Former striker of a number of Ukrainian clubs Anatoliy Didenko shared his memories of working under the guidance of the famous coach of Lutsk Volyn Anatoliy Kvartsyan.
Anatolii Didenko- Tell us, how did it feel to get to Vitalii Kvartsianyi's Volyn at the age of 33?
- Oh, it's a real treat! It so happened that after leaving Chornomorets I was without a team for a month. It was the first time in my life that I had that. Then an option with Volyn came up through my agent. I had been told a lot about this club before, but I still decided to try it myself (Laughs). Moreover, the team played in the UPL.
I played in Volyn for two years, filled with bright moments. I really fell in love with the city of Lutsk. It was cosy and comfortable there. We also had a great team back then, a good team.
After the first round, we were in fifth place, I think, and then something went wrong. We started to have a swing with funding. We had money, then we didn't. This is a problem. For the result, players always need nourishment.
- How did you get on with Vitalii Kvartsianyi?
- Kvartsianyi is a hot-tempered person. However, he quickly cooled down. I can say that he is a good motivator. He always said that you should set goals, even if they seem unattainable. Sometimes an athlete in life lacks a person who can guide them. It's no wonder he discovered so many footballers.
- Did you ever see anyone get hit in the head by Kvartsyanyi?
- Well, bottles could fly. There were tough moments. However, believe me, each team's dressing room has its own nuances. It was fun, in a word.
- Is it true that Kvartsyanyi had some special face control over the newcomers?
- There were stories that once a Brazilian came with a guitar, and he sent him away immediately. He could send him home if he didn't like his gait or running technique.
- What interesting exercises in Kvartsianyi's training process do you remember?
- We could play two-sided games without outs. That is, the game was going on right on the treadmills. No one whistled. The return was maximum.
- Did you run in armour?
- Yes, there were two-sided games in body armour. There were 11 people from the base against 18 guys from the double. Kvartsianyi came up with such complications for us.
- They say that Kvartsianyi has very difficult training camps.
- Yes, I experienced on myself what three training sessions a day were like. We arrived at the Camelot Hotel in Uzhhorod. At 6:00 we got up and jogged for 40 minutes in the cold. Then at 11:00 the second training session and at 17:00 the evening session. It was hard.
Sometimes people would wake up from fatigue and ask the administrator: "What's the next training session? Is it the third? The second?". You really start to get confused.
Dmitriy Venkov
