Honoured Coach of Ukraine Anatoliy Kroshchenko spoke about Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's career with Dynamo Kyiv.
- When did you first meet Shovkovsky? What impressions did he make on you?
- It was around the end of the academic year. Then Dynamo coach Chubarov gave me his group. When Chubarov handed them over to me, I did some testing. My mother brought Sasha when he was in the fourth grade, and he passed the test with flying colours.
- What position did you start playing in? How did he end up in goal?
- He played as a centre forward for Matiienko. When he came to me, he got into the goal. There is a long story there. We were paid for a hall at the KIBI Institute (now KNUBA), where there was a good handball court. I had about 20 guys, and in this small hall I had to figure out how to organise the training process. So I came up with the following idea: they kicked at the goal in a circle around the court, with two guys standing in the goal. At that time, I had two goalkeepers who were shorter than the defenders:) It is clear that I wanted to find a goalkeeper, because they are 9-10 years old, you can still teach them. Everyone had time to stand on the goal in pairs for two or three minutes, when the field players were passing the ball and shooting at the goal.
That's when I noticed Sasha. He was already tall and had a very good reaction. Later I found out that he also played basketball. I also noticed that when Sasha stood in the goal, he tried not just to hit the ball, but to catch it. Apart from him, several other players tried to do this. The rest of them were just haphazardly defending. I think my basketball experience also played a role here.
I realised that I needed to work with him individually, because something could come of it. Some time passed and I became convinced that Sasha was better than the others in goal. He had no equal. I told Sasha that I wanted him to become a goalkeeper. Sasha started crying, Olga Korniivna started crying. I said: "Don't worry, it's not for life. I am more than convinced that you will thank me later." It took me a while to calm them down - it was easier for Sasha, because he somehow adapted to the position, but Olga Korniivna, for whom this child was like I don't know what... She and Volodya (her husband) raised him together. Eventually I convinced Olga Korniivna. And after a while, when I started putting him in the gate regularly in the spring, Sasha got used to it and calmed down. Probably, his parents convinced him that this was the right way.
- What can you tell us about Shovkovskyi's parents?
- His mother, Olha Korniivna, was the head of our parental committee. She helped me a lot: with organisation, food... For example, at school, Olha Korniivna organised a steady meal after the second lesson. Before that, the children just had sandwiches that their parents sent them. As for Volodymyr, he always attended training sessions if they were on weekends. Both of them didn't know anyone but Sasha. Young Shovkovskyi had a difficult moment in the beginning, which few people know about.
- Can you share this story?
- When he had already become a goalkeeper and started playing in the city championship for Dynamo. One day, a week goes by and Sasha doesn't show up for training. I waited a few more days and went to his house. I came home and my ward was lying in a plaster cast, and his mother was bringing him food to bed - complete comfort. I said: "Sasha, why are you lying there?" and he said: "My leg hurts, I can't get up". It turned out that he had been seriously injured when someone jumped on his thigh. When I saw the case, I said: "Olga Korniivna, do you have big scissors?", and she said that she did. They brought the scissors, and I took the cast and cut it off. I look and his thigh is green. Olga Korniivna started crying: "The child is sick, he needs a cast, he needs medicine, compresses." I answered her: "You will have time to do all this".
It was easier for me to convince her because I had a similar injury (a blue-green hip) when I played for Karpaty (1963-1966). Back then, we were coached by Mykola Dementiev, who told me: "You don't train now, but walk a radius, but run slowly for 20-30 metres". It helped me, so I applied this practice to Sashko, and told him to come to training tomorrow. He came, and I told him: "Your task is not to run, but to walk 20 metres at a fast pace, and run 30 metres - three times. I've done it myself. You will see that it will become easier for you and in a week you will be fine." In general, that's what happened.
The only thing was that he recovered faster than I did, because he was also motivated to get to the camp. This is where Sasha showed his manly character: "I'm going! I will help in any way I can". His parents listened to him. In the camp, he studied according to this system. He already had the willpower... I was surprised: after a few days he tried to run fully at once. If you could have seen him running! He was running and crying... I told him not to get too carried away, but to gradually increase the distance. I didn't put him in the goal at that time, he needed to recover. On the advice of the doctors from Obolon, he was also given special compresses.
We came back from the camp and he was walking normally. Why did I want him to get this cast off as soon as possible? It's simple - his rectus femoris muscle had already atrophied to some extent. I realised that if he stayed in the cast for a few more weeks, he would need to undergo surgery. That's how I convinced my parents.
- How did Shovkovskyi do at school? They say he had behavioural problems.
- Three people from that special class graduated with gold medals - Balanchuk, Medvedev and Teodorovych. By the way, the latter graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, played a little bit in Macedonia and went to work in the Kyiv city administration.
Sasha was also a candidate for a gold medal, he studied well, but mathematics was a bit of a struggle... He did very well in the humanities, he was one of the best. This is also a merit of Olga Korniivna, who was always there and supervised her son's studies.
At the same time, I acted in a very simple way - if a young footballer has poor grades in a quarter (not just Ds), he has little chance of qualifying for a trip abroad. I came up with this spontaneously, but it had a very serious impact on parents and children. Given that Sasha had already fallen in love with his role, he studied very well. Besides him, there were two or three other people in the running.
- Did Shovkovsky have any bad habits? Did you ever catch him smoking a cigarette?
- You know, I can only speak for others... I had a few of them, but I don't want to mention their names. Also, our guys had problems with girls who were chasing them. Some of them fell for it and gave up under their pressure.
At the same time, Sasha was very fond of football and had already fallen in love with the goalkeeping role, so he was resilient and did not succumb to provocations (smiles ). I can say for sure that he had no problems with smoking and girls.
- How did Shovkovskyi progress?
- Step by step. I had three more goalkeepers, where we practised the game on the outs, when the ball had to be caught or deflected at the highest point. All my goalkeepers were bad in this component. I came up with the following exercise: one goalkeeper against another across the pitch. They are on the penalty area line and kick the ball with their hands to the opposite side, where the other goalkeeper is standing. The goalkeeper has to catch the ball at the highest point in the field. If he fails to catch it or makes a mistake, one goalkeeper drives the other goalkeeper behind the front line. This is how the competition between the goalkeepers took place.
I put Sasha against one goalkeeper, and he chased him off in 5-7 minutes. Then the second one - he drove him off, the third one - he drove him off. I could see that he was no longer interested. Sasha was taller and faster. I had no choice but to put two goalkeepers against him. And what do you think? He drove those two behind the front line as well. Sasha became a really full-fledged goalkeeper, there was no longer any question of any offence. He no longer wanted to be a forward who scored goals, but wanted to play in goal. I explained to him that this position is the most responsible and difficult.
- What's the story with Shovkovskyi's army service?
- Everything was done in such a way that they had preferential conditions in some part. Dynamo members appeared there from time to time, were present at the oath.
- When was the last time you saw Shovkovskyi? Did you have a conversation?
- The last time was when Balanchuk was buried at the Forest Cemetery (16.07). It was not the right situation to have any conversations. I was so shocked by this event because Balanchuk was the first person Lobanovsky recruited to Dynamo! Then something didn't work out for him, he went to Kharkiv and Poltava, but at that time Serhii was playing at a very decent level. There was no time to talk...
Balanchuk was a smart kid: a gold medallist, he always gave his all in training. Were Balanchuk and Shovkovsky friends? Everyone was good friends with Balanchuk, because he gave many people maths to copy off (smiles).
- There is an opinion that a goalkeeper cannot make a good head coach. Do you agree with this? Can you think of goalkeepers who were strong club coaches?
- I think it all depends on Sasha. Zubrytskyi (Dynamo goalkeeper from 1944 to 1952 - ed.) worked as a head coach all his life. There are examples. Yashin, for example, was not a senior coach, but Kotrikadze (goalkeeper of Dynamo Tbilisi from 1955 to 1968 - ed.) was not just a goalkeeping coach, but the head coach.
I think Sasha will succeed. He has always been educated and eager for knowledge since he was a child. When I moved to Dynamo-3 as a coach, I took Sabo to the first team at the end of the season. All of them got into the Ukrainian national team. I think this is an eloquent case.
- As an experienced specialist, what advice would you give Shovkovskyi? What mistakes should he avoid and what should he pay attention to?
- The main thing is that he really wants to do it, that he is passionate about it. He is capable of becoming a good head coach if he keeps improving. I can't say more, because I don't know what kind of situation he is in. I am not inside the club and the team. There are different situations, especially as this is a very difficult and responsible position. In any case, I wish him only success.
Vladyslav Liutostanskyi