Verbal and psychological violence, humiliation. Emmanuelle Girard – French tennis player who hasn’t played in the last year after becoming a mother – had to support everything throughout his career. Especially in the first phasewhen a 14 years old arrived at Pancakes (Resource, competence and sports performance centre). From there a nightmare began with the then his coach.
Nightmare began when Girard stayed alone and there”I started to see his true face”, he told The Team during an interview raw and rich in anecdotes shocking. “In I was crying during training in the field. As soon as I was wrong somethingthat me destroyed: ‘You’re just shithow can you do something like that?’. We didn’t have the right to make mistakes in training, we didn’t have the right to cry, we didn’t have the right to show our emotions’”.
But not only on the pitch. Also off the field the situation was not betterindeed: “In the evening we had to turn off i telephone at 9.30pm. He had imposed it. Sometimes he called in the evening to check. If the telephone rangthe next day you were scolded in a meeting in front of everyone took away il telephone for a week. To connect to the wifi we had a identifier and we had to enter the room number. He checked who he was every day connected and at what time.”
And his humiliating behavior it also touched on areas of privacy which embarrassed them young tennis playersespecially at 14/15 years old: “He was hyper intrusive. One day he told me: ‘I feel like you’re on your period. When you walk I feel the tampon bending. I was 15, he was 42 or 43. He also told us his sexual stories… To another girl he said: ‘You should hair removal the legs and the armpits‘. He was 14 years old.”
And in case of defeat – even after a good tournament and convincing performances – it was a humiliation: “I lost in the quarterfinals and after the match he destroyed me: ‘It’s unacceptableyou really are just shit! You will have to reflect on the consequences of your actions’”.
Girard snapped and turned to the psychologist of Creps, who advised her right away Of leave. But the coach’s psychological control was such that the very young tennis player did not have the courage to leave. He found it and new coach e found again il smilebut when the “monster” found out, threatened Girard and the family: “He went into a rage. Ha summoned a meeting at his house with my parents. He told us: ‘All this is thanks to me. If you leave me, you will have nothing left. Without me, your career is over. Instead, if I decided Of remainyou need to tell that coach right now to stop talking to you. You will no longer have any contact‘” And so it was.
But then there situation degenerated, with the almost 18 year old French tennis player starting to have panic attacks and a total refusal of tennis. Extremely harsh confrontation, shouting, insults and the farewell: “I started having disorders of the behavior feeding. I have been anorexic for almost three years. I lost 10 kg in two months, I no longer ate, I slept continuously.”
From there it has found il smile and above all the desire to go out and return to play a tennis: “Being tough is not a problem. You need it rigor ed need in high-level sport. But it is completely different from meanness and humiliation. These behaviors must stop.”
