Brest Bretagne Handball is playing this Wednesday evening, the Breton women are traveling to Nantes for the 13th day of the Championship. And in their ranks, a new recruit. Aïssatou Kouyaté arrived at BBH this summer. But between injuries and covid, its beginnings were not easy.
We had to wait until January 19 to see the former Besançon put on the sneakers and walk the pitch again. And for good reason, on April 2, she suffered a rupture of the left interior cruciate ligament and the meniscus was also affected. “It’s a pain… when it happens to you you know it’s that. As soon as I got injured, when I was on the ground, the first thing I said to myself was that it had died for the Olympics, it’s dead for everything“, remembers the handball player. At the time, she was part of the national squad leaving for Tokyo.
9 months to return to the field
9 months of intensive rehabilitation follow, Aïssatou continues the sessions and exercises: “I spent my summer in a rehabilitation center. I didn’t stop, I went back and forth. Mentally it’s very hard because you have to be strong and you have to fight against the pain. And then you see that you lose a lot of muscle, your body changes and you know it’s a long time, that it’s going to last 9 months. But you tell yourself that after there will be the sun”, confides the Brestoise.
But once back on its feet, the covid cloud again shifts its entry into the running. Beginnings constantly delayed, and it weighs on morale: “It’s very difficult to arrive in a team where nobody knows you, nor knows your game. In fact at that moment everything happens in the head, you have to be very strong mentally. And then you shouldn’t overdo it because that’s not the goal, you shouldn’t skip the stages. My goal today is to find my place little by little.” aim for the rear.
But these hardships also motivated the young woman of 26 years. “You challenge yourself, you tell yourself that your goal is to come back, or even exceed your previous level. you have a rage, you tell yourself that you missed a lot of things. You want to prove to yourself that you’re still here, that you’re capable of overcoming everything that’s happened, it gives you something extra.” details Aïssatou Kouyaté.
I’ve been waiting for these goals for a long time – Aïssatou Kouyaté.
So when the one we nickname “Astou”, Brand his first two goals with the BBH in the Champions League, they certainly have a special flavor. “It’s also a way to repair yourself mentally, you tell yourself that’s it, I scored my first goals, the counter is on. Honestly it feels good to tell you that you are capable of come back on the attack. It was a relief and mentally I think it unlocked a lot of things for me“, concludes with conviction the new Breton.
The right-back hopes to be lined up again on Wednesday evening, against Nantes. So that this counter, finally unlocked, does not stop running.