Incredible series of fates: Life has tested Camichel – now he helps players

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You can break – or grow – through the blows of fate.

The fact that Corsin Camichel (42) has managed to overcome all the low blows life has dealt him is impressive. It is remarkable that the ex-hockey professional now helps players overcome or avoid crises. His own painful experiences play a major role on the path to his new calling as a mental trainer.

How anyone can survive tragedy after tragedy is the question you inevitably ask yourself when you know Camichel’s story. A dream came true when the Engadin native started his professional career with Ambri in 2001. But in the years that followed, light and shadow alternated dramatically.

So many fates in just a few years

In 2003, Camichel was involved in a highway accident in which a wrong-way driver died on the spot. “At the time, I was just grateful that nothing happened to me,” he recalls. In the same year he experienced highlights such as the first team of the Swiss national team or participation in the Spengler Cup with Krefeld.

Before Camichel moved to SCB in 2006, his father died of cancer. As a player he suddenly has to deal with injuries and has to undergo operations. His world collapsed in February 2011, shortly before his thirtieth birthday: Camichel, now under contract with EV Zug, was diagnosed with lymph cancer.

“This cancer was the turning point,” Camichel says. «Before that, I was in the hockey bubble, suppressed the blows of fate and did not process them well. Then I said to myself: If I beat the cancer, I will change my way of thinking.”

He did not allow any help for a long time

He admits that as a player he didn’t think much about mental training. When Camichel was advised at SCB to talk to a sports psychologist, he refused. “Until I was 30, I sometimes felt like a victim, but I still couldn’t accept help.” Only after the cancer diagnosis.

Since the beginning of 2015, Camichel, who ended his playing career in 2013 after a prematurely failed comeback attempt, has been considered cured. He has now embarked on a career as a coach. But disaster struck again: in April 2015, his brother Duri († 33) was fatally injured in a car accident in Costa Rica.

Looking back on his formative experiences, Camichel says, “It was a rollercoaster ride. You either go down and crash – or you make a running start.” He chose the latter and emphasized: “Today I am grateful that I have overcome the blows of fate, have a family and am happy.” And that thanks to his personal experiences he can help players better.

The realization that mental coaching could be a suitable job for him comes to him out of nowhere – thanks to Zug’s star striker Grégory Hofmann. After three years at first division club Seewen and two years at the Swiss junior team at EVZ, Camichel works as a U20 coach. During the 2021 play-off final, Hofmann asked him for advice when Zug was under pressure for the title against Servette. “As I was walking with him, I felt it was good for him to talk to me.”

As a result, the players gain confidence

Camichel already touched on the subject of mental coaching during his professional coaching training and worked intensively with the Zug juniors at this level. In terms of play and tactics, he limits himself to the essentials: his team wins the U20 championship title. He enjoys seeing how the young players develop as people to such an extent that he changes course and starts training to become a sports mental coach. This summer he started his own company and has been responsible for the mental training at his old club Ambri-Piotta since the start of the season.

Ambri’s sports director Paolo Duca, who once wanted to hire Camichel as a junior coach, is, like coach Luca Cereda, enthusiastic about the former player’s mental approach. They fully support it. “It is precisely this combination of ex-player, ex-coach and mental coach that ensures that the players gain confidence,” says Camichel. “For example, I can understand what it can mean for a player to always be the thirteenth striker. Or if he no longer scores and therefore just stares at the ceiling at home.

The father of two, who also cares for Olten and SC Cham II, deals with fear of failure, fear of what others think, but also with private matters or concerns about injuries. Nowadays players are more open to mental training and receive help more often. “This first step is still the most important.” Then it’s a process where Camichel helps players stay stable during their rollercoaster rides.

Source : Blick