Head coach Mike Skubula shared his thoughts on the campaign so far and what he anticipates lies ahead for his emerging squad.
The FA National Futsal League
The Grand Finals
Saturday 31 May 2014
St. George's Park
How important is it for you to reach the last four of The FA National League Grand Finals?
It is an honour to have made it this far. We pride ourselves on our development programme and our status as the most successful side in the country at promoting new talent. Qualification to the Grand Finals is an important vindication for a club with so little external support. It is also great for our long-serving players who will finally have the shot at European Futsal which they so richly deserve.
You have had a positive season in both the National League and also the Super League. What would you say are the foundations that this has been built on?
We would be unable to be in such a privileged position were it not for the incredible development system we have in place at Loughborough - both for players and coaches. This season we had over 270 players attend an open trial for the club, and our developmental side has won the Leicestershire League and came runners-up in BUCS. This system has been instrumental in producing a number of influential players, with Calvin Dickson, Rikuhisa Fukihara and James Webb all having stepped up to the Elite squad from the development programme, the latter even being called up for England. The growth of support staff within the team has also seen our players benefit from performing in a professional environment. Accumulating so many coaches of the quality of Michael Skubala, James Barlow, Billy Graeff, Marc Forrest and Anselmo Rodrigues in the same set-up can only mean positive experiences for the players.
What do you know about your opponents?
Any team we face at this stage of the tournament will be very strong with a number of experienced, clever players. We are fortunate to have a sophisticated scouting network in place and are therefore aware of how our opponents may shape up against us. If something was made evident in last season’s Grand Finals was that teams at this stage can become very competitive and make it very difficult even for the toughest of rivals to beat them.
The Grand Finals has the hallmarks of being an entertaining spectacle, for someone new to Futsal, what would you say are the main differences to football? And what should they look out for?
The pace of the game, especially at this standard, is extremely different. Players need to think quicker and make better decisions to maintain the fluidity of the game, and need to be comfortable in all positions on the court. They should also look out for the fly ‘keeper- so different to anything they'll see in football and always likely to provide entertainment.
What would it mean to lift the trophy be crowned as National Champions and also secure a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup?
It would be a great honour. Such an achievement would go some of the way to repaying all of the players, coaches and support staff who give up so much of their time to the programme. It would also be an assertion of how winning is possible from clubs based on development, and the discovery and promotion of new talent, as well as a great opportunity for some of the most gifted current English players to showcase their ability in Europe.
