George Worth has spoken out of his three months in lockdown as Leicester Tigers return to training. Robert Rees reports on why he’s done a diploma, his training regimes and his Netflix of choice.
Tigers return to training
“Its really weird. I’ve only seen about 10-20 of the boys because we’re in our isolated groups. You don’t see the lads who were in earlier, or later. We have to wash our own kit, which is a nightmare and cook ourselves lunch. There are lots of different things we usually take for granted, but we have to do for ourselves now.”
Despite being back in small groups the work within the gym is still limited.
“They’ve had some people in to make barriers between weights, and we’ve all been allocated a slot. We go back to that slot every day. You go into your lifting station to do bench press, squats and then clean down the weights and off you go.
“It’s quite a military operation at the moment, but it’s allowing the boys to get some weights done.”
Worth takes on Joe Wicks workouts with mum…
“I’ve done a few of the Joe Wicks workouts with my sister and my mum in my living room. We took some weights home from the club, so I was able to do some weighted press-ups and squats, but not a huge amount of weight we could do. We could do lots of running and reps, but that’s about it.
“We’re in a better position coming back now than we would be coming in from an off-season. It’s not like we’ve done nothing for five weeks like we would in that period, so we’re fitter coming back.”
Working on furlough…
“At the start, before we were furloughed, we were able to have Zoom calls and they were sending out different stuff on apps to do, which allowed us to remain in contact with our S&C staff.
“Boys just did their own thing and I tried to stay on top of my fitness and speed work.”
Worth completes diploma
George Worth has been preparing for life after rugby but undertaking a diploma at a local college, a move he believes puts him in a good position for the years to come.
“Away from rugby I managed to finish a course I was doing, rattling out a few modules in my extra spare time. I’m also in the process of signing up to a further degree. It’s been great that I could think about life after rugby. To have a back-up is extra important.
“I was doing a business management diploma through a college, which is now finished and I’m applying for an integrated masters at Northumbria. It’s a step up, but I’m looking forward to it, if I get accepted.”
Business head on for Worth
“In the long time [of lockdown] we had time to think about what the plan was after. For me, my dad’s got a business, my sister did a business degree, so I’ve got enough help there if I ever got stuck on anything. It was natural progression for me to go into business, maybe I’ll go into the family one, who knows.
“During this time off it allowed me to think about setting myself up for after rugby. To do a degree whilst playing seems like a good idea.
“With the diploma it [time management] wasn’t too bad, but I definitely got more done whilst I was in lockdown and had no rugby. It’s a balancing act, but it’s definitely possible”
Netflix of choice…
“I’ve watched a lot of Line of Duty and Unforgotten, which is like a murder-drama investigation and has a few seasons. It was good evening watching.”
Worth loving Premier League dubbed crowd noise
“It’s weird because you watch it with the crowd dubbed over it, which is a very good touch. Watching it has been good, but I know from previous experiences that playing infront of an empty Welford Road is significantly different to having 25,000 in there.
“You’ve got to really get yourself motivated, but it comes from yourself and the boys around you and no doubt when a game is played there the boys will be buzzing.”
“Main photo credit”
