Prada America's Cup team.
She has a contract to work with the British Olympic Committee through to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Calder said her technique used eye speed to improve performance.
"If you see something earlier you have got more time to make a decision."
She said 80%-90% of decisions made in sport were based upon visual information.
"Everyone has six muscles in each eye that can be trained to improve speed, movement and flexibility," Calder said.
"When players see more they can assess the situation so much quicker and make better decisions.
"It is about making better decisions on the field, and you know that impacts on sport."
A key component of Calder's method is an online programme.
"We specifically relate it to the player and his position on the field. It helps him use his visual system and his eyes to perform better," she said.
Among Calder's tools are Crazy Catch and Vision Balls.
They develop eye, hand and body co-ordination skills, speed of eye response, eye movement skills as used in ball-tracking and reading, peripheral awareness skills and an ability to focus and concentrate.
"Most people are born with the potential for eyesight, but vision [the ability to identify, interpret and understand what is seen] can be trained and improved," Calder said.
She believes "eye vision" is one of the last frontiers in sport.
But it is not just training the eyes.
"You are also training the brain and training the motor response as well," she said.
Calder developed the techniques through her research.
"I knew that it played a role in my own sport of hockey and I did research to improve what I did and my performance."
She completed her PhD on the subject then started working in the field with the All Blacks.
When she was growing up Calder came to realise that she was doing things differently from other people.
During the apartheid years Calder excelled at hockey in the republic.
But she wanted to test herself against international opposition.
"As a kid I always did things quickly," she said. "But we played against the same opposition and it was too easy for me."
Calder went overseas and coped easily with conditions in other countries.
When apartheid ended she played international hockey for South Africa again.
"I found it easy with my tackles and dribbling the ball. I saw what would happen before it did."
She then put her ideas into research and improved the technique.
Most of Calder's work has been with elite sports teams, but she said her system could be applied to the general public as well.
"Over the last year I have developed a programme for kids and at the moment it is only available in South Africa for sporting kids."
She said if the exercises were performed regularly, they would strengthen the eye muscles and delay a need for glasses.
