George Skivington on how the new coaching structure will allow him to be his best, the challenge of being a good husband and dad when the team was under the pump and the challenge of building connections in a sports science era that doesn’t encourage bonding over beers.
Watch the full chat with George Skivington below:
The importance of leaning into your strengths
Tough times can bring pain. But they can also bring growth and learning. Heading into the final game of the season Gloucester Rugby have four wins from 17 Prem games. And Head Coach George Skivington says he’s learnt a lot about the game and himself.
“One hundred percent. There’s a lot of self-reflection. I’ve got a lot of notebooks from the last five years and I’ve dug into a lot of that and spoken to a lot of people. Boydy (Chris Boyd, Technical Director), particularly, bouncing stuff off him,” Skivington told Sport and Life.
‘Skivs’ as he’s known around the club, reflects that a season hampered by big injury lists and adverse results has made him realise moving forwards is as much about going back to your strengths as it is trying to take on new skills.
“Every coach is good at certain things. You try and take as much as you can from everybody and learn as much as you can and read books and listen to audio books and visit clubs – all that stuff is brilliant.
“But in the end there’s probably something that makes you you. What you’re good at. If you’re not actually delivering what you’re good at, firstly, the team isn’t getting the best version of you.
“And secondly, you’re not enjoying it as much as you should because if you end up coaching at this level, you’ve got a super skill in something.”
Less admin more rugby and motivating people
So what does he believe his super skill is? In recent months Skivington has seen his job title revert to Head Coach from Director of Rugby with Chris Boyd and Rob Burgess coming in ‘above’ him.
But you don’t get the sense he sees that as a demotion. Instead – as you can see in the video – he exuded a relaxed energy in this conversation. There’s a sense of liberation that he can focus on coaching and connecting with players rather than logistics and admin.
“I certainly think being on the pitch in the middle of it, getting the physicality side of it right, balancing the drills, managing the coaches as to time allocation to attack, defence, set piece.
“You’ve got to push the players, you’ve got to push the coaches, but you’ve also got to rein them back at the right time. I think my skills lend themselves to that.”
Balancing work and family
Skivington believes the coaching restructure has brought more balance to his life and he’s now able to be a more engaged husband and father to his teenage sons.
“You miss a few things with the kids. Your wife’s off everywhere taking them and doing things and I’d say it takes its toll.
“Rob (Burgess) coming in has taken a huge amount off my plate straight away. You can try and get home at a decent time and spend a bit quality time and hear about what they’ve done.”
Returning energy and enthusiasm
Given it’s the end of a long season Skivington seems remarkably fresh and fired up. And he says he’s been revitalised by being able to focus on the training ground and motivating players.
“I like to think I’ve got good energy and I get enthusiastic when I’m in and around things. I don’t think that’s been there for the lads. But I think that’s been there the last four to six weeks again, which is great.
“I’m really enjoying it and hopefully the boys are.”
Social connection at the club
Talking of the boys enjoying matters, Skivington acknowledges that in this sports-science-driven era of rugby, bonding over beers is not the frequent team builder it used to be. But he says making sure people are connecting at the club, off the pitch remains key.
“Ultimately the social cohesion bit is massive. And that’s something I really enjoy, being with the boys.
“Albeit my job sometimes is to deliver the honest truth. That can test those relationships sometimes. But I’ve always enjoyed having a good time with the lads as well.”
Everyone at Gloucester Rugby, not least the Cherry and Whites faithful, will hope for more good times next season. With new players and new coaches coming to the club there’s the exciting scent of a fresh start is in the air.
But perhaps most importantly the head coach is reenergised and ready to go again next term – after a little break, of course.
