“At first I didn’t think I was going to become a manager. It all started when I was a player in 2005/06. I signed up for a high-level sports unit. During my training I discovered my vocation as a formator. When I saw my interest, DTN Jean-Pierre de Vincenzi tested me for a place as an assistant on the France U16 squad.
After my playing career, I joined Insep to continue working for young French teams (U16, U17, U18). At the same time, I passed and received my competition to become a physical education teacher as a civil servant.
In 2017 I went to Basket Landes to train in the LFB. We qualified for the Eurocup. But in 2019 I had to go back to the fold of the French Basketball Federation because at that time it was about the abolition of the posts of official and there was a certainty to return to the FFBB. I then became project manager for the training of young footballers in France with training centers. And when I got back on the pitch, first becoming one of the France U18 men’s coaches and then called up by Jean-Aimé Toupane to the women’s France, I will continue to take this test. “
“When the project was presented to me, it was clear: yes. I was told: “Cathy, we want to use you as Jean-Aimé Toupane’s assistant” and I was happy to go there because I keep in touch with this French women’s team that has shaped my playing career. It is an honor to join Les Bleues in a different guise. I have always been a supporter of what could happen, with a deep bond with all French teams and especially with women.
My return is not a complete discovery. But if the team and its management have evolved since I left, I have some benchmarks.
“It is true that we have lost a few games since we worked with Jean-Aimé, especially during the World Cup qualifiers. As soon as there is a change of staff, there is always an adaptation period that is not related to Jean Aimé. It exists in all teams. He also explains what he wants to bring: a more manly basketball with higher, more aggressive and tougher defense and running, principles that weren’t the same with Valérie (Garnier). I find it interesting to bring new things with me. Make no mistake, all women’s teams evolve. Women’s basketball has always been inspired by men’s basketball. We can already see among the different qualification windows that the girls have begun to assimilate these new principles, even if not yet translated.
“If some coaches trained me more than others, I fed on all of them. Each coach is an inspiration. I don’t have a specific reference. I tried to create a mix of everyone I could meet and to relate them to me without just copying and pasting. It is true that I look like a quiet person on the outside, but on the inside I am seething. I keep my cool, but I can say things very harshly. Beyond the technical and tactical aspects, I am very attached to human relationships. The goal is to offer its players the best possible conditions so that they can do well within the collective. “
“It is developing more and more through different missions, for example the video coach, one of the trends. There was Greg Popovich, who made Becky Hammon his assistant. He has raised some awareness that there are female coaches with male skills. Why are there still so few women? It is more about habits than a desire not to open up. When I joined France U18 with Lamine Kébé, Jean-Aimé Toupane had been telling me about it for years. I took it as a joke. Once at the bedside of this team, I had to adapt. The standards are not the same as for women in terms of height, width and speed. For example, on a drill where I placed cones, they were too close for the players while the distance would have been perfect for the players. “
Cathy Melain e Bref
19 maggio 1974
Nato a Rennes.
June 20, 2009
He closes his playing career with a second European title with the Bleues (241 appearances) thanks to a 57-53 victory in the final against Russia in Riga.
maggio 2017
Basket Landes offers him the position of head coach ; the first of him in LFB.
22/09/2022
Women’s France will kick off the 2022 World Cup with a first match against Australia in Sydney, with her as assistant to Jean-Aimé Toupane.
