2023-08-01 07:47:09
French women’s volleyball has changed era since a Belgian is at its head. In 2018, the year of her arrival, the French women were 50th in the FIVB world rankings. Today 17th, they are progressing visibly and have just qualified for the next Nations League by winning the Challenger Cup, a year after triumphing in the European League. It was the first title of the selection since 1936. Landed in the heart of an open site, the Belgian Emile Rousseaux upset the French practice of this sport to guarantee high performance. A year before the Games, the tricolor volleyball players are in the shape of their lives.
When you arrived, the team did not have the same face at all as today. What have you changed?
Emile Rousseaux. When I arrived, there were generally a very large number of girls who had an illusion of high performance. I then did a general volleyball culture test, to find out where their volleyball knowledge was, with 40 questions. Christina Bauer had the best score with 38/40, I remember it like it was yesterday. But all the others had between 10 and zero points. They had very little interest in volleyball. But now the girls follow the Nations League matches, they commentate… It has changed radically.
Has it helped them reconnect with their sport?
It acted as a detonator. Some started to make cards, they were conscientious. In fact, they were never told during their training that when you claim to be the best in a sport, it is not inadequate to know who is better than you and especially what their qualities are. There was no connection to the real issues of high performance.
???? They did it! Another page has just been written in the history of French women’s volleyball.
???????? The #blue win their ticket for the VNL 2024 by winning against Sweden 3 sets to 1!
???? Next meeting, August 16 for the Euro to follow on @lequipe Live. pic.twitter.com/O4hxTrS9u8
— FFvolley (@FFvolley) July 30, 2023
Was the problem only with the athletes?
No. I remember certain hopeful poles who did not work for three or four months a year and who had the nerve, if I can put it like that, to say “I play at a high level”. I went around the training and I saw that there was a very big problem, not everywhere, but in some structures. What has also changed is that Eric Tanguy (president of the French Federation) and the DTN (national technical management) have made more substantial financial resources available for the women’s team.
“You see in what a state of naivety we were, it was furious madness! »
How was your arrival in this atmosphere?
Before accepting my contract, I asked my president (Eric Tanguy) to pay me three months in impregnation, the time to do 32 individual interviews with women’s volleyball players. I realized that when we haven’t won anything since 1936, the atmosphere was quite negative. The glass was never half full but always 90% empty. I was told that the French women were unable to leave their house for more than a fortnight, that they would make a mess, that they had great airs but that they did not know how to do the necessary work. But none of that. Me, I found them rather committed, positive, so I had to say that I could not continue to work like that. Admittedly, it was necessary to confront them with the facts, to set them benchmarks, but also to rely on good intentions, the desire to change.
During this impregnation, you also had the opportunity to notice the inactivity in the club of certain players…
I had 16 reserve players (Editor’s note: substitutes) in the French championship. Imagine, if Deschamps selected a majority of reservists! We would intern him! You can’t just be a reservist in a club on the Côte d’Azur with a nice tracksuit and a nice little car. They thought that if they were at a club for a season as reserves, they could compete with the best players in the world. You see in what state of naivety we were, it was furious madness!
Did you lose items on the way because of your new method?
Of course. I didn’t just make friends because when you change habits, it doesn’t always go over with joy and pleasure. At the time, some did not have the mental strength to commit to such a strong program. I had this outside look and I said what I thought.
You had a clear objective: that the team be ready to play the Games, in 2024, at home. Did you feel an alignment around this ambition?
In any case, to do so, Eric Tanguy suggested that I join forces with as many French executives as possible rather than bring my band of Belgians, to leave a long-term mark. So in 2020 we made an appeal to all of France to find volunteers to support the project. 20 or 30 coaches including several from Ligue A have offered. Again, I was predicted misery again, I was told: “You are not going to work with French coaches, they are going to scuttle you, they are going to speak with the girls against you, sabotage your project. »
“Yes French girls know how to work, they are smart, they want to perform”
Was it?
I saw things positively, but without any naivety. I was convinced that in this country, as in mine, there were people who were motivated, enthusiastic and passionate about their sport. And I was right because we found these coaches who help us around a fixed core. They are always between 3 and 5 who animate the training sessions with us. They are responsible for the contamination of ideas: yes, French girls know how to work, they are intelligent, they want to perform. It worked really well so I’m very thankful, because they’re absolutely not dumb like I was told.
One year from the Games, how do you feel about the team?
(He sighs.) I regret not having taken the team two years earlier. But the level reached and victory in the Challenger Cup is still unlikely, compared to when we started in 2019. So yes, one year from the Games, it’s absolutely wonderful. It is a necessary long-term experience for girls. But in the short term be careful, we haven’t really learned to confront so many such strong teams. Everyone hopes that learning happens exponentially, but it happens with slight moments of hindsight. We are still shaken when we meet the best in the world. You will have to be careful.
Still with a little hope?
We will participate in the Euro (from August 15) then in the League of Nations. I hope we will adapt as soon as possible. When you are a trainer, you always have the hope that something will happen. A poem said: “Walker, the path is made by walking”. Finally, for us, the path is a little steep, but still doable.
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