German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen midfielder Nuri Sahin
German Bundesliga side Werder Bremen midfielder Nuri Sahin feels keeping spirits high during COVID-19 lockdown is really important and as a footballer one should focus on the positives all the time.
"It's not rocket science, but I think a lot of teams are doing what we're doing, chatting on Zoom, Skype or video calls, tactic calls, whatever you want to call them.
"We had a video meeting as a team this morning that went really well. On the field, you can do a bit more work with individuals, something which isn't really possible for a coach when 20 or 25 players are together on a pitch -- so you can do a bit more detailed work, as best as you can," Sahin said in a interview to bundesliga.com.
On how life has been during the pandemic, the youngest player in Bundesliga history said: "First of all, we're good -- my family and my teammates here, we're all good. It's an exceptional situation that none of us have been in before. It's a test that we have to pass as a team -- that's how we're dealing with it.
"I have two kids -- a son in the third grade and a little daughter who's in kindergarten, she's three. We're trying to make the best of it, we're trying to enjoy our time together and to use it at home.
"In terms of schooling, we're trying to do as much as we can, obviously it's not really a time for lessons, but we have a very good relationship with the school my son attends, they've given us lots of materials and we're trying to think of a lot of games we can play together, family games or learning vocabulary from other languages, stuff like that. I would say we're really filling our time together and it's been very helpful!"
Sahin made his debut for the club in 2005 at the age of 16 years and 335 days.
On returning to team training with Werder Bremen last week, he said: "It's not really team training I have to say! We train in a group of maximum four players and one coach, so I wouldn't call it team training, but it's nice to pass the ball to a teammate instead of against a wall, and that you don't have to go and get the ball, instead it comes back to you from your teammate on your stronger foot!
"Little things like that we've all missed. And then even in a group of four, it's great to laugh together, relax a bit, it's really important. It's better than it was in the first week or ten days just doing individual training or those first weeks where we were stuck at home and we could only go running.
"Obviously we don't have any physical contact in training, you can't have any challenges. I hadn't imagined it that way but they really do make sure that everyone keeps their distance. On the first day, I came in and thought I could maybe take a shower, but all the showers are closed, we have to shower at home! So all the measures are really closely enforced -- they're very strict, I have to say."
