His house in Limoges, his job in Paris and his heart in Thionville “and at Konacker where my parents still live. “Even if he sees life in a big way from the height of his 2.17 m, Frédéric Weis cannot be everywhere. Although… This Saturday, May 21, the vice-Olympic champion in 2000 in Sydney will invite himself into the homes of basketball fans via the L’Équipe channel. His hoarse voice will decipher the Euroleague basketball final. A prediction, Fredo? “I can see a Barcelona-Efes final, the same poster as last year”, he ventures without dwelling on it.
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“My passion was born in Nilvange”
Fredzilla, his nickname when he terrorized the French and Spanish rackets, prefers to devour the small part of nostalgia that we offer him: “Are you from Thionville? I was born there, in Bel-Air. And I did my schooling at Saint-Pierre-Chanel,” he recalls, proud of his roots. After hailing the return of Sluc Nancy to the elite of French basketball, he willingly unearths a childhood memory, pivotal to his existence: “My passion for basketball was born in Nilvange. My father took me there to see the team that was then playing in National 4. With my child’s eyes, I had the impression that it was from the NBA. »
The famous American basketball league, studded with stars, which made him fit in 1999. A flirtation finally without a future with the New York Knicks, the franchise which had drafted him: “I had two herniated discs, my agent was leaving at the same time for… prison. In short, it didn’t happen and in the end, I didn’t experience it badly. I continued in European basketball, the one I love and I played in big clubs. »
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“My Autistic Son”
The Moselle has notably put its big paws on two European cups, stayed a decade in Spain before completing the professional loop at CSP Limoges, the Mecca of hexagonal basketball. It was in the Limousin that he sowed the first seeds of his reconversion. As with many other top athletes, the rebound proved tricky: “Restaurant, tobacconist, sports equipment supplier, etc. I tried everything, groped a lot before resolving to focus on the job of commentator. This is where I thrive. Because I’m not going to hide it, it wasn’t easy. This “not simple” resounds loudly in his mouth.
As imposing as he is, he does not hide the evil with which he has learned to cohabit in recent years: “Depression. I have an autistic child. It is for him that I am staying in Limoges. There is a perfectly adapted center. ” Without this disease, Fred Weis would not have forbidden himself to find his family: ” It’s a region that I love. I feel a bit like someone uprooted in Limoges. Yes, really, I could come back to it. This Saturday evening, he will be in the living room of his parents, friends, and childhood friends from Thionville and La Fensch.
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