Category Archives: Skip Kelly

Brighton football, Montpelier Villa Women FC, Skip Kelly, Women's football

Skip Kelly on Montpelier Villas Women FC

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Pre-season is my favourite time of the year. It’s all about getting players ready for the season ahead which means I can plan substitutions in advance knowing that the result has no consequence. All results are treated with a healthy dollop of skepticism because of the simple fact that it is pre-season. 

Last season, one of the earliest talks I had with a player was because they were worried about relegation. A week later I was having a conversation with another player who said their dream was to play at Wembley in an FA Cup final and waxed lyrical about how at that moment it was a possibility for us. During pre-season there are no such conversations but once league points or a place in the next round is at stake, it drives everyone mad and ultimately out of control.

‘Control the controllables’ is advice I repeatedly encounter and although it’s straightforward, I keep coming back to it. My mind is often racing with how to allocate tickets fairly if we did reach the FA Cup final or how I would keep players motivated through a relegation battle. 

 There’s a lot to worry about every season but arguably this season more than most. This will be my sixth season and I have announced to the squad it will be my last which naturally begs the question how will it all end? With silverware and plaudits like Alex Ferguson or an awkward and acrimonious like Arsene Wenger? Another one of those uncontrollables. 

This time next season, the team will be preparing for life in a new stadium with a new coach and hopefully will mark the beginning of a new successful era whereas I will be getting to grips with fatherhood. 

It’s always been a privilege to be responsible for a football team or a class in my actual job but the reality of being entirely responsible for an individual is both terrifying and exciting. 

There are countless stories of pushy parents being justified in their seemingly insane methods by the vast riches and glory that only sport offers and I can’t help but feel if we get a good start then there’s no reason that Skip Junior can’t be the person to lead Ireland to World Cup glory. 

Equally, I’m now more acutely aware of how parents can be disappointed by their offspring and I’m struck with the fear of Skip Junior being one of the greatest footballers in the world eclipsing Maradona, Messi and Ronaldo with billions of people imitating their skills on the pitch, copying their hairstyle and buying their shirt but then ruining it all in the eyes of their father by choosing to play for England. 

I have enjoyed asking current parents for advice which has ranged from ‘get sleep while you can’ to ‘don’t be afraid to say no’ but my favourite has been from the person who said people are very quick to tell you all the bad things but they never tell you how much joy they will bring you. 

Part of the reason I became the coach of Montpelier Villa was because I wanted my prospective children to have no barriers to playing football. I have never drunk alcohol because I was exposed to the effects of alcohol dependency at an impressionable age and didn’t want my prospective children to experience the same. 

Neither of these things will make me a better father and there are far more virtuous people than me out there but I share this with you to give an insight into the level of preparation I feel I have done. 

The child is due in January and by that time we are likely to know how well we have done in the FA Cup and if Wembley remains a possibility, we will know roughly where we are going to finish in the league. If the previous five seasons are anything to go by, we will win matches we shouldn’t win, lose matches we shouldn’t lose, players will get injured, and players will surprise themselves by surpassing their own expectations. 

At the moment, I feel calm and in control but my mind is racing with everything that we’re going to face in the season ahead. 

Cricket, Skip Kelly, Sport

Skip Kelly – Bazball, schmazball

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I may be the first sports writer who’s willing to admit that I am not that good at the sport I write about. This possibly isn’t news to anyone who has seen me play football, but recent advancements in modern technology such as the video camera have enabled yours truly to watch games I’ve played in and finally understanding why I quite often didn’t play the closing stages of games. Or the opening stages either. 

It raises interesting questions around perspectives in grassroots sport because before the advent of video evidence, I was convinced I was playing exceptionally well and was harshly substituted and although I rarely challenged the coach understanding they had decisions to make. (The few times I have been recorded serve a similar purpose to Colonel Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men by screaming “You can’t handle the truth.”)

Similarly, I’m not the first sports writer to have outlandish opinions about a sport I know very little about. I have never once picked up a cricket bat, but it is my steadfast belief that if I did and could be bothered I would be one of the finest batsmen the world has ever seen. People often say they would love to see me deal with a ball traveling towards me at up to 80 miles an hour and my response is I would simply just whack it as hard as I could. This was often met with uproarious laughter like every single one of my anecdotes. Those of you that have played cricket may scoff and spit out your tea and scones having read that but I have played hurling – Ireland’s bat and ball game in which everyone carries a stick at all times and striking the ball unopposed like you do in cricket is a pipe dream. 

Some may question if I claim to be so good at cricket then why don’t I make a lucrative career out of it. The main reason being I am not motivated by money, I am motivated purely by Montpelier Women’s Football Club. The other thing is I don’t want to travel as much as any top class athlete has to and although there is travel involved with MVWFC it never takes up any more than a day of traveling.

You never truly know what someone thinks of you until you die and all those lovely things are said about you at your funeral but I have found a shortcut with cricket fans. I simply offer my opinion on how good I am at cricket and what I get in return is a summation of my personality. Recently someone agreed with this and pointed out that I would take great pleasure in winding up bowlers by staying in for as long as possible. Which takes us to the current Ashes series – or, by the time you read this, the last Ashes series – which has been incredibly entertaining and equally vindicating. Although as a coach I understand a defensive style and the importance of staying in for an extended period of time, where’s the fun in that? I’ve always enjoyed coaches whose modus operandi is to win in the most entertaining way possible and Brendon McCullum certainly falls into that category because, although there is a thinking that all sport is a results based business, I couldn’t disagree more. The verb used to describe sport at all levels is play and with that there are connotations of being child-like and free from the realities and responsibilities of the big bad world. We play sports to exercise, to socialise and to entertain ourselves and others. There is something incredibly beautiful about athletes at the pinnacle of their career being reminded of this and being told to just whack it as hard as you can.