Reims' Luka Elsner shares secrets on overcoming the mental anguish of coaching
Today at 06:17 AM
Being a manager can be among the most rewarding jobs in football and, at the same time, incredibly stressful and unfruitful. When you're winning, you can feel on top of the world, but when you aren't, it can be a number on one's mental health.
Luka Elsner has ridden the roller coaster of being a football manager in a career filled with highs and lows for over a decade.
The current boss at Stade de Reims recently appeared on Génération After, opening up about the mental strain that comes with coaching and what he does to combat it.
"It's true that coaching can be a little isolating. Because, despite everything, like it or not, this is part of our job, we bear the responsibility of results," he says.
The Franco-Slovenian succeeded the popular Will Still as coach of Les rouges et Blancs this summer and has encountered plenty of high points and challenges in the league thus far.
Reims began the Ligue 1 campaign with just one defeat after seven matchdays but have only won one of their last four domestic affairs, defeating Elsner's former team, Le Havre AC, before the international break (3-0).
Elsner says that he read a recent interview Franck Haise gave outlining the mental strains he experienced at RC Lens. At one point, the anxiety was so great that the current manager at OGC Nice considered quitting coaching altogether.
Elsner says Haise's words highlighted many things managers face over a long season. As for how he deals with mental health, he gave plenty of credit to the sports psychologist Reims hired this season.
"She gives us constant support, and it's a real resource that enables us to deal with emotions," says Elsner.
When asked how to overcome the blows attached to his job, he admitted that hard times are common but says that he gets through them by reminding himself they are temporary.
According to Elsner, rediscovering that enthusiasm for the game within 48 hours after a mental blow is critical to moving forward and succeeding as a coach.
In conclusion, he adds that if things are getting overwhelming, he often asks himself if there's anything else he'd be motivated by or something else that might make him happy and the answer has always been no. At the end of the day, he says that he says that without football, his life would be dull.
