Andy Tucker is a football legend in Cheltenham – an ex player for Cheltenham Town FC and Gloucester City, he created soccer schools that are famous in the this part of the world. And through his national franchise – SupaStrikers – Tuxs is helping kids as young as two learn the ropes of the beautiful game.
Watch a preview of the chat with Andy Tucker below:
Watch or listen to the full chat with Andy Tucker below:
Local legend
Former Cheltenham Town and Gloucester City Footballer and local soccer-school legend Andy Tucker is passionate about the beautiful game. The man behind Andy Tucker’s soccer schools still coaches youth football on the side of his day job at Bishops Cleeve FC and is a passionate Aston Villa fan. He loves football. But he especially loves coaching little kids with his SupaStrikers programme because of the rewards the youngsters reap from playing.
“I actually find it the most rewarding coaching the two and three year-olds because as they get older, you get a little more attitude! The two and three year-olds are so pure. And you can see development week on week.”
Powerful moments
While a lot of us parents – myself included – might have daydreams of our kids volleying overhead kicks into the top corner, Tucker says the most powerful moments come when you see a young child’s confidence rising; when football helps them become a little person.
“You know, they might come in first week and they just cling to mum’s leg and they don’t want to do anything. And then come week three of four they go straight to one of the other children and interact and play football.”
More than just a football class
Tucker, or Tuxs as he’s known in local football circles, has helped other coaches set up Supastriker franchises around the country and he believes it’s that ability of football to develop young bodies and brains at the same time that makes the classes so successful.
“Yes, it’s a football class but what we’re trying to achieve, there’s a lot more depth to it. A sense of balance, coordination and obviously fitness as well. They’re running around, they’re going full on for the 45 minutes whilst they’re in the class.”
The class also offers respite for parents – 45 minutes off of legging it after toddlers and Tuxs is keen to stress the sessions are indoors owing to the fact that young kids often don’t stay inside cones or on marked pitches.
Spreading the word
SupaStrikers, the specific programme for two to seven year-old has been going since 2005, but Andy Tucker Soccer Schools began back in the 1990s when Tuxs was playing for Cheltenham Town. He’s still in a good physical condition and does kettlebell workouts most days, but has consciously stepped back from a lot of the hands on coaching in recent years to spread the SupaStrikers word across the nation.
“I was at the age where I wanted to do more of the management and develop SupaStrikers, build the brand around the country and make sure all these people we take on are doing SupaStrikers proud.”
A readymade business
SupaStrikers effectively offers a readymade business for football mad coaches around the country to invest into and Tucker has overseen his 20 year-old son taking on a franchise in South Wales.
“It’s such a good experience for somebody that age because it throws you in the deep end a little bit and suddenly you come out of school or college and you’re running your own business. So you’ve got to deal with your own finances, you’ve got to do customer service and deal with people, you’ve got to run the sessions and budget and manage everything.’
Back at Bishops Cleeve
Tucker’s work on the coaching business may be largely administrative these days, but he is currently under 18’s coach at Bishops Cleeve FC.
“It’s great to be involved. I finished my playing career at Bishops Cleeve, I think about 2006. And Collie, Paul Collicutt was my manager and he’s back at the club, he’s manager of the first team and they’re doing fantastically well. Obviously, having a nice facility, a pretty new astro, nice changing rooms.”
Tucker has enjoyed watching Cheltenham Town’s stabilisation under returning hero manager Steve Cotterill though he actually left the Robins for Gloucester City six months before Cotterill’s first stint at Whaddon Road in 1997. At the time it was a little bit of a controversial switch.
“Obviously, because I was playing for Cheltenham, I was a Cheltenham boy I did get a bit of flak playing for Gloucester City. But to be fair I had a pretty good record in those derbies. When I was at Cheltenham, I remember we beat Gloucester City convincingly and then I went to Gloucester City. There was a really big Boxing Day Game, four or five thousand watching and we beat them ( Cheltenham) 2-1.”
Tucker warmed the hearts of local football fans back in his playing days and continues to build on his legacy, coaching thousands of school kids in the area over several decades.
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