Shaun Edwards, celebrated rugby league player and rugby union coach, spoke to RTÉ Lifestyle while at the Pendulum Summit in Dublin's RDS, about overcoming pain, learning how to motivate each player on his team, and leaving a storied legacy behind him.
When Shaun Edwards hit the ground, face-first during the 1990 Challenge Cup final between his team Wigan and Warrington, he was sure he'd broken his jaw. It didn't matter if he had, however, as it was all part of making his dad proud.
"My father had been a professional rugby player for Warrington, and the opponent that day was Warrington", he told RTÉ Lifestyle. "In the build up, all I thought about all the time was making my dad proud of me because it was against his old team."
"If I'm honest if it had been a normal game of rugby I would have come off. But it was at Wembley Stadium, there was 100,000 people there, and it was against my dad's old team. I was very, very determined to win that game and just being a little bit pig-headed, really. I didn't want them to know that they'd hurt me."
Doing his family proud has been a key motivation in Edwards' career, though it came with its own hardship. The current defence coach for the French national rugby team, Edwards credits his father, Jackie Edwards', "harshness" for spurring him onto greatness. At just 17, he was signed to Wigan for a record £35,000.
He refers to other accomplished athletes who found fame and success young: "There's one common denominator, they've had very pushy parents. Sometimes you need somebody to push you hard, and that's what my dad did."
Edwards spent 18 years as a player, followed by more than 20 years as a coach, during which time he's become especially talented at reading his players and their needs. He guided his team to victory at the recent Six Nations by intuiting what his players needed individually, and as a team.
"How do you want to be remembered?" Rugby titan Shaun Edwards challenges us to seek the winner within ourselves #pendulumsummit @TheRDS pic.twitter.com/Zl0JLffirO
— Pendulum Summit (@PendulumSummit) April 26, 2022
He says that to be a strong leader, "First and foremost, you need preparation". "If you don't prepare, you prepare to fail. Being detailed in your preparation is absolutely vital."
A coach's job, he says, is to "dedicate every second, every hour to one goal, which is become a better player. Don't get me wrong, you can have a night out and a few beers with your friends, but that's also an important thing because you need switch off periods as well, you need recuperation".
Having decades of experience in rugby and coaching no doubt goes a long way, but Edwards says that he relies more on his "gift" for intuition.
"Fear keeps you ready" says International Sport Peak Performance Expert Shaun Edwards #Pendulum @PendulumSummit pic.twitter.com/utyCsMDuxv
— LifeStyle on RTÉ (@LifeStyleRTE) April 26, 2022
"I've always been quite good at reading body language and reading when a lad's a bit down and not feeling great. I think I have a gift to do that, but experience helps a lot."
Edwards notes that for someone chasing a goal, anything from money and fear, to proving someone wrong and gaining respect can spur them on. As for what motivates him, he says right now it's legacy.
"Legacy, and the fact that I have a lot of people relying on my financially", he says. "My dad's in a care home now because my mum passed away last year. I've got three children, I've got a lot of mates who don't have a lot of money. There's a lot of people relying on me.
As for how he'd like to be remembered, he says, "As a successful rugby person, but probably more importantly as a person who helped his mates out."
For more information on the 2022 Pendulum Summit, click here.
