"It’s not the time to be selfish"

Every day, we get more and more used to the new reality enforced by the coronavirus COVID-19. Bound to our homes, for some these extraordinary times still require hard work. Home office also applies to Lech’s footballers. Van der Hart, one of Lech’s captains, agrees that it’s for the best.

"It’s not the time to be selfish. We need to unite and help one another. In my case, staying at home means I cannot do my job which is obviously fun, however, it doesn’t matter how I feel. There are far more important things right now," highlighted the Dutch keeper.

For the past few days, Lech’s players haven't been training at Bulgarska street as they always do. In turn, they have been sent home and tasked with working individually in an attempt to minimise the negative effects of the lack of professional training sessions. “We are currently staying at home and working individually. In my opinion, it’s the best we can do at the moment. We must simply wait. My training program is based on the exercises prepared for me by the fitness coaches which I do twice a day. The program includes both strengthening and stretching exercises and it’s been designed in a way that we can easily complete all exercises at home by ourselves,” explained van der Hart.

“The current situation has impacted the football competition. No one really knows when we will be able to appear on the pitch again nor how many more games we are going to play this season. As I said, all we can do is wait and ensure that we maintain our fitness level and are ready to get back on the pitch at any moment,” added Lech’s goalkeeper.

However, training sessions don’t take up 24 hours, hence footballers have plenty of free time that they need to organise wisely without leaving homes. Van der Hart admitted that he’s been catching up on a few TV shows, reading books, and went back to an old hobby.

“Having more free time now, I decided to buy PlayStation again. I haven’t had one for 6 years, therefore now I am catching up and playing a lot. I also devote time to video calls with my family and girlfriend. I am alone here in Poznan which makes it hard for me but staying in touch with my family keeps my spirits high,” added van der Hart.