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BYSTROV: FEEL LIKE 20 YEAR OLD
The correspondent of Sport Express met with the midfielder of Spartak
and the Russian national team, Vladimir Bystrov to speak about football,
fishing and so on.
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Photo: english.sport-express.ru
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Vladimir Bystrov likes fishing very much, he is said to
have found some time on Euro 2008 and went fishing with his teammates.
And he performed most successfully, having caught a 12 kg sturgeon.
"I think that I fell for football earlier than for fishing,"
said Vladimir. "Though I go in for fishing since my early childhood."
"I was born in Luga, the southern town of Leningrad region where
the air and the water are said to be most clear."
"I cannot say that the air is somehow curative in Luga, but it is
true that the nature is wonderful there with lots of rivers and lakes."
"We used to live in a three rooms apartment with my grandparents,
then we moved to a two-storey wooden house where we had two rooms for
ourselves: the first one for parents, the other one for my younger brother
and me. He is a year younger than I am."
"The conveniences were minimal: one bathroom for five flats. And
I was glad with that life, and never complained. Moreover in such backs
as Luga you don't need anything special."
The distance between St. Petersburg and Luga is only 136 km. But the distance
that separates this small town from the world of big football seems unbridgeable.
But Vladimir Bystrov was never thinking about it. At school he was playing
basketball, in the yard - tennis, football, volleyball, hockey and he
never thought of becoming a professional sportsman.
A chance determined his destiny. Once one of his friends amazed everybody
with a story that he went to the football school 'Smena' in St. Petersburg
where he was allegedly welcomed with open arms. The 13-year old boy also
decided to go to 'Smena' and went to St. Petersburg together with his
father. There he met Vasily Kastrovsky (at the moment the director of
the school). And Kastrovsky appreciated the abilities of Bystrov and let
him into the world of sport.
"After that I got to know that this boy who allegedly went to 'Smena'
had thought everything up," said Vladimir. "But if that hadn't
happened I could have never met Kastrovsky."
Bystrov became the elite of the Russian football very quickly: at 17 he
was in the reserves of Zenit, in 18 - in the main squad, in 20 - he was
called up to the national team.
"Everything began when the coach Anatoly Davydov phoned my father
and said that they needed me for the reserves. And I signed the contract."
"There were thoughts before that call when I did not know where to
go and what to do. But when the coach who saw me in 'Smena' invited me
to the team everything became clear."
"I left Zenit for Spartak only because they offered good money and
the management could not resist."
"I am thankful to Georgy Yartsev, who invited me into the national
team for giving such a chance as to show my worth in the national team."
"Guus Hiddink is completely different from Russian coaches. For example
in Russia before the game you are supposed to switch everything off (computers,
telephones) and lying on bed stare at the ceiling. And Hiddink has a different
approach, he trust us, treat us as professionals who know how to prepare
ourselves for the game."
"I cannot imagine myself at the age of 40 or 50. I feel like 20 year
old and I think I will remain like this forever."
Sport
Express Daily, 26 Sep 2008
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