TESTIMONY."Sharing the life of a coach is never staying for a long time somewhere"

To explore the profession of coach, describe it with precision and accuracy, extension called on Cécile Crossing.Never has a football coach partner has confided in this way.For her sixth carte blanche, she tells of their "nomad life", made up of six great moves in twenty years of living together.Among the cities where they stayed, there is Brest, to which she declares her flame.

"Before I got into this life, I was not aware that we would move so much.No matter: I already had this perpetual movement in me.My parents divorced when I was young, I quickly got into the habit of living between two houses.Also, I have my mom who has always liked to move, appropriate a new place, decorate it.From the moment she separated from her companion in 2004, she decided to follow us in our wanderings with Jean-Marc.Since then, she has always lived near us.

For his part, Jean-Marc Bouge from city in town since the start of his player career.Consider: in forty-five years, he experienced 15 different cities.We often say that we are nomads, adaptation forces, capable of making our suitcases in third speed and leaving everything behind us.We pack the boxes every three years, on average.In these moments, we are shared between the fear of leaving and the excitement of discovering.Over time, this facet has registered in our genes and I am convinced that this "stir-household" is more a chance than a constraint.

Nevertheless: some departures are uprooting, heartbreak.In twenty years with Jean-Marc, two exiles have been overwhelming, for different reasons.The second departure from Troyes, in December 2015, was particularly difficult because of the professional context and the change in behavior of several people within the club and outside.Jean-Marc had been in office since 2010, after a first passage from 2004 to 2007.With hindsight, we have made the worst possible error in the world of professional football: to believe in us.However, it must be admitted that the context lent itself to it: I also worked for the structure as an intervener in sport psychology.We had a lot of friends, we knew the mayor, the personalities of the club and the city.So many links for people like us, generally not being allowed to weave it!Troyes was the highlight of my personal and professional life, but the disappointment of the departure was all the more harsh.

Seven years in a row in the same club, a rarity these days, made us forget the rules of the game of this profession, where everything is precarious.This kind of error necessarily leads to a very painful departure.I have long wanted to have seen us installed.But this episode vaccinated us.The subject remains sensitive for Jean-Marc because I know how some things have injured him.Personally, this departure changed me.I literally closed the listening, I took distance from certain actors in the world of football, especially those who are immutable, who remain there indefinitely while you are tirelessly starting the adventure.In the stands, I am less pleasant.I fell back to protect myself.Football made me more lonely.I know it, I feel it and I don't live it badly.

"Francis-Le Blé is the most wonderful atmosphere I have known"

The second overwhelming exile was that of Brest, in 2019, for totally different and personal reasons, because I had a real crush on this city.Nothing was written in advance, believe me.When we announced to our entourage that we were going there, it was funny.Our loved ones told us: "Ah yes, Brittany is great.But Brest!Oh there ... it's far from everything, it's ugly, badly built, gray, sad.Hello the atmosphere ... However, as soon as we landed there, I felt good, as "lightened" of an unsuspected weight.

We had a much less important social life, almost nonexistent compared to Troyes, that we had just left.This did not prevent me from worshiping this city, its immense bookstore "Dialogues" with a soothing, cozy atmosphere where I could sit and read hours;its quays filled with restaurants, bars, agitation, life;Its streets which lead to the ocean, this magnificent ocean which fascinates me, by its constant movement, its iodized smell which makes you want to taste the oysters brought back from morning fishing, by its emotions, sometimes appeased, sometimes agitated.In Brest, I liked to watch this ocean, listen to it, feel your emotions.And regardless of the presence of cranes or large boats around.They too, I ended up loving them.

I also loved the mentality of Brestois, much less speeds and more relaxed than elsewhere.We felt this philosophy of life at the Francis-Le Blé stadium, where the most wonderful atmosphere I have known.There, when buying a ticket, people have a friendly evening, the match of which is part, but which begins before and continues after.They "do not buy" a result, as we have seen elsewhere.What happiness!But what a surprise too!It took us a time of adaptation ...

I remember an evening of home defeat with Jean-Marc.We joined our car when a bunch of young people alpagued it.At the time, I feared the worst.In this kind of context, I admit to being on the defensive.But these young people were so smiling, so I observed from afar.They said to him, "Congratulations coach, great the match!"Jean-Marc froze.He didn't understand.He stammered: "But, uh, the guys, we lost ..." And they replied: "But it does not matter coach.We made a beautiful match.We feasted.There, we are going to go for a drink and spend a superb evening.Thanks again !And they left.You would have seen us ... totally dazed.It was a fantastic moment.You do not imagine how good these seconds can do good.Jean-Marc often tells of this anecdote with emotion.He was literally sawn.As for me, the spontaneous statement of these young people allowed me to clarify what I felt but that I could not "put in word": for a Brestois, going to the stadium is a different meaning and that changes everything.

These seasons, I was not going to matches with the same stomach ball as if finally, football was "installed" in its right place.Aware of this balance, we no longer took place in the city center with distrust, asking ourselves if it would have been better to stay with us.We have a unique link with this city.I come back to it every year with a...