– I feel it every week and in every match. I have that bastard on my shoulder who constantly whispers in my ear and says: “This is not good enough, Jostein”, an open-hearted Jostein Grindhaug tells news. The 50-year-old has spent more than half his life at FK Haugesund. Almost his entire playing career took place in Haugesund. He put his shoes on the shelf in 2007, but didn’t stay away for long. Since 2009, he has either been head coach or sports manager at the club. With him on the long journey, through all the ups and downs, he has had a companion with him. Someone who tells him that what he is doing is not good enough. One who motivates him to constantly do better. Performance anxiety stands there on the sidelines with him. For better and for worse. – When the inner voice comes and tells you that you are not good enough, it becomes a bit like marriage. You get eaten up a bit from the inside, says sports psychologist Dag Sørum. “Is it worth it?” news can join Grindhaug and Haugesund in training in Karmøyhallen, a 20-minute drive away from Haugesund’s stadium. The committed native of Rogaland, who is in his twelfth year as head coach, left the artificial turf, climbed onto the stands and watched closely from above. Perspective is important to him. Not just on the training field. Also in life. ENGAGED: Jostein Grindhaug, Haugesund’s coach. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB In recent years, more and more footballers have opened up about their mental health. There are many judgments, and André Sødlund recently shared his strong story with news. But it is not often that football coaches open up about anxiety and struggling mentally. It is therefore important for Grindhaug to do just that. It is important to talk about it, get it out there and make it clear, he says. – Everyone has their own way of doing it. Some have trainers, some have psychologists and others have nothing. I think that finding the path that suits each individual is the most important thing. I try to keep myself so busy that I avoid the worst train of thought. When I get a little too much free time it can go crazy, says the Haugesund manager. Football coaches have a lonely and difficult job, points out Dag Sørum, who has collaborated with the Norwegian Athletes’ Central Organization (Niso) for years. It is often the coach who gets the blame when things don’t go well. Nor do they always get the credit when something goes well. And they stand there in the firing line, week after week. They receive critical questions from the media, are scolded by supporters and are under pressure from the board. – It means so much to so many people. There is a lot of weight in the responsibility you have. Then you have to have some mechanisms that loosen things up a bit. Just like Zalo in fat, says Grindhaug, and adds: – Every now and then you think “What the hell are you doing? Is it worth it?”. It is not always as pleasant. It’s not that. TOUGH TIMES: There were many setbacks for Jostein Grindhaug on the sidelines last season. Then he has a tough time, he says. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB Going beyond the family He has set aside plenty of time for the interview with news. “It’s a big and broad topic,” he says. But performance anxiety has not become something that only inhibits. It has also been a motivator. – It keeps me on my toes and keeps my hunger at bay. You have to be able to turn it into something positive. I like the fear of failure. It gives me a lot, because I don’t want to be there. “It will be a bit too much of a circus”, is the verdict on football today. When Grindhaug was an active soccer player in the 1990s and 2000s, it was something completely different than today. Football players and coaches are analyzed at any time. Social media mean that harassment from anonymous accounts is never far away. And although mental health was not something that was talked about then, he can relate to those who are having a tough time today. – As a footballer, I had periods where it was no longer fun. The joy and play with football disappeared and it became a job, something you had to do. And soccer players today… They are the modern rock stars. The focus is so extreme from the media and the outside world, he says. The family becomes a haven for the father of two. But they are also the ones who get worse when it rains. Grindhaug, who many see as a lump of fun, is not always smiling. Someone who always has a joke up his sleeve. – I can be a bit of fun, but when things go badly… You become a little more grumpy, grumpy or less appetizing than normal, he says and laughs. SMILE IN PLACE: Jostein Grindhaug has been good at seeing things from the positive side. Here he is before the match against HamKam, which gave him yet another reason to smile. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB Earlier in the article we mentioned that Grindhaug valued perspective. He is busy looking for it, and he often finds it in the pub. Having a beer and hanging out with people he doesn’t know very well is fine. – Hearing other people’s stories, not telling me all the time, is good medicine, he says. Haugesund has started the 2023 season with two losses and one win. Thus, the start of this season is already better than the start of the previous one. Then Haugesund started the season with five straight losses. – That’s when I feel the pressure the most. In case of several losses, something you can experience in a club like Haugesund. When we had five losses in a row last year, it was lead heavy. But it’s also a bit interesting… He takes a short thought break, smiles slyly, and says: – You can’t hide away. Instead, you turn everything around and the time has suddenly come to tear out everything you have under your sweater, get out the till and say this is fine. Because you have nothing to lose. You turn it into something positive and suddenly you strike from below and up. And I like that. LOOKING ABOVE: Jostein Grindhaug, here from the 2-2 match away to Tromsø in 2019. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / NTB – Coaches stand very much on their own Dag Sørum, who has many years of experience as a psychologist for athletes at the highest level, praises the attitude of Grindhaug. All too often, players and coaches tie their own value to their own performance, he believes. – That’s often how it is, that they get these negative spirals that you go and grind on, he says, and continues: PSYCHOLOGIST: Dag Sørum. Photo: Private – It is quite tough to be the one responsible for the results in a club. When you’re so exposed all the way, it’s tough. Trainers are very much on their own when it comes to everything and are very focused on performing. And they become extremely vulnerable if they place importance on and assess their self-worth with the fact that it is only worth something when they perform. – What remains with the football coaches who have come to me is the intense loneliness they feel. But it is important for a trainer to spread the pressure a little outward and distribute it a little to everyone so that everyone pulls in the same direction. If you get everyone to understand that there is a gathering at the bottom, you can turn it into something positive. Jostein Grindhaug has been good at that. Now he and the “underdog” Haugesund look forward to striking from the bottom up. Then he thrived.
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