«We kept the goals for the championship!»

Several years ago all TV channels and billboards of the Moscow Oblast touted the audience to spend their vacation at the local facilities. And now the youth team players who are using the base in Bakovka as a venue for their training camp mention it enthusiastically in every interview. With just one difference - this is not a vacation, their schedule is tight.

The training camp is closing down soon but everyone’s working hard. Despite a series of losses in the friendlies the guys and the coaches are all in good mood. ‘We kept the goals for the championship’, - says Nika Kipiani who is now back from the Russia youth national team (an extended interview with the forward about the national team, Georgia, and his explosive character is coming soon).

The players wake up early - they have a lot to do. The training session scheduled for 10:30 actually starts earlier when the boys occupy themselves with passing squares. Forward Andrey Mostovoy becomes the best in this improvised contest with the highest rate of intercepted balls.

But as the wisdom has it, business before pleasure - the coach’s whistle summons the players to get together on the pitch for a lesson on tactics. Sitting on the grass in a circle, the boys listen to Denis Klyuev who moves figures on the board. After that the new combinations and the old mistakes are scrutinized on the field. The coach hints what position a player has to take and demonstrates it himself. It is a curious atmosphere in the team, and the players confirm it by saying that even despite they are demanded to work hard all day long the training camp goes easy.

Goalkeepers train separately: while Lobantsev and Lantratov are in Austria with the main squad, and Kovalyov is having several days-off after the Russian Championship for U17s, the young Stepan Krymov and Maksim Ivashov are up to the job - they are both Lokomotiv Academy talents. ‘Jump higher!’ ‘Hands tight!’ - these are just a few advices from the goalkeeper coach Aleksandr Chikhradze.

After the practice comes square dinner and a rest. ‘During a training session the body loses much of the beneficiary elements. It is very important to recover them through food and vitamin cocktails’ - says the team’s doctor.

After the meal the Press Service asked the players to answer some questions from the fans who took part in the #AskYouthTeam conference. The most active supporter got a prize from the club.

Now the players are yet to have a big lesson on tactics and an evening practice. The season is round the corner but it looks like that’s what they’re waiting for. New season brings new victories!