Whatever the result at the end of this final, “we will be happy”says Mickaël Cortay, the coach of the BCTM. Saved at the end of last season on green carpet when they were relegated, the basketball players La Tronche Meylan enjoy playing the Ligue 2 play-off final for the first time in their history. First match this Saturday evening at 8 p.m. in Toulouse, before hosting Les Toulousaines next week for the return match. A match that Camille Cirgue, the captain of the BCTM, tackles “serenely”.
Above all, no pressure
“For us, it’s already a gift to be there”, assures Camille Cirgue, because “It’s quite unexpected, I think that in women’s basketball, there are not many people who would have put a coin on La Tronche Meylan in the final”. The climb was never an objective for the BCTM, unlike his opponent, Toulouse. So, as an “outsider”, this match will be apprehended “like a classic match”adds Camille Cirgue.
We win, we are happy, we lose, we will be happy the same – Mickaël Cortay, BCTM coach
No changes in pre-match preparation. “We train as we are used to training”, explains Anna Ngo Ndjock. “There, what happens in the final, you have to take it very lightly, no one was expecting us there so _it’s cool to bother the big teams a bit_“, she adds. These play-off matches are not “just a bonus”confirms the coach of the team Mickaël Cortay.
Able to play in elite?
It takes two wins to the girls of the BCTM to validate their rise in the elite of women’s basketball. But a question arises: does the club have the means to assume this rise? The president of the club, Jean-Claude Pic, wants to be rather reassuring: “We will do everything to be in the conditions that the federation asks us”, he assures, “knowing that, when a Ligue 2 club goes up to the Ligue, there is always a year that the federation agrees to adapt so that it comes into compliance”. A rise in the League would mean a change in infrastructurea wooden floor in particular, but also a larger staff and a training center.