Shrewsbury Town Academy have added a new youth development phase coach, Dan Reece, and a new strength and conditioning coach, Callum Reeves, to their coaching ranks.
Interview timings:
Dan Reece: 00:00-04:18
Callum Reeves: 04:18-06:21
Dan Reece:
On his role:
"I'm the new YDP [youth development phase] coach and that goes from under-12s to under-16s which means I get to see a lot of players in the academy. I oversee all of those age groups but I'm mostly with the under-15s and under-16s. Now, we have staff who we didn't have before. We have two volunteer coaches for each age group which allows me to bounce around the under-12s, 13s and 14s a bit more which is really good. It gives me a better overview of the players within the academy.
"My goal is to get the players to become scholars and then hopefully into the first team. That's my role."
On his former experience:
"Before I came here, I was in China for three-and-a-half years. There were lots of similarities and lots of differences. I was overseeing a lot of people in a new environment and over there I was putting in my philosophy whereas here I'm working within the philosophy we already have which is good.
"Before that, I ran Connah's Quay's [Nomads] scholarship programme. We started that from nothing and built it all up which gave me good experience getting players into that scholarship age."
On his experience being in the role so far:
"I was a part-time coach and joined here in February with the under-13s. I worked for a few months before this job came up. I went for it and I got it which is really good. I'm busy but I'm loving it, it's the reason I came back home from working abroad.
"At the moment, I'm still getting my head around the role a little bit and understanding how it works here. So many new parents and players - names are the worst for me, I'm terrible with names - but trying to get that basic stuff first before adding in the other stuff that I value."
On the Coach Volunteer Programme that allows volunteer coaches to get involved in the academy and the youth system:
"I think every football club that embraces the community and supports locals who come into the club has that extra bit of family feel. If we can support them and maybe even get them their coaching qualifications then they'll have that passion and desire to help the club even more."
Callum Reeves:
On his role:
"Firstly, I'm really really excited about the role. My job is to get the lads physically prepared and that'll be all the way through the academy from under-9s to under-18s. You can see when you watch us play that we play an agressive pressing style [of football], and it's my job to give the lads the physical ability to go and do that and do it successfully.
"I've been here a couple of weeks so it's still quite fresh and I'm still getting my feet under the table but we're slowly chipping away at getting the fitness programme fully implemented across the academy."
On his previous experience:
"Previously I was at Nottingham Forest, a Category 1 academy, so I had a really good experience with the [under] 18s and 23s there. At the start of my career when I was just out of uni, I started an internship at Leicester City which gave me more experience at another Category 1 academy."
On how he can help improve performances:
"I like to think my experience can bring the academy forward in terms of their physical development. I've got a lot of experience in Category 1 academies so hopefully, I can use that experience to help these lads out.
On the role so far and how his role can affect team performances:
"It's really challenging. Every team I work with is really different; a different group of lads and a different style of play, things like that. But that's really good because it challenges me and pushes me outside my box. The under-18s are flying at the minute and are obviously unbeaten but I can't say that's down to me! I just want to help towards that sort of thing, even if it's just about keeping them a little bit sharper and ready to go."
