There are childhood memories that come to the surface like that, without warning. Like thinking of Jackson Richardson as soon as you write about handball, and remembering in a flash that you were still skeptical about his number of selections with the Blues. How’s that 417? Impossible, while Lilian Thuram, in football, has not exceeded 150 selections. And then, we grew up, and we understood: round ball competitions were, at the time (not thank you Fifa for the change), not legion. In hand, it’s just the opposite.
The international competitions of balonmano, it’s a bit like “The Voice” or “Koh-Lanta” on TF1, it comes back quickly. Too fast. Estelle Nze Minko’s teammates are thus entitled to a Euro this year (from November 4 to 20 in Montenegro, Slovenia and North Macedonia), the Worlds next year, the Olympics and a Euro in 2024, before switch back to a World Cup in 2025, etc. More competitions, therefore more visibility, therefore more money, therefore more means to develop a still relatively minor sport. Such is the life of lovers of roucoulettes and chabalas.
“No boredom”
Enough to wonder if these sequences do not harm the hand more than anything else. An eminent journalist from your favorite daily did not hide his surprise and dismay when he learned that a new competition was being held at the beginning of November, when the focus was to be on the Football World Cup. But don’t worry, we’ll still be there to follow the new adventures of Les Bleues, after winning gold at the Olympics and silver at the Worlds and the last Euro.
As for the players, isn’t there a little fed up with chaining a big competition every year? “For me, it’s always an honor to receive a summons from the France team for a competition, because we don’t know if we’ll play another one one day, if we can win other titles, explains the left winger of the Bleues Chloé Valentini (27 years old). So I take everything I have to take. “Same story with his partner Laura Flippes (27), who nevertheless won everything with the Blue:
There is no weariness of playing all these competitions, on the contrary. I think it’s incredibly lucky to be able to be part of it for several years. We do not trivialize these competitions, because we know what they represent, their value. We do not tell ourselves that we are going to leave one aside because there will be another one a year later. It’s still a title to go for every time. We crave medals. And me, I have the feeling that the more you earn, the more you want. »
Krumbholz offered his players to make dead ends
From the height of his 270 selections (responds to this Lilian Thuram), Camille Ayglon-Saurina today has the necessary perspective to discuss these Olympics-Euro-World Cup-Coupe des 4 Maisons-Hunger Games sequences. “You never want to miss a competition with the France team, because these are great events to experience, especially since you never go there to do extras. But, and I realize it all the more today because I am out of the system, the sequences are crazy. The desire to skip a competition, for example the post-Olympic one, makes perfect sense, because these are two seasons that follow one another. The competition that comes after the Olympics is by far the most complicated. »
According to the former international (39), the coach of the Blue, Olivier Krumbholz, had proposed to some of his executives to skip certain competitions. The players also talked about it among themselves. But that was not followed by action. “Taking the risk of skipping a competition, vis-à-vis the group and team dynamics, is a bit of a special approach, continues Camille Ayglon-Saurina. And then, the French women’s team is so dense that we don’t have the capacity to come back like that the next time. »
And then, missing a Euro or a World Cup is also one less opportunity to show off, to attract the eyes of recruiters or to scratch a better contract. “International competitions are very important for that, confirms Roman Kuzminac, agent for several internationals. All the clubs are watching, a lot are present on site. And it is even more valid for a Euro, where the matches are harder, like in football. Clubs that inquire about female players, for example, often wait for an international competition to go further. »
Even more complicated for mothers
So, the players continue, in club and with the selection. For Chloé Valentini, for example, it was necessary to switch quickly: a Champions League match on Saturday and meeting with the France team on Sunday to start the preparation. “Of course there are times that are harder than others, but we work for that, says Laura Flippes, who plays for Paris 92. When I hear my teammates who are on vacation, sometimes at the beach , well… And then, when I think about it, I tell myself that I would rather ten times my situation, what I’m going through, than being on vacation. »
Not sure that the mothers of the group necessarily have this clear opinion. In an interview given to Marie Claire, Cléopâtre Darleux declared that her “relationship to these gatherings and competitions was completely different, because I am a mother. It’s always harder to leave for me, and I feel it even in a club. »
An opinion shared by Camille Ayglon-Saurina, who resumed her career after having had her first child in 2013: “We are much more apt to leave when we have no children. It’s more complicated to manage, especially when they are very young, when we may miss the first steps, the important stages. A month is a very long time. These were necessarily complicated times. And the fact of returning with a medal, it was a bit to legitimize these efforts and gave a bit of meaning to this absence. We therefore wish Cléopâtre Darleux to bring back to her little Olympus the most beautiful of metals.