The current head coach of the Swiss women’s national team, Rolf Kern, is the newest addition in the Swiss men’s team. He will take on the task from the Finnish Esa Jussila, who resigned after WFC 2020 in Helsinki.
Swiss team was able to play convincing floorball at the Men’s World Floorball Championships in Helsinki last December, but they lost the decisive matches and finished fourth. According to Remo Manser, who is responsible for the national teams at Swiss Floorball Association, they evaluated what the team was still missing during WFC 2020, in order to get to the top of the world and what qualities are needed in the team staff. As Esa Jussila informed about his resignation, they started to think who could be a potential successor to Jussila.
A first brief analysis of the WFC showed that in the decisive games, among other things, a certain portion of “warrior mentality” was missing in the Swiss team, especially among the team leaders. This is exactly what the new assistant coach Rolf Kern can and should bring to the team. Kern also has the experience of a home WFC from 2019. He knows what the men can expect from 5th-13th November 2022 in Zurich and Winterthur.
— We consider it extremely valuable to have someone on the staff who has already played through a home WFC, who knows all the mechanisms, who knows how to prepare a team for it,” says Manser. In addition, Kern was head coach David Jansson‘s preferred candidate. The two have led training sessions and camps together in the past and regularly exchanged views on tactical and technical matters.
Three WFC medals with women
Rolf Kern was coaching the women’s team for six years. The 45-year-old took over the team in 2016 and won two bronze medals and one silver medal in three World Floorball Championships. The miracle of Neuchâtel remains unforgotten, when the Swiss made the turnaround in the WFC semi-final against Czech Republic and made it to the final. It was there that the team showed its mental strength:
— Before I took office, I made it my goal to form a team with a winning mentality, and we’ve done it, Kern says, looking back on his time as the women’s head coach. The players proved exactly that in the very last game with Kern. After the clear and disappointing 1-14 defeat in the 2021 WFC semi-final against Sweden, the team got back up again in impressive style a day later and won the bronze medal against Czech Republic.
Kern’s contract is limited until after the home WFC in Zurich and Winterthur. It is currently still unclear who will be Kern’s successor as head coach for the women’s national team. Discussions with potential successors are already underway.
Source: Swiss Floorball Association
