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| Son Heung-min, left and his father Son Woong-jung |
Former footballer grooms son to shine in Premier League
By Kang Aa-young
In the wake of the 2018 Asian Games, the value of Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has surged, creating a buzz about his "soccer dad" as many believe his father has played a pivotal role in his meteoric rise to stardom.
The Spurs' forward has been valued at over 100 million euros, according to the International Center for Sports Studies, Monday.
Those who are familiar with the Tottenham Hotspurs forward say Son's splendid performance in the English Premier League wouldn't be possible without his dedicated father, Son Woong-jung, noting there's a "soccer dad factor" behind the younger Son's meteoric rise to stardom.
The senior Son, 56, is a former football player. He retired from football at 28 due to an Achilles tendon injury and has since taught aspiring football players in eastern Gangwon Province. The senior Son said he was a "mediocre" player but learned many lessons from his own experiences.
He trained his son Heung-min based on his experience, putting emphasis on improving the "basics" for years. The senior Son said the importance of basics cannot be overstated.
He was a "tiger dad."
"I didn't allow my son to play in a formal league until he turned 16. Instead, I taught him only basics, six hours a day, every day," the older Son said in an interview.
"I didn't want my son to become like me when I was a football player."
When he moved to Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, he taught his son like a martial arts master in the movies.
Every day, Son Heung-min went through an extreme workout, including a thousand reps of shooting practice for each leg, and thousands of double under jump rope exercises.
In 2008, when his son was in Hamburg to attend a youth academy after dropping out of high school at the age of 16, the older Son stayed at a motel located in the neighborhood of the training center and went through the same weight training session as his son.
"I couldn't stop, he was right beside me, training just the same as me," the younger Son recalled when asked to comment on his father. He said he had no complaints about his father because he was such a devoted father.
Believing milk helps growing children build physical fitness, the older Son fed his son a bowl of rice in milk.
His extraordinary efforts made his son a player with a signature skill, dubbed "Son Heung-min zone." The skill is the result of the younger Son's excessive amount of shooting practice and his father's dedication.
The older Son is a strict father.
On the 125th day anniversary of his team, the younger Son was out late at night with teammates having fun. His father called him and scolded him for paying little attention to his physical fitness. His father worried that his son hanging out with teammates could disrupt his body rhythm. The younger Son heeded his father's advice and returned home immediately.
The older Son pushed for the transfer of his son to Tottemham Hotspur form Leverkusen, Germany after his son was not included in the roster.
Some say he is overprotective.
The younger Son denied this and said his father is more than a parent.
"To me, he is my father and a football coach as well," Son said. "He played football long before I became a footballer and his experiences helped me a lot."
The younger Son said his father is a mentor who gives him advice whenever he makes key decisions but he is the person who makes the final decision.
The older Son's hard work and dedication paid off.
On Friday, a football column about Son's father was posted on SB Nation, a community for Tottenham fans, and has since generated much buzz in Korea.
In the column, author Avery Farmer complemented the older Son's work ethic and philosophy as a coach, noting he made today's Son.
Specifically, the writer pointed out Son's playing style is the result of his father's unique training style. "At Son Woong-jung's academy, students do not learn to shoot until their mid-late teens, instead repeating exercises to develop agility and ball control over and over again," Farmer wrote quoting Channel News Asia's media coverage of the footballer. The elder Son runs the academy for young football players.
According to the writer, the father's teaching ethic is distinguished from others, which makes it special and concluded that the father coached him well as a coach and also as an adviser when it came to make career decisions.
What's more, the writer thought the senior Son's work ethic is future-oriented for players, calling for Tottenham leadership to sign a contract with him to join the English football club's coaching staff.
