Cepek: I wish my successor luck and success

Radim Cepek resigned from the position of head coach of the Czech national team despite having a valid contract until the home WFC in Prague in 2018. In the interview for Czech floorbal, he explains, why he has made such a decision.

Radim, how would you describe and sum up the last two WFC cycles as a head coach of the Czechs?
It was four years with an incredible amount of new information and experience for me. To be a national team coach for this period of time is a real lesson for the future. I became the national team coach as a young guy, before being even 40 years and I was just a “junior” coach. The fact that I had a chance to work under such an enormous pressure gave me a lot and I will use that in my future engagements for sure.

Did it take you a long time to figure out if you would want to continue as a national team coach or not? What were the factors that influenced you the most?
I was thinking about my future move already for quite some time before the WFC, actually since summer 2016. I was aware how difficult such a position is – psychologically as well as  the coaching part. Being a national team coach, that’s not being „just“ a coach. It is a great honor. At the same time one is loosing contact with the every day trainer stuff. I have to admit that after four years I kind of missed it. During autumn we agreed with the national team leadership that I would continue until the WFC in Riga and than we would see.

Were you not aware of missing being a club coach sooner or did it just hit you?
At the beginning, I was able to work in the club of Chodov with the junior teams and actually the first two years with the national team were much more intense. Almost 80% of the players from that team were living in the Czech Republic and we had many more opportunities to meet and work together. Nowadays most of the players play abroad and I was not able to work with them as much as I would have wanted. That’s making you pretty nervous – I was deep inside for a long time well aware that my work with the national team is not as intense and as effective as I would have wanted. I didn’t always succeed to pass my vision on to the players.

That sounds like a long period, when you were trying to figure out your next step…
Well, see, I am just 40 years old. If I were 55 or 60 and would have the coaching experience from several thousands matches, then I might look at the national team coach position differently. I would be able to take it easier and enjoy it. But I am young coach, I need to be extremely active and involved in every day practice as I need to learn a lot as well.

I accepted the offer to be a national team coach and it was a real “high school” studying for me. But I needed to develop even more myself to be able to make the team better. That was not really easy in the last year. I love floorball, I said yes to the national team because I wanted to help Czech floorball – and I think that all in all, if I consider the whole period and not just the last 1,5 years, I have nothing to be ashamed of. The team has made some steps forward. I brought many new things, that are important if one wants to succeed on the international level. I want to continue being a coach, as floorball is a great sport. I want to bring up new players and some also for the national team hopefully.

What are your future plans? 
First of all, I will take some days off and will go to some southern place to relax. I really need that. At the moment, I don’t have any coach offer that I could accept straight away. I will consolidate my thoughts, talk to some close people from the floorball world and then make a decision about my next move. There were already some speculations that I was leaving directly for Switzerland. That is not true. I am not excluding the option of getting some foreign engagement, but staying in the Czech Republic is my priority.

Is there any message you have for your successor?
Well, I wish him good luck and a lot of success. My door is open and I am ready to help with information as well as feedback regarding the players. Any coach, that will now take over and will start working with our national team, will bring new energy and impulse.

Source: Cesky florbal