the essential
This is the very essence of the magic of the Cup, the opposition between amateurs and professionals. Before the match between him on Sunday December 22 against Monaco at the Toulouse Stadium, the defender of L’Union Saint-Jean Football Club, who works in the building, launches the match.
It’s the match of his life! This Sunday, December 22, at the Toulouse Stadium, Larry Viltard and his friends from L’Union Saint-Jean welcome Monaco for a 32nd final of extremes. The defender/midfielder, a temporary worker in the building for seven years, will face Monegasque players who are far from having the same lifestyle.
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Indeed, at 34, Larry found his balance between work (public works, construction, plumbing) and football. Passed by Balma before doing ten years at Toulouse Rodéo, he joined L’Union Saint-Jean this season.
Busy days
From Monday to Friday, he does not alternate between massage rooms and training grounds like the Monaco players, but rather between shovels, picks and brooms. With 8/9 hour days and a 45 hour week, no need for a weight room for someone who also uses a jackhammer. In addition to this, he trains three times a week.
DDM – LAURENT DARD
“If I have time, I go home to regain my strength, then I go back to be at the club before training.” Then on Saturday “the hour of truth”. So obviously, he admits that “it’s a bit of a stretch”: “I think that not everyone is capable of doing it. And above all, of being efficient, whether at work or in the field. At work, you have to be accountable to your boss, and in football, between the competition and the demands of being a competitor, it’s tough.”
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But there’s no question for him to complain: “Frankly, it’s okay, I run as much as a 25-year-old,” he smiles. And we want as proof his match against Versailles in the previous round, where he was on all fronts, never overtaken, and rough on his opponents.
A healthy environment
Even though he does not yet have children, Larry can count on his family who help him reconcile his busy schedule: “I have a accommodating wife, who is understanding and who helps me combine the two. Afterwards, it is certain that if I have a child, I will have to think about my family life. For the moment, my wife and my close family allow me to have this balance.
DDM – LAURENT DARD
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On another scale, the player can also count on his colleagues, sometimes a little more relaxed: “Obviously they talk to me about it. Sometimes they try to motivate me, sometimes they poke me a little, but it remains good natured. It remains an event because obviously they follow the adventure like us, but it motivates me more than anything else.”
Sans complexes
Winded up like a clock, he is firmly awaiting the biggest match of his career, he who has already played two 32nd finals when he wore the colors of Toulouse Rodéo.
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“This one has a particular taste because it’s a Ligue 1 club. There will be between 15,000 and 33,000 people so we’ll have to stay concentrated, focused. Obviously you look at their international players, but there’s no There’s none that makes me dream. I’m not the type of guy who’s going to ask them for a jersey at the end of the match,” he concludes with a knife between his teeth.
