Player power a positive for France

The three women in command (Picture: FFR)

Three players have emerged as leaders in the games and life of the French squad, and the contribution of Fanny Horta, Camille Grassineau and Marjorie Mayans is being officially described as an “essential extra” to the squads “great collective adventures”.

David Courteix, taking stock of the squad’s recent progress from Sao Paulo to Vancouver via Las Vegas, said: "Something is happening in the group and it’s very positive. One can speak of significant progress."

After the results of friendly tournaments (winning in the US against Great Britain and reaching the final in Canada), the French coach of welcomed the development: "The girls are taking control of the project, and we want to go with that. It is a sign of maturity. Things are understood, resistance gives way – it is what I have encouraged for a long time finally coming to fruition. It is the key to success ."

So what is happening to produce such intoxicatingly positive vibes?

First the leadership role take by the players has arisen naturally "via the charisma the players - their presence or experience." In some cases they have already been on-field leaders – team captains – but the three players now becoming leaders off the field as well. Although everything does not come from the trio, captain Fanny Horta, the emerging Camille Grassineau and Marjorie Mayans are “each, in their own way, adding a pice to the puzzle and helping with communications between the players and the coaching team.”

"We talked about the need to make this change at the internship at beginning of year,” says Camille Grassineau.” It is was about to becoming more involved, to help implement the messages of the coach, particularly as they can have more impact when it is a player who says it."

"It also means that David does not have to say the same thing four times in the same day, much to everyone’s relief " jokes  the captain. Camille and Marjorie admit they no longer step back but rather " support Fanny ", particularly in recent weeks, "because with a team split into several groups, we have had to take responsibility to guide and lead some girls who are new to the world circuit," says Marjorie Mayans.

The complementarity of the trio becomes clear when any two of the trio describe the contribution of the third: "Camille leads by example on the field by its commitment," “ Marjorie remains calm and reorganizes things when the unexpected happens''  , "Fanny is our regulator in the group's life."

In everyday life, they all agree to work together to make the most of the time little time available between now and Rio, helping to organise things, but without ever being too bossy. Fanny Horta says: "We try to stay positive first to congratulate teammates, to encourage, and be in good spirits."

"And our involvement is not limited to words, we can also develop attitudes, there is a lot of little things that we try to convey ," says Camille Grassineau.

“With the consent of the group, especially since some are too happy let things go without a bit of patient pressure," laughs Fanny Horta.

Ownership of the rules of life and work of the group help make It make more effective. "We realize that it will be beneficial,” said the captain. “We believe in it, it is not said that it will always make us win every game, but moves things in the right direction."

Dealing with the approach of the Games is part of this awareness. "We are on track," says David Courteix, despite the disappointing 7th place of the Atlanta tournament which will challenge this new distribution of roles within France’s sevens squad.