More than just a goalkeeper: Guitar, bongo, yoga and healthy eating – how Yann Sommer deals with stress | blue News

As a goalkeeper, Yann Sommer is always under pressure.

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As a goalkeeper, Yann Sommer needs a thick skin: one week he’s being praised, the next he’s the big scapegoat. In an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, he talks about his life in Italy and reveals how he deals with stress.

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• Yann Sommer receives a lot of praise as a world-class goalkeeper, but he also has to deal with harsh criticism.
• Music, a healthy diet, yoga and family: all of these help Sommer to reduce stress.
• In an interview, Sommer also reveals why he is not pursuing a career as a football coach.

Sommer has already experienced a lot in his career. The former international goalkeeper knows the sunny side of the business, but also the darker side. He has been living in Italy for a year and a half now and the wind has recently been blowing against him there too. But nothing throws the soon-to-be 37-year-old – he celebrates his birthday on December 17 – off course so quickly.

“I live in the center and I’m doing very well in Milan. Maybe it would be better if there was a little less traffic… But I like to experience the city like a Milanese,” says Sommer, who now speaks fluent Italian as well as German, French and English, in an interview with the “Gazzetta dello Sport”. He enjoys going to the park with his wife Alina and daughters Mila (6) and Nayla (4). They lead “a quiet life”, says Sommer, who appreciates the “lightness and joie de vivre” of Italians.

Healthy eating, music and yoga

There’s no getting around Sommer in the kitchen, which he masters as if it were his penalty area. “I had considered hiring a cook because it’s often difficult to organize with the children in the evenings. But I prefer to cook myself, so I can choose the food and take care of everything.” And he pays attention to a few things: “No lactose, no gluten, I try to avoid sugar and eat very little meat. I’m not completely vegan, but my diet is moving in that direction.”

Sommer doesn’t even get a pizza between his teeth. And what about coffee? “It’s impossible not to drink coffee in Italy – but only after lunch. I drink matcha tea in the morning.” He inherited his passion for cooking from his father, just like his passion for music. “I play the guitar, bongo and piano. As a child, we had music on from morning to night,” says Sommer. When he hears the name Bruce Springsteen, it warms his heart: “He’s my absolute idol.”

The trips to Switzerland

Family, music and a healthy diet all help Sommer to reduce stress, as do his yoga sessions. And when the match schedule allows, Sommer likes to take a trip to Switzerland with his wife and daughters, as he did recently during the international break. As an ambassador for Switzerland Tourism, it goes without saying that he raves about the mountains and nature. “I recommend everyone to go there at any time of year. Autumn is my favorite season, the colors are incredible, it really is a spectacle.”

His children and wife would also go skiing, which is taboo for him due to the risk of injury. But he is looking forward to snowboarding down the mountain again after his career. Basically, he hasn’t thought too much about his future yet. At least he knows what he doesn’t want: “I probably won’t become a coach, it’s too stressful a job.”