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After a year dedicated to 3×3 basketball and the disappointment of Jo de Paris with the Bleues, Myriam Djekoundade joined Basket Landes and lives an exceptional first season. The wing is in the final of the French championship with the Montoises against Tarbes this Saturday, May 10.
In addition to a Play-in Euroligue (Porte du Final 6, first for the club), you will compete in the final of the French championship with Basket Landes against Tarbes. Your first season here is almost perfect.
It was also the team’s goal to go get this. It is part of the club’s continuity, accustomed to the finals in the past five seasons. We wanted players to have these results. But saying to yourself that we expected to be in the final would be a bit pretentious when we see how tight this championship is. We finish 2nd in the regular season, after being 7th in January. And we face in the final the 8th, Tarbes, who released Bourges, the leader, in playoffs. All the top 8 teams can target the title.
You were therefore able to discover, from the inside, this renowned Landes audience.
When I played here as adversaries, it was hell. The banda put your head like a pot … it was always the same challenge: pay attention to the half-time return and the end of the match. Because the public weighed considerably. Now that it is to my advantage, it’s much nicer! It feels like playing with the public, it’s quite special. I wish all players to feel this feeling. This season, our room has been full for several months. Okay, we sometimes have the eardrums that whistle and the music that stays in the head after the match (laughs).
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love at first sight was immediate with your new house, it looks like.
With the public, completely! And with the group, I immediately felt comfortable. I have a fairly adaptable game, which also fits with the identity of the club, the public, which awaits the commitment on the part of the players. All this means that the hooked atoms quickly appeared.
Have you found this emotional dimension, which is close to your heart, in this team?
Yes, and the club also makes sure. Because there are only good people in this group. Sometimes you can see girls wish to fail another. Here, no. Everyone wants to see everyone succeed. I feel a lot of affection for all the girls of the team. None cheat, each is touching in their own way. We lived several moments this season when one of us was in check, we re -motivated ourselves together, then this performance player again. It is fulfilling to live in this environment.
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Individually, the season is also beautiful. Apart from your injury at the end of the exercise (tibia fatigue fracture), from which you came back ten days ago, you settled in the departure five of Basket Landes, but you mainly known your first selection in 5×5 blue, in February against Israel?
It was great! I discovered another vision of very high level basketball, rubbed shoulders with coaches, girls, who are used to this very very high level. France is a world top team. I love basketball – it will not surprise anyone (laughs). I mean I really love it, in its strategic aspect, the game, the finesse. More than for the show. In blue, I felt like I was attending a conference on basketball, while participating. After that it was intense. In five days, you see the whole game plan, the defense, the attacks, the attacks in the zone, the keys … The amount of info to store in a short time is important. But it is very enriching, and rewarding for the work provided beforehand with my various coaches, clubs and individuals, my agent, my preps, my loved ones.
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How did you digest your Paris after-Jo, where the French 3×3 basketball team did not have the expected results (8th in the tournament when it was aimed at a medal)?
Everything was quickly chained, I barely had ten days to switch. It was necessary to digest the disappointment, that’s for sure, but I quickly had to take care of lots of things, such as my move and other logistical data. In the end, it was not more bad to have so little time to live my after-Jo.
Your return to 5×5, after a year dedicated to 3×3, was not difficult?
We had to readjust to lots of things. The balloon (different weight and size), crossings of the terrain. Muscularly, the efforts are different, so I had to work in the dining room and in muscular to get back in tune. Be coached too! I used to enter the field a little when I wanted (in 3×3, no coach, the players are independent). During the first friendly match with Basket Landes, at one point, I was going to get up to go back, then I told myself that it was not the right idea (laughs). Afterwards, I have been playing the 5×5 since I was 8 years old, so it came back quickly.
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Is the 3×3 over for you?
Ah no! I leave at the end of July with the blue, normally. It will allow me to have a long -awaited and necessary cut. Because my tibia injury is also due to this sequence of seasons without real break. The 3×3 is part of my DNA, it is a privilege to be able to practice these two sneakers. And then, I still have objectives in 3×3.
Wouldn’t they be on the American West Coast in three years?
Chances are (smile). The Federation is only in the beginnings of the preparation of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. For the moment, we remain on summer competitions, especially. We do not know what will be implemented in the future, but it suits me very well.
