Interview with Ales Zalesny

Ales, you have left the Czech republic 13 years ago at the age of 23 years. Did you already then have a plan to stay abroad for good?

AZ: No, I didn’t want to stay abroad at all (LAUGHING). But I liked living in Switzerland, so I stayed here. And I believe that it was a right decision. The very start was actually really tough, not that many people trusted us – the guys from the Czech Republic – but that got also better later on.

I have also learnt a lot here. For example how to negotiate a contract, that’s not really easy. You are supposed to put a price tag on your self and make a self presentation. There are no agents in floorball, so one has to do this him/herself. That was not always easy but I believe I managed quite well.

During your career you have played as professional in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland. Can you compare those three countries?

That’s actually very difficult to do, there is everywhere something “for” and something “against”. But from my point of view, the life standard in Switzerland is the best and that’s why I do live here. It is also much closer to the Czech republic, so whenever I feel like it, I can just hop in a car and in a couple of hours be together with my relatives. I would say that Scandinavian countries are not really that great when it comes to a family life. And it’s much colder and somehow boring actually (LAUGHTER). When it comes to floorball, the leagues are of course much better, but I prefer contentment and a joy of life and that’s what Switzerland offers full hands of.

You are one of the most successful national team player of the Czech Republic in history, you got a silver and a bronze medal from WFC, you were a member of the All -Star team 2008. What are the important memories from all that? 

Well, the most beautiful memory is the one of the group games in Ostrava at the home World Championships in 2008. There, in front of the sold out hall full of the fantastic 8913 fans, we have been close to beating Sweden. We should have won that night!

But the same WFC had prepared for me also one of the worst moments: the bronze medal game against Switzerland. Due to a couple of individual mistakes, we didn’t make it into the final and than in the bronze game lost thanks to a goal of my teammate from Tigers, Simon Stucki, in the last minute of the overtime. That was really really horrible. I could have eaten my stick! And I would have immediately and with no regret exchanged the individual reward of being selected for All-Star team with the medal. 

Even worse times were about to come. In 2012, at the WFC in Switzerland, the Czechs didnt make it into the semi and in the end were just a number 7. Can you explain what happened? 

It is really difficult to explain and judge what happened and why. I have seen it from my position in a totally different way than many others. The young guys wanted to play together and I knew that it was not the way to go. I even spoke with the coach Tomas Trnavsky about that, but he made his own choice and decision and that I had to respect, even if I didn’t like it. That’s how it works in sports. Long story cut short, this team didn’t manage and the result was the one it was. 

Ales, if you had not left Ostrava 13 years ago, what would be your life like just now?

I dare to say that I would have won at least one Czech champion title. But on the other hand, it’s a question if I would still be playing floorball now. Ostrava is a tricky place and when I was growing up, we were often at Stodolni (the famous party street). So who knows? (Laughter).