Our head coach, George

If you've ever met our Head Coach, you would probably have no idea about the remarkable recovery that George has made from an horrific accident over a decade ago. And although you might think that this recovery was in part due to fabulous doctors, effortful physio and a high degree of tenacity and determination on George's part, you would never guess that a small piece of rope provided the solution to many, many questions and problems.

Following an horrific snowboarding accident in Austria in March 2000, George found himself temporarily confined to a wheelchair due to a complete, left-sided paralysis. He was also unable to talk having lost the power of speech.

George Kubu, Head Coach, Skipping4Schools

He was kept in Austria for 5 months, and only after lots of intensive therapy in this time was he deemed fit enough to travel home to England. His rehabilitation continued with physiotherapy four times per week as an out-patient for the next two years. And, on re-establishing a natural gait, he was thus discharged from the care of the NHS.

But George being George, he wasn’t satisfied with his condition and he was determined that he would snowboard and sail to the excellent levels he had enjoyed before his accident. And this is where skipping came into play.

Skipping worked wonders!

It proved to be a fantastic tool to help achieve so many of his goals; not only did it greatly help in rebuilding the neural networks to regain full control over his left-hand side, but skipping boosted his spatial awareness, improved his fine motor skills and coordination in general and the physical benefits included general weight loss and a massive boost to his muscle tone.

In no time at all, George was back up and bouncing and this passion for and belief in skipping as a beneficial physical activity lead George to skipping coaching. In due course, George gained qualifications in Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Skipping Coaching through the British Rope Skipping Association and has enjoyed coaching thousands of children in hundreds of schools over the last eight years.

If you want to try skipping for yourself, or if you think it could help the children in your school, just drop us a line and we'll  be delighted to talk you through a coaching day.

Read more here about what schools think about George and our coaches on a Skipping4Schools skipping coaching day.