Like Arno – with heart and soul!

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A prophet is worth nothing in his own country. It’s already in the Bible somehow. In fact, this statement was overwhelmingly true in the Swiss ice hockey scene. This means that the Swiss have practically never held management positions (coach and sports director) for a long time.

The pioneer was clearly Arno Del Curto. He had the chutzpah – when it was far too risky for almost all compatriots at the time – to take the step to become a professional coach. And soon after took the reward in the form of the legendary playoff triumph with ZSC at Slettvoll’s Grande Lugano. That was in 1992, and the proof was there: ice lovers can also assert themselves in professional ice hockey!

It doesn’t have to be 6 titles!

11 of the 14 NL team leaders now have the red passport. In addition, 5 head coaches plus Patrick Fischer, the national coach (for the first time since Simon Schenk in 1997), are Swiss. Even the players’ agents, who used to only speak English as their native language, now speak mainly Swiss German.

But is the nationality of these incumbents really that important? Of course not. As everywhere, a person’s technical and social skills – not their origin – should be the decisive criteria for employment.

And yet it is a sign of a stronger ice hockey culture if the National Armed Forces occupy key positions to a large extent. There they don’t have to win 6 championship titles like Arno. In the same way with heart and soul for our sport, that’s enough.

Source : Blick