Loach: I'm not ready to give up playing yet
Here is part two of my interview with Barnet keeper Scott Loach on his new venture which kicks off on Wednesday night:
TK: Where will the school be actually based, just in Southwell?
SL: Yeah, based there but not exclusive to people just living in Southwell. I’ve got people from Newark, Chesterfield, Derby so it’s open to everyone. It’s on a Wednesday night and will be split into age categories, I’m not separating genders so we all work and learn together.
On the launch night there will be 18 keepers split into three groups of six and we will rotate every 15 minutes to do a different drill, to get a good feel of things, none of this waiting around to do something, that’s the young keepers.
I’ve got a young lad called Harry Chapman who is the youth team keeper at Chesterfield who’s going to be my right hand man, good for me and good experience for him too. He’s only 17, but his passport must say he’s much older, he’s massive, like Aymen a rare breed!
There’s Philipa Davies who’s at (Nottingham) Forest at the moment and she’ll pop along too, I think it’s good for both the boys and the girls to have people there to look up to and aspire to.
So there will the first group from 5pm-6pm up to age 10, then 6.15-7.15 up to age 13 and finally 7.30-8.30 the older ones around 15-16 year olds who you can really put through their paces.
I’m lucky to have a lot of contacts within the game so Steve Cherry who used to play for Derby and Notts County I’m friends with his son and others so I’m aiming to get a guest down every four or five weeks as well just to bring a different voice in really and also different styles.
TK: You’ve got 34 keepers ready to go so far, what’s the maximum you can accommodate?
SL: At the moment it’s 36 so I can aim to split into three groups of 12 at each level. The youngers ones it’s not so bad, but the middle ones I’m more keen on as they’re just starting secondary school so you want to keep their focus.
If the numbers increase then we would add another night, not for being greedy but for their development, you don’t want to be making a save then having to wait ten turns to make another save.
Eventually it’ll be one drill, then swop between Harry and I, if you have too many then it becomes harder to keep them interested.
TK: You mentioned the youngest keepers are six years old, what age groups are you going up to?
SL: Honestly, I’ll go up to adults that’s not a problem, it would just mean a separate night because you wouldn’t want to move the kids sessions around to put the eleven year olds with the fifteen year olds.
I wouldn’t write anyone off, write any gender off, even if a four year old wanted to give it a go I’d obviously have a look at them and be honest with the parents if they’re not quite ready yet, but I think anyone over the age of 16 would need and want more from a session so I would look to do a different night with them.
TK: Is this the full time aim for you once you decide to hang up the gloves and stop the goals going in?
SL: Erm, kind of! My ideal scenario would be like Rhys and Darren were doing at Barnet, into a club two or three days a week daytime and then my coaching school in the evening for two or three nights.
Of course I’m talking at the lower levels though and if you work your way up the ladder it becomes full time the higher you go obviously. But, definitely looking at least two nights a week for me and something part time, but I’m not ready to give up playing yet.
One thing I have loved this year is working with Aymen (Azaze) and James (Callen) where younger keepers are of the age still wanting to learn but I wouldn’t rule out working with first team experienced keepers, I’m open to everything.
TK: Final one, what can young keepers expect to learn from Scott Loach?
SL: I am massive on not teaching a kid how to catch the ball, that’s not goalkeeping. I think I’ve said to you before my style is different to Aymen’s, to James, so with the aim to keep the ball out of the net, my teaching is footwork.
Not your Eddison footwork where you take a back pass, Cruyff it and ping it out to the fullback, but speed across the goal. The quicker you get into line the more shots you save and how you keep it out is up to you. If you watched De Gea at the weekend, shots hitting him everywhere, unorthodox but effective and that’s huge for me.
I can show them how much distance they can cover in and around the goal, that’s my main objective besides keeping that ball from crossing the white line.
My thanks to Scott for his time, Scott Loach GK Coaching School launches on Wednesday 12th May at Southwell City FC at 6pm.
For more details check out Scott on social media:
www.scottloach-gk.co.uk
scott@scottloch-gk.co.uk
Instagram: scottloachgk