As captain of the South Korean soccer team and forward for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, Son Heung-min knows a thing or two about being a professional athlete.
In an interview with CNBC, Son shared his top tips on being a professional and handling the pressure that comes with it.
“Sleep well, eat well and do what you need, you know, like stay in the training room when you need six hours, seven hours, eight hours,” CNBC’s Arabile Gumede said in a video interview Friday.
Although distractions are everywhere, exercise should be a priority, Putra said.
“You have a lot of options, like, I don’t know, like video games, or like, you always want to do more, you know, like, play with your friends,” he said. “I think you have to always think the number one thing is football.”
Son left South Korea at the age of 16 to join German football club Hamburger SV, with whom he played for the first time in a European football league in 2010. After a short spell playing for Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, he moved to London-based Tottenham. in 2015 for £22 million ($26.9 million).
Putra also shared some of the biggest lessons he’s learned from his career so far.
“I think the lesson is, don’t try to chase your happiness,” he told CNBC. Many people are constantly looking for happiness, he says – when in fact it can come from things right in front of you like your family or your job, Putra believes.
Soccer star Son Heung-min shares his top tips for making it as a pro athlete as the biggest lesson he’s learned so far.
Photo by James Williamson – Ama | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
One of the key moments when it became clear to him was before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when he was injured and was not sure if he could lead the South Korean football team to the top international tournament. Son had a fractured left eye, which forced him to play with a face mask.
“I was there so I played with the mask,” he said. “I think that’s the only lesson I’ve learned because I think positively. […] Happiness is the most important thing.”
Another way Son says he deals with the pressures of being a professional athlete is by stepping back to his family and making sure they talk about his mental health.
“I’m sad, he’s sad, we’re happy and we’re all happy,” he said. “You can always share your feelings, you can always go with your family.”