EXCLUSIVE: Former Inter star Ranocchia opens up on mental health & dealing with pressure

In this exclusive interview for Flashscore, former Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia opens up about his career and introduces Athletics Mind, a platform he founded to provide essential psychological and nutritional support to athletes. From breaking the taboo of mental health in sports to his personal experiences with pressure in Italy and England, Ranocchia shares valuable insights into the life of a footballer beyond the pitch.

How did the idea for Athletics Mind come about? 

"Athletics Mind was born from an idea based on my direct experience on the pitch. From the time I was a child until I became a professional footballer, I went through many different phases. Unfortunately, I discovered the psychological support sector in sports too late, around the age of 29-30. If I had been aware of it earlier, I probably would have faced many situations differently.

"Depending on the age, different obstacles arise; without proper help, it is much more difficult to manage them. Things went well for me thanks to my tenacity, but most kids end up getting lost along the way."

In the football world, the dominant narrative is always that of the footballer seen as a hero, who never admits failures or defeats. How do you break this wall of silence surrounding the mental health of an athlete? 

"Fortunately, in recent years, many top-level athletes are starting to open up and ask for help. More than just mental health, it is essential to understand that, just as you rely on coaches for the technical, tactical, and athletic aspects, you also need to call a psychologist to take care of the mental part.

"Unfortunately, it is not yet a consolidated idea, and it is deeply wrong to believe that you only go to a psychologist when you are unwell. Instead, you go to face the moments in life when you do not have the necessary tools to make it on your own."

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In Athletics Mind, you also deal with nutrition. What is your approach from this point of view? 

"We have specialists available in both the nutritional and psychological fields. Based on specific needs, the sport played, and age, a predefined nutritional program is created. Eating correctly according to your sport is fundamental and must go hand in hand with the psychological aspect and practice on the pitch."

With your podcast "Frog Talks" you allowed your colleagues to speak freely, approaching a more psychological angle that scratches the usual glossy image of the footballer. How was the experience of letting your former teammates tell their stories? 

"It was a beautiful experience. Having the privilege of interacting daily with top-level footballers, I tried to bring out those aspects that often escape journalists, precisely because of the wall that divides the media from athletes. The path of growth is the same for everyone: even those who have become champions had to face moments of crisis and great difficulties.

"They were good at reaching professionalism, but being able to tell their path, with all the obstacles they overcame, is fundamental to allow young people to approach these realities knowing that the challenges are the same for everyone."

As a footballer, you experienced difficult moments; that episode in the training camp comes to mind when Spalletti defended you from the insults of a fan. How much does it matter to have a coach who looks at the man before the athlete? 

"It matters a lot, and in this historical moment, it means everything. The coach is, in fact, the team's first psychologist. Obviously, he must know how to surround himself with a competent staff, but it is up to him to figure out how to interact with so many different mindsets and cultures.

"Great coaches have an edge precisely because they can understand the person behind the footballer. From the outside, it might seem that those who play football have no problems, but in reality, you face difficulties at every stage of your career, from the age of six until post-retirement."

In a past interview, you defined your experience at Hull City in England as a moment of "detoxification". What is different about English culture that allows a footballer to breathe and live without the crushing pressure that exists in Italy? 

"The management of pressure changes completely. There, football is lived intensely on a sporting level, but once the match is over, there isn't that same media or fan exasperation. In Italy, we are extremely passionate, but sometimes we exaggerate and end up behaving incorrectly towards the sport.

"That experience recharged me because it allowed me to find myself and the right balance to experience football, which had become complicated in Italy."

Was it during that period that you decided to seek outside help? 

"I had my real stroke of luck at Inter, when the club provided us with a psychologist. I decided to try and immediately felt very comfortable. The advice I always give to athletes is to try: in the worst-case scenario, nothing happens, but in the best-case scenario, it helps you enormously, improving your quality of life and, consequently, your sporting performances."

A very delicate moment for many athletes is when the spotlight goes out. You decided to quit relatively young, stating that you no longer had the motivation. How did you face this transition, which is often a taboo in football? 

"In my case, it was a personal and conscious decision, so it was easier to accept. Those who are forced to stop due to physical problems or other reasons struggle much more. It is difficult to get used to a normal life again after having lived with the exact same routine since the age of five. Precisely for this reason, it is essential to have support during that phase, so as not to risk ending up in a negative spiral from which it is complicated to escape."

You made a somewhat counter-trend choice by deciding to return to live in Assisi, far from the city lights. How did you experience this? 

"For me, it was normality; it was something I had been planning for years. My intention has always been to return to live in Assisi and raise my children in the places where I grew up. Being very tied to my roots and my childhood friends, it was an absolutely natural choice."

Broadening the topic, during your career you had both Mancini and Ranieri. Now that they have this National team in a phase of rebirth in their hands, after the difficulty of having missed three World Cups, what do you think they can do for Italy? 

"They are coaches with a lot of experience, even though Ranieri doesn't coach anymore. Managing the National team is always a difficult task because you have little time to work with the players, and a lot depends on the specific moment of the season they arrive.

"Mancini has shown he can do a great job, and the latest matches have been improving, which is a good sign. However, if we want to return to competing at the level of France, England, Spain, and Portugal, it will take years of work to rebuild a solid base of talents."

As a former Inter player, do you see any rival capable of competing with Inter for the Serie A this year? 

"On paper, I would say no, and historically in recent years there haven't been true rivals. Obviously, in football, nothing is ever certain, and many unpredictable dynamics can come into play. To date, however, I don't see teams capable of reaching the last day fighting for the Scudetto with Inter."