[앵커]
Although praise continues like this, a few years ago, Son Heung-min’s father swore that his son was by no means world-class. Would you have changed your mind now? Heung-Min Son has a hint of the answer in how to control himself.
Correspondent Oh Kwang-chun.
[기자]
This is a 2009 video of Son Heung-min recently uploaded by FIFA, the International Football Federation.
I was 17 at the time, and the goal scene was still beautiful back then.
A shot that he hit from a distance and put into the goal was an opportunity to advance his contract with Hamburg, Germany.
And a year later, Son Heung-min scored the youngest goal in his debut match.
However, on a day when everyone was excited, only his father, Woong-Jeong Son, had a different opinion.
At that time, I confessed that I had prayed, “Please let my son suffer from amnesia for just one day.”
He said that he did not give his son a laptop so he could not see the evaluations of those around him, lest he be too swayed by the emotions of the first goal.
“Colorful spotlights confuse you and make you lose your sense of reality,” he said to himself.
This self-management also influenced Son Heung-min’s consistent appearance without major ups and downs this season.
It’s like scoring a great goal and ‘looking back at the bad times when you were at your best, and on the contrary, remembering the best times when you were sluggish’ and promising ‘next’ rather than ‘now’.
Soccer training with my father was a time to learn such self-control.
[손웅정/손흥민 아버지 (FIFA+ 인터뷰) : (축구를 하고 싶다 해서) ‘이거 엄청 힘들다. 그래도 하겠냐’라고 세 번씩은 물어봤어요. ‘뭐 문제없다. 하겠다.’]
This unique training method was recently highlighted by FIFA as well.
In the belief that ‘the secret of soccer lies in the soccer ball’, training focused on the basics to develop a sense of the ball was also introduced.
[손흥윤/손흥민 형 (FIFA+ 인터뷰) : 정말 3시간 정도 볼 리프팅만 한 적이 있었고. 평평한 땅이어도 울퉁불퉁 굴곡져 보일 정도로 (훈련을 했습니다.)]
Son Heung-min’s story is like a beautiful fairy tale, but behind the scenes, there is a hidden effort to stay focused, in good times and in bad times.