www.southhams-today.co.uk Friday, December 24, 2010 29IVG

‘Anything is possibleat academy’– manager‘Hard, but fair’ supremo reckons Ivybridge’s academy can produce more

England players of the future like its former student, Steffon ArmitageFrom page 28

Players who havebeen nurtured atIvybridge and whohave gained nationalrecognition include theLondon Irish andEngland flanker SteffonArmitage, currentExeter Chiefs’ numbereight Dave Ewers, Bathlock Stuart Hooperand WorcesterWarriors’ wingTom Arscott.

And Gibsoninsists his cur-rent crop ofy o u n g s t e r s ,and indeedothers beingcultivatedin Engl-and gen-e r a l l y ,are thee q u a l sof anyyoungtalent

emerg-ing from NewZealand.

‘Players here arejust as dedicated,just as talented andjust as physical, butthe biggest differencebetween here andNew Zealand is thelevel of competition weplay week in, week out.

'The decision-makingunder pressure downthere is better, whereasEnglish sides some-times play in a veryprescriptive way andthe pressure to win inthe Premiership meansteams don’t alwaysplay what's in front ofthem as they do in New

Zealand.’ England iscertainly not lacking incoaches of the highestorder, either, Gibsonbelieves, citing theChiefs’ head man RobBaxter as an ‘outstand-ing coach’ who is ‘veryanalytical’.

U n s u r p r i s i n g l y ,given his time spent inNew Zealand wherestraight talking is par

for the course, Gibs-on admits he isforthright and

blunt.

‘You havegot to betrue to your-self. Playershave totrust you.

‘If you’renot honest,they see

t h r o u g hyou.

‘ A n yt e a mreflectsits co-ach.’

H esays heis ‘in-credibly

hard onthem, but

also incr-edibly fair’,

as evidencedby his dem-

and for two orthree hours’

silent time ontrips away to do

school work and arecent training sessioninvolving a snowballfight.

Gym sessions aregenerally accompaniedby music and ‘a bit ofbanter’, Gibson, whohas also coached atPlymouth Albion,added.

And the fact thatStuart Hooper, amongsix former academygraduates, agreed toreturn to the school tobe the main speaker atits recent awardsevening illustrates themutual respect engen-dered between the

academy chiefand his pro-tégés.T h e r e ' s

absolutely no chance ofGibson becoming staleand fed up with acade-my life, either, giventhat the two-year cyclebrings him into contactwith new faces all thetime.

And ‘being out onthe paddock coaching’rather than with his‘feet under the desk’working on administra-tive tasks remains hisnumber one priority.

As the academyevolves, he plans togrow his side’s fixturelist, develop the ‘nutri-tition side of things’and also make his boysincreasingly aware oftheir responsibilitiesand the perils of theinternet and Facebook.

No stone is leftunturned in rigorousRob’s rugby revolution,it seems.

And, in view of this,while the academy mayhave an All Black hue,its future seems set tobe dazzlingly bright.

Pictures by Nic Randall– apart from the two at the

top of the page. You canbuy them at the websitewww.buypicture.net by

putting in therespective codes

Bottom left, Sam Jones has some kicking practice (11120106); above, Jack

Arnott, Rob Gibson, Sam Jones and KieranDavies (11120107)

A player’s view of life atthe Exeter Chiefs’ academy

JACK Arnott, 17. whois a full-back and wingand plays for theEngland Under-18s,said: ‘The academy hasbeen great for me. Istudy a BTEC NationalSports Diploma in add-ition to my rugby train-ing.

‘I would go to uni-

versity and study toteach PE or carry onplaying at a lower levelif I didn’t make it inrugby. I take every ga-me as they come.

‘Anything can hap-pen in a contact sport,so I have a back-upplan in mind.

‘All the teachers are

really supportive. Anyqueries you have, Rob’sjust a phone call away.

‘He’s more thanhappy to speak to youand brings the best outof you.

‘The standards hesets are very high andwe build on them afterevery game.’

ContributedLeft, the current Ivybridge Exeter Chiefs’

academy squad and team officials