Guillaume Gille: "We must restore trust between the players and the staff"

Guillaume Gille, it's time to go back to school.

Very special for the moment…

Yes, who says back to school says that finally the France team is responding again.

We have just lived, and we are still living an incredible period, during which we went through all the states.

It was very difficult to envisage the next sequences.

After the cruel disillusion that we experienced during the last Euro, it deprived us of the possibility of finding ourselves, of getting up, of talking about what was not.

It resulted in a lot of work, and also a lot of frustration.

We can imagine that this frustration was very difficult to manage…

For a long time, I had no influence on the players, I did not have the opportunity to make this inventory.

This is what led us to imagine a rally this summer because it was absolutely necessary that we take stock before the hellish pace that was going to impose themselves on the players.

So, we brought them together for the first time since January, which seems like an eternity when we talk about high-level sport, in August.

From this sequence resulted many individual interviews because it was necessary to dig more in depth with each one.

This was also intended to put in place a suitable strategy to relaunch this machine.

It took a long time, but it allowed us to identify precisely the state in which the group is today.

The finding is not very positive.

There was a lot of frustration, unresolved communication issues.

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What came out of this whole process?

A desire for reconstruction.

For that, the idea was not to stir up indefinitely the mistakes of the past or the mistakes of each other, but really to use this bad experience to consider the future.

A suite that we imagine as a mountain to climb.

Beyond the image, I think that we indeed need to find this spirit of rope in the France team.

Namely the link that exists between all the members to nurture the same objective.

Imagine the Tokyo Olympics next summer, imagine getting back on the podium, imagining the emotions experienced during the Games… This is what, with the staff, we want to re-embark this group.

From now on, we must get back into working order and restore confidence between the players and the staff.

That's a lot of great projects in perspective but paradoxically, despite the somewhat gloomy picture that I have just described, I see it in a positive light.

For what reasons ?

Quite simply because the state of mind of the athletes today is to close this chapter, to turn the page and to succeed again in this amalgamation.

It is up to us, the staff, to define a new project which aims to be sporty, but also of life to trigger a new dynamic.

Now, all these fine words will only make sense because we will succeed in doing it.

The program is beautiful on paper, but it still has to be worn by men.

The contribution of the players will be essential and I really feel a desire to show a different attitude.

But at the staff level, we also decided to stimulate a new movement.

"To really settle the failure of the Euro, it will be necessary that all those who will be in the rally in November can look each other straight in the eye, in the same room"

Have you settled the failure of the Euro or will it be on the agenda of the next gathering in Chambéry on November 1?

Both my captain (smile).

We have already worked on the subject.

All of our "virtual" gatherings have been aimed at free speech.

There has been some interesting work done, but it is not enough.

Handball is a sport that is experienced on the field and in the locker room.

So to really settle the failure of the Euro, it will be necessary that all those who will be in the rally in November can look each other straight in the eyes, in the same room and draw a line on what we experienced at the start of the year. .

The

I did not wait for the individual interviews to carry out this painful process of questioning.

It was a difficult record.

The individual interviews just brought to light elements that I was not aware of.

It didn't allow me to have a fair view of what was going on within the group.

Obviously, I regret it because I wonder why I did not dig a little more certain points.

I blame myself for not having known how to do it.

But today, that stage is behind me and I look to the future, to allowing the players to make their own criticism and to come together.       

Where are you in your thinking about your next captain?

Clearly, we have decided to rethink the structure of the team.

As we have just lived a long, very long moment of inactivity, it is not yet time to decide.

But this subject is obviously on the agenda and the new captain, when appointed, will have to participate in this new dynamic.

“The France team is above the electoral calendar, even if it is excessively important.

It's something I have no control over. ”

Your first list, Covid-19 context requires, will include 35 names.

How will you be able to impose your paw on it, in view of such an enlargement?

The Covid brought handball to the ground and there are many questions that arise today, especially about the physical state of each other.

I want to see the ability of the players to overcome this period and their level of performance.

And as I said, we are in a moment of reconstruction, which also means relying on those who have experienced our difficulties.

In addition, we must not forget that in December, there will be the Final Four of the Champions League last season which could deprive us of 11 players.

So this extended list will then take on its full meaning.

It will be a necessity, but also a desire on my part to expand it.

On November 28, the Federation will be headed by a new president.

Are you afraid that this could jeopardize your position in the short or medium term?

When you decide to embrace this type of responsibility, if you start to worry about the comments, the economic environment, the election, then you stop everything and stay home.

I decided to get involved in this project because I believe in it and I want to see it succeed.

The France team is above the electoral calendar, even if it is excessively important.

It's something I have no control over.

It can have consequences on my project but at the same time, I don't think about it more than that.

Are you worried that the World Championship in Egypt next January will not take place?

Of course.

But when I listen to my Federation president, Joël Delplanque, or my national technical director, Philippe Bana, I am convinced that it will take place.

We need it to be held with a competition which would allow international handball one of its most beautiful settings.

And beyond this competition, we need to find a stronger collaboration between players in international handball.

With this crisis, our handball is in danger.

The idea is above all not to whine together but to see how we can all together make our sport do better than the others.

In this delicate context, I feel the need to reaffirm that the best interest is to keep our sport alive, whether you are a national coach or a club coach.

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