Shishkin climbed

STEP 1. SCHOOL

In Voronezh, Fakel did not have its own school before, and until the fifth grade I played football only in the yard. And then he found out that they had created the School, and went to record. True, the team of my year of birth was already recruited. But they still took me, and then they also appointed me as captain. Probably due to the fact that I played the best and behaved with dignity.

Actually, I always played the last defender, but I was always the top scorer in the team. He scored from the penalty spot, very often from the free kicks, scored after the corner, although he was never tall. And when we were 14 years old, we won the tournament among the cities of the Black Earth region. Well, there Yelets, Lipetsk, Stary Oskol ... We were told that agents and scouts always come to such tournaments and catch talented boys. But no one came to me. But they told me about Danishevsky that he declared himself at one of such tournaments. He played for Yelets, showed himself very well, and after that almost all Moscow clubs began to call him to him in SDUSHOR. Only I did not see it - he is older than me. In general, we won that tournament in the summer. And in the winter I went to see Spartak.

(NOTE: According to the RFU, there are 1,524 youth football schools in Russia with about 609,000 children. Every year they graduate about 30,000 young soccer players. Premier League clubs are allowed to register no more than 800 professional players (including legionnaires). "Of the guys with whom I played at the Fakel sports school, no one else except me became a professional footballer. A couple of people are now studying at universities. And the rest ... who drank, who smoked, who chipped ..." (Roman Shishkin)

STEP 2. BROWSE

When I arrived at Spartak, a recruitment was just taking place at the youth school. About twenty people came to watch, the newcomers were divided into two teams and given the ball. I played the last quarterback again. It seems that he played well, but they didn’t take me. In that set, almost no one, I think, was taken to school.

But, although they did not admit me to Spartak school, I stayed in Moscow. In Voronezh, I individually trained with Sergei Vasilievich Krestenenko - he used to play in Spartak, just with Romantsev. Well, he helped me. Sergei Vasilyevich and I came to Romantsev. They hugged, after which Oleg Ivanovich invited me to sit in his chair: “Here you can sit in the chair of the head coach of the Russian team and Spartak. I sat down, of course, but after these words I was completely scared, and while they talked and recalled how they played together, I wasn’t just saying a word - I was even afraid to move! After this meeting, I began to train with the double.

I trained for a month with a double, after which I was finally accepted to Spartak school. All the visiting children were accommodated in the Baikal Hotel, which is located at VDNKh. Those who were older lived two in a room, and those who were younger could have settled five in one room. But at first I was not worried about everyday problems. It was just very hard. A foreign huge city, not a single acquaintance, there wasn’t even anyone to talk to ... I collected things several times and wanted to return to Voronezh. But after a couple of months we started going to tournaments, going abroad. For me, all this was new, everything was interesting, and I realized that life was slowly getting better.

(NOTE: Young football players come to watch football schools in the capital’s clubs all the time, and during the winter holidays there are big views where players from different cities come. According to the Spartak school’s employees, they look at about 200-300 candidates for a year, from which they choose no more than 20-30).

STEP 3. DOUBLE

The team of my year of birth at school was coached by Ilya Tsymbalar. Time passed, and he, together with Juran, became the coach of the double. Then they quickly transferred many young players, including me, from school to take. By the way, they told me that before the arrival of Juran and Tsymbalar, the young people practically did not play in the Spartak double - all the time they sent from the base some legionnaires who did not know what to borrow. But Juran and Tsymbalar were categorically against the legionnaires playing in the double, and they constantly argued with the leadership that they would not be brought to us in the double. And although sometimes Selkichy and other property of selection were brought to the double, but under Juran and Tsymbalar only Russians played.

(NOTE: Now in the Spartak double there are 22 football players born in 1986-1989. There are 5 of these players in the main team.

STEP 4. GETTING TO KNOW

When Skala came to Spartak, he constantly began to take double games. And over time, several young players began to be attracted to training with the main team. Somewhere four months after Scala headed Spartak, he invited me to train with the base. A month after that, the Intertoto Cup began, injuries began for the players of the base, and we, the young, began to be released on the field. As a result, at the Rock, I played seven matches: five in the Intertoto Cup and one in the championship and the Russian Cup. I was just happy.

Arriving at Spartak, Skala introduced some interesting innovations: for lunch the whole team had to come at the same time and sit down at one big round table. And Scala has changed a lot in nutrition. We can say that we ate pasta alone! Moreover, they were forbidden to eat with ketchup and mayonnaise, and on the day of the game it was forbidden to eat even meat. I don’t like pasta, but, of course, Scale did not say anything against. Okay, I didn’t argue with the Italian, even experienced players who could not stand pasta. Probably because it was clear that there were no authorities for the Rock and he did not change his decisions. From the outside, he may seem like such a kind grandfather, but in reality he is a pretty tough coach: he said how he cut off.

From the time of the Rock, the arrival of Zoa was very memorable. I remember walking along the base, and a huge African in a white cloak and hat, like that of doctors, in huge headphones and a wild voice screams some African song towards me. Of course, during the time I spent at Spartak, I saw a large number of legionnaires - strange and not very, but Zoa made a huge impression on me at the first meeting: I had never imagined what a Spartak player might look like. But then Zoa turned out to be a normal guy, quite friendly. And he plays football well, unlike any Selkichi and Rousseau. In training, he looked very good, but after he scored in his own match in the match against CSKA Moscow, he was immediately rejected.

STEP 5. FIRST CRISIS

When Scala left, everything changed. Starkov all the young players who trained with the main team at the Rock, sent back to the double. At first, we were not very upset. We thought that everything was fine: a new coach came, got acquainted with the team, at the first time he relies on experienced players. We thought that if we play well for the double, they will not forget us. But very quickly it became clear that while there are Starks in Spartak, they will not allow the young to base. And it was not interesting for Starkov to go to the double games. And after Starkov in an interview said that he would not play players under the age of 21, many guys were about to leave. I had suggestions, and Torbinsky, and Rebko. I was called back to Fakel, and my agent also told me that I was interested in some clubs in the Premier League. If I were not in Spartak, which I dreamed of playing for my whole life, but in some other club, I would have already left for a long time.

During the reign of Starkov, we young people were constantly supported by Fedotov. Vladimir Grigorievich did not miss a single double game, and after the matches he often spoke individually with us. He reassured, persuaded not to go anywhere, but to wait until Starkov left. I really wanted Starkov to be fired, but after Spartak took second place and entered the Champions League, it became clear that Starkov remained for at least another season. After that, I decided that I needed to leave. In winter, there were several proposals from the teams of the first division, Fedotov still urged me to stay, but I understood that if I spent another year in the double, I might never be able to play at a high level. But Vladimir Grigoryevich constantly said that the team has only one right-back, Jiranek, and he constantly breaks down, that I have good chances to play the next year. Starkov, at the insistence of the club management, even took me to a training camp in Spain. And although after the trip I finally realized that Starkov was not counting on me, after we returned from the training camp in Moscow, I extended the contract for one year.

(NOTE: “When Starkov sent the young people who were training with the main team at the Rock back to the double, the guys had no doom and oppression. But when they found out that Starkov did not go to the double games and practically did not follow the young, After that, Juran and I began to conduct individual conversations with the guys, and Shishkin, Torbinsky, and Rebko managed to convince us that we should not despair in any way, but that we should continue to play and train with full dedication and try to break into the main sosta . It is very good at that time was able to convince the guys, because now all three of them - the main players of "Spartacus" (Ilia Tsymbalar).

STEP 6. SECOND CHANCE

The day after Starkov’s resignation, Fedotov called me and told me to go to Tarasovka to train with the main team. Of course, I understood that Vladimir Grigoryevich would give us young people a chance. But I’m not expecting to start playing so soon, of course. But my debut under Fedotov was very successful: I came out against Rostov at the base, we won a lot, and although I was terribly worried, I didn’t seem to make any serious mistakes. But before the match with Bayern, I was terribly nervous. When I stood next to the bench and began to play the Champions League anthem, I got goosebumps! And here Jiranek gets injured, and Fedotov tells me to quickly change clothes. I changed clothes very quickly, with trembling hands I tied my boots and went to the edge. Everything was in a fog ... True, when I entered the field, after about five minutes the excitement had passed. I’m generally quite calm, so I was surprised that I got so nervous then. More than this has never happened to me.

(NOTE: Four of the 26 peers of Shishkin, players of the youth team of Russia born in 1987, have already entrenched in the main teams of the Premier League clubs. The rest are still in favor of the backup teams or in the teams of the lower leagues).

Evgeny STATSENKO, PROsport