Assistant head coach of PolissyaVolodymyr Knysh toldUVhow he coached Ihor Kolomoisky's son.
- Do you know Kolomoisky, did he come to see the young people?
- I have met him because I coached his son.
- This is already interesting. Tell us more.
- When Hrysha (Kolomoisky's son - author) turned five, I got a call from Stetsenko and Vasyliev, who was the director of the football school, and they said: "We need to do something with Hrysha, he wants to play football". So let's try it.
They bring Grisha to the Metallurg Stadium, which used to be the site of the Dnipro Arena. Dad goes down the stairs with Hrysha, five "cubes" with guards enter the stadium and take up their positions. Kutuzov is shocked: "What to do? The boy is only five years old, we don't even have a group like this. Let's take tests or something". I said: "And if he doesn't pass, then what, we won't accept him?" (Laughs).
Anyway, I stood on the goal, and Hrysha took a penalty. There was no net on the goal, so Ihor Valeriiovych stood behind and served us the ball.
By the way, it was thanks to Hrysha that Prokopchuk and Mykhailenko's son, who is now in the US, also played football, and he had good prospects. They were all born in 1995, so we created a separate group for Hrysha - five or six years old. But then the Orange Revolution happened in 2005 and Grisha was taken abroad. I haven't seen him since.
- Was Hrysha Kolomoisky a talented footballer, could he have grown into a professional?
- I'll say this: he showed intelligence even then. He was brought to his first training session wearing basketball shoes. He was brought by his tutor along with a solid security detail. This man always sat silently in the corner of the gym. I told him: "The boy needs football shoes".
Grisha came to the next lesson dressed in official Chelsea gear: "Coach, are you okay?" I said: "Grisha, you're great!" (Laughs).
- Did Grisha train on a par with everyone else or did you give him any indulgences?
- There were never any indulgences. Igor Valerievich would not have liked that. As far as I know, Grisha was brought up with kid gloves. His father set the conditions for him to achieve everything on his own.
Andrii Piskun