Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
In a YouTube interview with Liverpool’s official channel, Van Dijk talks about his experience with the corona pandemic.
If there is any long-term positive to take away from this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is the unifying nature of it all. Although separate, we are all experiencing this together.
Granted, not all social distancing experiences are exactly equal. Virgil van Dijk gets to experience social distancing without the fear of losing his job or financial ruin. He gets to experience it while being one of the coolest dudes on planet Earth AND while having Zoom yoga sessions with other Liverpool players.
While many of us would gladly trade places with Big Virg right now, he’s also going through this with the rest of us, having to put a relatively short career on hold and ride out this storm.
“Your body is feeling different and your mindset of course as well,” Van Dijk said in a YouTube interview with the club. “This period, together with the Christmas period, is the busiest and toughest period – mentally as well – of the season.
“Now you have no idea what might happen, you stay at home and relax basically and do other things, play other games instead of football. It’s a totally different mindset, first and foremost.
“You’re not in the mood to really play football. Obviously you miss it and want it but there is no other way, you just have to stay put and wait for the right moment to go out there again.”
Many people are discovering new and novel ways to enjoy some form of connection and camaraderie. My board game group is now playing online and chatting over Skype. Virgil and the lads? Yoga over Zoom.
“It was fun, to be fair. It was a good session and we’re obviously going to have more of them as well.
“I definitely need more yoga anyway, so it will benefit me! It was good to see each other again. We had a short meeting with the gaffer as well, listening to him and what he had to say.
“Those kinds of things help as well because everyone is in uncertainty at the moment, no-one knows what exactly is going to happen. But those sessions definitely help, so they will definitely continue organizing those sessions.”
As I said in a previous post, the Liverpool YouTube account has really stepped up its game during this pandemic, releasing a lot more content (and for free). The full interview, as well as ones with Jurgen Klopp and Jordan Henderson are also worth the watch.
