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Christian Weber has had a difficult time, blood poisoning was life-threatening for him.
Marcel AllemanReporter ice hockey
Christian Weber laughs a lot and is in a good mood when we meet for coffee at the train station in his home town of Dübendorf ZH on this January morning. Seeing him like this, it’s hard to imagine that a month and a half ago the 58-year-old was miserable – that he couldn’t walk for more than 10 to 15 minutes and only with the help of his wife Tina and even a small flight of stairs for him at the time meant agony.
“The fact that I was able to recover so quickly is probably due to the fact that I’ve always lived a healthy life and done a lot of sport,” says Weber, sipping his coffee cup. He has never smoked and very rarely drinks alcohol. Even when he was playing, Weber almost had the reputation of being an ascetic.
“I was very lucky”
It was last April when his life changed, “from one second to the next,” as he says, now with a thoughtful expression. A week earlier, the former national striker (100 international matches) had celebrated a great success, having been promoted to the Swiss League as a coach with EHC Basel. Then the shock: Weber suffers severe blood poisoning. “How I caught this is still unclear to this day, I didn’t have an open wound.”
As he later learned from the doctors, this was life-threatening for him. Weber finds himself in the hospital, on infusions. “I wasn’t feeling well at all. But in the end I was very lucky.” His medical examiner warns him that he must now regenerate well and be very careful. “I took that time too.”
Optimism is curbed by relapse
Recovered and strengthened, he returns from Thailand, the Webers’ summer home, and tackles the new season with EHC Basel. Although his blood values are not yet at the level before the severe infection, the doctors are very optimistic.
But things are different. On November 1, Weber suffers a relapse, collapses and has to be hospitalized. The doctors write him off sick, and Daniel Schnellmann, President of the EHC Basel, also encourages him to take a break because his health comes first.
Weber’s fatal mistake
But Weber sees it differently, wants to go back to his team and is back on the mat after a week. “It was a serious mistake that I got my way,” he knows today. A second, more serious collapse occurs. “After that I had to take strong antibiotics for three weeks down the line. At first I could hardly walk, I was totally weak.”
Luckily, the doctors then came across the causes of his collapse and his body on strike, which have since been treated with medication. During the national break in mid-December, the former ZSC and HCD star returns to his workplace in Basel, this time with a doctor’s blessing – but not for long. Weber is called into the office.
The disappointment at EHC Basel
There he was informed that the contract with him, which expired at the end of the season, would not be extended and that Eric Himelfarb, his assistant, who had replaced him during his absence, would like to continue as head coach this season. “That was the next shock,” says Weber. He speaks of a great disappointment, “because we have achieved all the sporting goals we have set so far”.
But the past months, which have been very difficult personally, have helped him put everything in the right perspective. “I learned firsthand that there is nothing more important than health.” For the former ZSC, Langnau and Rappi trainer, the fact that he jumped the shovel and can now feel really healthy again is paramount.
Experiences to Malaysia
But at the same time he remains a hockey nerd and sooner or later he really wants to get back into this business. Weber, who has had a mandate as a TV expert at SRF for years, can imagine a lot for his future: “Head coach, assistant coach, sports director, scout – I’m open to everything. The main thing is that it’s an exciting project.” Going abroad again would appeal to him, who has already seen so much and has an immense wealth of experience.
He has worked in various functions in the three top leagues in Switzerland and has also worked in Austria. In addition, he also ran camps in Asia in the summer, for example – in China, but also in the more exotic hockey destinations Malaysia and Thailand.
Weber was never too bad about it: “Even if the difference in level is of course large, it is satisfying to see how the players there try to implement everything that is given to them.” He has his healthy life back so that his hockey passion can continue to accompany him. No matter where.
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