Football Phillips uses his contacts to keep his young ‘keepers sharp
STEVE Phillips, the former Bristol City and Bristol Rovers goalkeeper, has called on some famous friends to help him keep young players at his academy motivated during the coronavirus lockdown.
Phillips is a rare case of a player who is loved by both City and Rovers fans following his long stints at both clubs. After hanging up his gloves, the 41-year-old runs a goalkeeping academy in Somerset, along with White Feather Coffee Shop, which is delivering meals to the vulnerable at the moment.
The lockdown posed a challenge for how Phillips could keep his young goalkeepers engaged and focused on improving their skills during a time where social distancing is a must.
Yet he was able to call on Watford star Ben Foster, along with rising Chelsea goalkeeper Nathan Baxter, to help encourage the young shotstoppers.
Phillips explained: “I’ve got three goalkeeping academies that I run one in Midsomer Norton on a Monday, one in Bridgwater on a Tuesday and one in Yeovil on a Wednesday.
“There’s over 100 goalies and obviously we can’t train, so I’ve been thinking of different ways to keep them engaged.
“Among a lot of other things I’ve been doing on my Steve Phillips Goalkeeping Academy Facebook page is setting up weekly Zoom sessions. I’ve got a lot of friends in the game and we’ve had Ben Foster - we did a double header with him for about two-and-a-half hours in total. We had Nathan Baxter on as well and my friend Greg Blenkinsop from the Watergate Studios, he’s a sports nutritionist and a qualified strength and conditioning coach, to talk to kids and parents about that part of the game. He’s allowed us to have his recipe book in order to keep people healthy and eating the right things during lockdown.
“Nathan Baxter is absolutely top drawer, he’s up-and-coming at Chelsea and I was fortunate enough to work with him on loan at Yeovil last year. He joined us to listen to Ben, who we had for two nights, and Ben’s absolutely staggering - one of the most humble, nicest human beings you’ll come across. Ben does a lot of stuff for charity and kids in general, and he was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
“The kids and parents loved it, I loved it. It was a great insight into how to get to the top of the game, which I think is important that kids understand how difficult that is and the dedication it takes if they want to get to the top.
“That was two-and-a-half hours long with a lot of stuff we went through to try to get the kids to the best possible place they can get to.”
Phillips, who made more than 150 appearances for Rovers and 250-plus for the Robins, admits the lockdown poses a challenge for young players, especially at a time when clubs would usually be looking to sign them. For example, former members of Phillips’ academy are now in the youth set-ups at Rovers, Swindon Town and Yeovil Town, so he has a good track record at producing goalkeepers.
To keep youngsters engaged, he has developed innovative ways to help his players keep improving and crucially keep them active during a difficult period.
He said: “When we got locked down, I was thinking about what can be done to keep the kids going.
“I go and find a bit of grass for an hour with my son, which we’re allowed to do, and we do training drills that we upload every Friday.
“I’ll do a session, talk over the session with the detail and the technique on the tactical side of it, then we post them every Friday so the kids have something to work to.
“They send me their videos so I can critique them, so they’re almost getting coached online still.
“I do competitions, such as when it’s been raining I posted a blank pair of gloves for them to colour in, with the winner in each age category getting a pair of gloves.
“I’ve got loads of stuff, like quizzes on mistakes in the 2018 World Cup, where kids have got to come back with what they think caused the erorr.
“I’m constantly thinking ahead I know they’ve got school work and things like that, but they’ve also got the chance to engage with football and practice.”
Getting advice from Foster and Baxter is a massive help for the young players, and Phillips says they have offered an insight into how players at the top are keeping fit themselves at the moment.
He explained: “It does vary, one of the questions to Ben was how he was training during the lockdown.
“He said he’s not doing any handling at all, he’s doing his core, upper body and cycles a hell of a lot, which he does for charity anyway.
“He’s slightly different to Nathan Baxter, who is more gym-based and fitness-based in his own house and garden. He’d be more crossfit exercises to keep fit and strong.
“You use anything you can to keep your hands going, like kicking a ball against a wall, doing high catches or getting someone to throw it to you in the garden.
“All the pros are just ticking over to stay ready to get back into it.”