How table-tennis defeats to his dad turned Thibaut Courtois into a winner

Simon Johnson26 May 2017

From a very early age, Thibaut Courtois has been a bad loser - and his father Thierry would not have it any other way. Nothing was left to chance while getting his son ready for the challenges of playing football at the highest level.

Both Thierry and his wife, Gitte Lambrechts, were semi-professional volleyball players in Belgium, but the dream was for their son to make it to the very top.

So a simple game of table tennis at their home in Bree was not seen as a bit of fun; it was a chance for valuable lessons to be learned.

Reflecting on those days, Chelsea’s goalkeeper told Standard Sport: "As a kid, I was never given something into my hands. Making it in football was something I had to fight for and my parents installed that mentality into me.

"When I was playing ping pong, my father would maybe let me get a point, but he wouldn’t let me win a set.

"So you can imagine the first time I did win a set, I was so happy because it was something I had to work so hard and really struggle for.

"Sometimes we would still be playing at 10 in the evening and, while the neighbours didn’t complain, they would know we were playing because there was so much shouting."

Here we are, over a decade later, and Courtois has not changed one bit. One would think that playing for one of the most successful clubs in Europe would satisfy his competitive streak, but far from it.

"Even in various competitions between my team-mates, I will ask for a rematch or play one more game," he added. "That’s why sometimes with commercial activities the club don’t want us to play, because instead of doing it for 10 minutes, we will go on for half an hour.

"Nobody wants to lose and I think that’s something that if you want to be at the top of a profession, you need that mentality, that hatred of losing.

"You can be a good loser in terms of accepting defeat, but personally I hate to lose."

It is not something the 25-year-old has had to get used to that often. In the FA Cup Final against Arsenal tomorrow, the Belgium international has the chance to claim his ninth major trophy in seven years.

That includes being part of a title-winning side four times, three of which have come since 2014 - one with Atletico Madrid and two with Chelsea.

Such a resume might cause some individuals’ thirst for silverware to be quenched. Yet that is not the case for Courtois.

"Sometimes people say to me, 'You have won so much, you can stop'," he explained. "But that is not how I feel.

"I know that feeling of being a champion, of winning, the adrenaline it gives you, the excitement, everything that runs through your body as you go through those moments with your team and fans.

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"Sometimes I feel sad, like after West Brom (the game where Chelsea clinched the title earlier this month). When you’re back at home, you want to be on the pitch again and have that feeling again, of winning.

"Even when we got the League trophy (after playing Sunderland on Sunday), it was not quite the same. Obviously, it was a nice moment to lift the trophy, but the achievement of clinching it was in the past. Hopefully, if we lift the FA Cup, I will get that feeling again."

No wonder he enjoys such a close bond with Chelsea’s passionate coach Antonio Conte, who was seen jumping onto his back after a significant win at Goodison Park four weeks ago.

"He has a lot of passion and I had the same with Diego Simeone at Atletico - both managers make you want to win," said Courtois.

"It’s always nice to see that when the team is having some difficulties, the manager is on the sidelines shouting and trying to direct the team. He’s not giving up, so you feel the same and you push even more. That’s important."

The impact Conte has made on Chelsea’s style of play and his change to a 3-4-3 system has been well documented. But his arrival last summer also gave Courtois the opportunity to improve his own game.

As with the majority of Chelsea’s players, he had little to enjoy during the 2015-16 campaign. A serious knee injury ruled him out for three months and the working relationship with goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon had gone stale.

Conte brought Gianluca Spinelli with him as part of the backroom staff to work with Chelsea’s first-choice keeper, and it has paid dividends.

Courtois heads to Wembley playing better than ever before, having just added the Golden Glove - the trophy handed to the keeper with the most clean sheets in the Premier League - to his list of accomplishments.

Getty Images

"After last year, it does make it [winning the award] more satisfying," he said. "I remember two years ago I was close, but then I broke my finger and Petr Cech played a few games. I missed out on some clean sheets which would have secured the Golden Glove.

"I’m happy to win it now on a personal level, but I had the help of the team as well. It’s not just the keeper that concedes or only him that keeps a clean sheet. It’s everyone defending well together, so it’s a trophy for everybody."

His proud dad can surely take some of the credit, too.

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