Through Aline Chatel
Published on 17 Apr 21 at 12:32
–
L’USO Mondeville plays his last game of the season this Saturday, April 17, 2021 against Strasbourg (8:00 p.m.). Claiming to rise, the club will finish fifth in Ligue 2 after a season where nothing has turned in the right direction, and especially not the elimination of the playoffs in mid-December. Romain L’Hermitte, who is coming out of a grueling exercise, looks back on this season that he hopes to make people forget very quickly.
Sport in Caen: You will finally finish this season. Is it pleasing in the perspective of switching to something else?
Romain L’Hermitte: Yes, it’s been a while since we would like to switch to something else. We like to work when there are goals. However, there are no more objectives since December 14. They will tell me: “you could still play first place in January”, but we knew very well that we would not win eight games out of eight (Mondeville lost four out of six, two games having been postponed, editor’s note) . On December 14, our targets disappeared. The season seemed very long. We want to move on, like everyone else. It is not because we live from our passion that the situation is different, quite the contrary. People are fed up with the situation, and we are fed up with the situation. More than a new season, we especially want to move on to a new life.
“The impression of making friendly matches”
What does it mean to be a professional athlete, or a professional coach, without an audience?
I have very mixed feelings. We were lucky to be able to continue playing basketball. Personally, I am very fortunate to be in Mondeville and to be able to train young people. Watching Louise (Bussière), Vaciana (Gomis), Nahan (Niaré) grow up, that’s what made me get up in the morning. I was able to project myself into the future. Afterwards, of course, playing without an audience gives the impression of only having friendly matches.
I was just hoping that this period could allow women’s basketball to develop. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. I even have the impression that we are going straight backwards. That’s what’s been frustrating all season. It started with the cancellation of the playoffs, it continued with the refusal to move to 14 in the Women’s League and in Ligue 2. Nothing has changed and women’s basketball has not grown. That’s why I’ve been angry all season.
You have expressed this anger and these disagreements a lot. Has the season been tough on a personal level?
It hasn’t been the most difficult season. The most difficult, I experienced it two years ago (the year of relegation to Ligue 2, editor’s note). On the other hand, I had the most difficult month of my career in January. I was at the end of my rope. It was complicated because we got out of hand.
“We trivialized this situation”
I found the people really negative when we know that our group is very young and that the situation is not easy for the players. They are even more confined than anyone. We trivialized this situation and fired red bullets on the players, maybe a little on me too, when it was really complicated. We must not forget the context. Personally, what always helps me in defeat is being able to relate to something else, to family meals, at such times. I haven’t had them this season. It was negative situation after negative situation.
–What was it used for this season?
(Silence) Nothing. With hindsight, with the decisions of the federation, I think we should not have played. I should have listened to Corinne Benintendi when she called me. I think we shouldn’t have played because we don’t have pro status. We are not here to develop. I thought we could play and we could grow out of it all. That was not the case. But it is a fight that I have not finished fighting. This is just the beginning. I’ll just try to go smarter.
” The critics ? Nothing very constructive ”
There have been more disputes this season, on the networks, especially against you. How did you experience it?
I have not read these reviews. Not being on social media helps a lot. It hurts more to those around me who can read them even if I ask them not to. I know it’s stronger than some (smile). Oddly, I like to watch comments on other topics. It lets me know how people think and it comforts me in the idea of not reading what people say about me (laughs). There is never anything very constructive.
Context is important?
I was told that someone had written that we should be happy to play the playoffs (which should count for nothing and which were finally canceled after this interview, editor’s note) because we should be happy to play the basketball. My kids are doing their lessons on the scorer’s table and two days ago I had my seven month old baby on the floor in practice. I am neither doing my job as a father, because we finish lessons at 10:30 pm, nor my job as a coach. People don’t think about all of this.
“I want to take all the criticism, but …”
Now we move on. We’ll see at the end of next season. If we go up, people can just say: “Mondeville was right to trust young people”. Because yes, there will be Dowdell, Bouzenna and the players we recruited, but we know very well that if we go up, it will be because Louise Bussière, Aminata Gueye and Vaciana Gomis have had a big season. If we are scared for next season, it is not through our recruitment. It is for this recruitment which is added to the players that we have.
Finally, we must not forget that we have been deprived of Aminata Gueye and Kim Gaucher this season. Some have the memory of a goldfish. At the start of the season, I bet that Aminata would finish MVP of the season. If we add an MVP in this team… As for Kim, she was building up very strongly before last season ended. I want to take all the criticism, but with these girls, it’s not the same. In Ligue 2, there are no players on the market. When Kim and Aminata get injured, who do we recruit? Cansu (Koksal), last season, she fell from the sky. Like Kalis Loyd in Toulouse this year. We have our young people. But to go up, you have to supervise them. We recruited top players from Ligue 2 – because we knows the division well now – to have that role.
–
