The pivot of the Bleues Helena Ciak and the entire Lyon team, here in training at Mado-Bonnet, will finally return to competition on Saturday, seven months after their last official match.

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Claire Porcher / Infinity Nine Media

  • In the midst of the second wave of coronavirus in France, there are many postponements of professional sporting events every weekend.

  • 20 Minutes

    looked into the delicate situation of three clubs, Lyon Asvel Féminin (basketball), the Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise (ice-hockey) and the Entente sportive bisontine femme (handball), which did not yet managed to truly launch their season.

  • The coach and manager of the Jokers indicates in particular that he "takes care that the players do not fall into routines of depression", facing long periods of isolation.

It almost took a huge stroke of blood from the mayor of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix, on October 11 after a Jeep Elite match between Cholet Basket and Asvel, for the general public to realize that the coronavirus did not strike only Neymar. , Kylian Mbappé or Dimitri Payet in French sport.

That evening, Villeurbanne leader Norris Cole, who tested positive, played the first 40 seconds of the game, after having clapped the hands of his opponents.

An ubiquitous sequence that symbolizes the difficulties of so many professional clubs in getting through this unprecedented health crisis, in the midst of protocols of variable geometry instances.

20 Minutes

looks this Friday at the start of the season galley of three elite clubs with the momentum cut, in basketball, ice hockey and handball.

For these three examples, “the expression '' taking pleasure in your work '' has never taken on its full meaning, as we really do not know how long the season will last,” as Jonathan Paredes confides. , trainer and manager of the Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise (Ligue Magnus).

Lyon Asvel Féminin, the impatience of the champions

"We attack the week by performing a PCR test, it's our little ritual every Monday morning", smiles Paoline Salagnac, sports director of a Lyon Asvel Women's team stopped in all official competitions since… March 11 !

That evening, a week before confinement, the Lyonnaises played the first leg of the first Euroleague quarter-final in the club's history against the Russians of Orenburg (78-80).

Their European dream faded with the coronavirus epidemic, as did their quest for a second consecutive French championship title.

Even the Coupe de France final, initially postponed to September 18, was finally canceled due to the first cases of Covid-19 in Asvel and Bourges.

🖤 ​​It's official, first match of the season this Saturday at Mado Bonnet (5 p.m.)!

Looking



forward to

seeing you again 🤩

🎟️ https://t.co/ICY674rRdw#ASVElles pic.twitter.com/pYRfSO4SUM

- LDLC ASVEL Féminin (@ASVEL_Feminin) October 22, 2020

“Not being able to try to win this trophy for the recovery was a further disillusion for the girls, recognizes Paoline Salagnac, who retired from playing during confinement.

But they will be able to relive those moments.

"Five professional players from the Lyon squad have in total tested positive for a month, and the first four League games had to be postponed (the second day against Saint-Amand will even take place on January 30, after their opposition from the return phase!).

A bad luck symbolically placing the two biggest formations of the elite, Bourges and Lyon Asvel Féminin, in the relegation zone, eight points from Villeneuve d'Ascq, who was able to play his five days of the championship.

“It's really starting to take a long time for everyone,” notes Paoline Salagnac.

It's hard to train without seeing the slightest official match coming.

These players are impatient, especially since they have never experienced such a long period without competition in their lives.

They are chomping at the bit so much that there will be a lot of desire and joy on the floor on Saturday.

"Because yes, the Lyon club, which now no longer has the slightest case of Covid-19, has formalized the holding of the LFB match against Charleville-Mézières on Saturday at 5 pm.

And this before plunging back soon into a new Euroleague season, this time with a “bubble” formula, and three first consecutive matches from December 1 to 4 in the same place (to be defined).

Marine Johannès and her partners keep their fingers crossed so that “the Monday morning ritual” leaves them a little alone.

The Jokers of Cergy Pontoise, the depression points

The Magnus League knows how to cover their tracks like no other.

This Friday, in the middle of the 8th day of the elite of French ice hockey, is scheduled a Briançon-Grenoble of… the 40th day!

A deadline that seems extremely far away for Les Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise.

Because if they were able to play normally the first three games this season, they then had to comply with two long cuts (more than 20 days of isolation in total) with seven positive players.

Back Wednesday in the Coupe de France with a success (2-5) in Neuilly, the Jokers will also find the Ligue Magnus on Sunday (4 p.m.) in Rouen.

The Jokers team, here in training during this complex start to the season.

- The Jokers of Cergy-Pontoise

During this long period

off

, the coach and manager of the club Jonathan Paredes sensed the main danger within his group.

“We quickly understood that we had to be careful that our players did not fall into depressed routines,” he says.

You can quickly feel it when a boy falls into the risk of depression.

“Himself positive for Covid-19 a few days ago, Jonathan Paredes has therefore carefully monitored the morale of the troops for a month.

I called everyone very often.

And if I found that a guy did not have a great voice, I preferred a video call in stride because the faces do not lie.

I tried to bring fun to the group by sending funny videos with, for example, players falling on the ice.

Even now that we have resumed, I put as much play as possible in my training sessions because everyone needs it.

"

Jonathan Paredes is keen to “empower” his players, especially during this period when he could only follow the training of his group through a camera placed on the ice edge.

"There are 50,000 ways to catch this virus and we are not going to make these players into monks," he concludes.

Besançon handball players are (already) questioning the calendar

“Our planning?

It changes every three days right now!

Raphaëlle Tervel prefers to laugh about it than to annoy it.

The coach of the Bisontine Women's Sports Entente (ESBF) handball saw her team again be deprived of a match this week.

This is already the third time after a month and a half of competition, at the heart of a 5th day of D1 which has seen… four of its seven matches postponed.

Raphaëlle Tervel, the coach of Besançon, here in the middle of her players during a meeting in October 2016. - Wikicommons

For Besançon, the first postponement dates back to October 10 against Dijon.

This D1 match could not be disputed because a player from ... the Burgundy reserve was positive for Covid-19.

Last week, the Doubiste club was also affected.

“One of the girls told us that her boyfriend had the virus, explains Raphaëlle Tervel.

So we excused her from training on Monday and she took a test the next day, which turned out positive.

On Wednesday, we detected two more cases in the team.

"

Our file on the coronavirus

After a week of isolation for the whole group, and two new missed matches, while waiting for Brest-Besançon on October 31, training was able to resume at ESBF.

No more physical sessions at a distance and it's time for the ball to return!

Until when ?

The technician, former international tricolor (more than 250 selections), wonders about the rest of the season.

"The concern is that we have the impression that the regional health agencies (ARS) do not agree between them depending on the region," points out the Bisontine coach.

The season is already weird and it will continue to be.

"

Raphaëlle Tervel goes even further, expressing serious doubts, only six weeks after the resumption, as to the chances of playing the entire 26 days of D1.

"Perhaps we will have to think about changing the formula because if we do not go to the end, it will look like nothing, warns the 2003 world champion. Why not return to the play-offs or return to a system chickens?

High performance sport must adapt to the situation.

Each week, Lyon Asvel Féminin, the Jokers, the ESBF and so many others push back the limits of "adaptation" a little more, in a season of all uncertainties.

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  • Franche-Comte

  • Lyon

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  • Ice Hockey

  • Asvel

  • Handball

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus