It is on the more discreet and less flashy tarmac of Oeudeghien, Ath or Genappe, among others, that he built up the skills which make him such a promising goalkeeper. Football helped him grow up, but it was tennis that educated him in ball sports from his earliest childhood. “Already at 4 years old, he followed his dad who played at the national levelrecalls Jean-Claude Dupont, historical secretary of Oeudeghien, his lifelong club. At the end of the matches, he exchanged a few balls with the adults. We directly saw that he had extraordinary psychomotor skills.”
Very quickly, everyone understands that the father has transmitted his qualities to his offspring. Enough to perfectly personify the child’s expression of the ball. “I even quickly understood that he would be more efficient than me, mouse David Delavallee. On a technical level, he had natural predispositions. And those are innate things.”
At 15, the turning point
There are people like that who have the grace to succeed in every sport they practice. Martin Delavallée is part of this caste. “He needed to work out. So, we registered him for football at the Manageoise Entity. He played a little volleyball too. He liked it less.”
His schedule would not have allowed him to compile an additional sport anyway. From childhood to adolescence, Hennuyer spent a peaceful and happy existence in his native corner between the ballparks, the Scailmont stadium in Manage and the One Wall fields. “It’s like squash but without a racketspecifies his dad. He has between 10 and 15 Belgian youth championship titles.”
His outrageous dominance extends to the pinball court where his talent is contagious to his teammates – “The quality of his partners’ services increased by 30% when he was thereaffirms Jean-Claude Dupont – less for his opponents. Before the matches, the other clubs asked me if Martin was going to play. It almost discouraged them when I answered in the affirmative.”
The carelessness ended in 2019. While he had not imagined a future in professional football, Mouscron knocked on his door. “Thanks to his crampon performances with Manage, he was included in the provincial selection. Tubize and Kortrijk have shown interest. A year later, Excel too, remembers his dad. Martin absolutely wanted to try his luck there but he had to go to boarding school. It wasn’t a problem for him. It was from that moment on that football became a priority over pelota ball whereas before, it was quite the opposite.”
A turning point in the life of the teenager who gradually distances himself from his childhood sweetheart as his talent as a goalkeeper expresses itself and develops to the point of joining the A core of the Hurlus at 17 years old. “During his first year at the training center, we managed to obtain a waiver from the club so that he could participate in the European Youth Championship in Portugal and then he had to make a choice when he joined the ‘first team’explains the patriarch.
The division 1 pelota ball clubs have not forgotten it
The decision to prioritize the round ball is obvious even if he never completely forgets the other ball. “At the beginning, he asked me for permission to play in the Belgian championship. I told him, ‘You’re crazy.'” laughs Pieter-Jan Sabbe, Mouscron goalkeeper coach at the time. “He was an exceptional ball player. If he had continued his career, he would have become the best player in Belgium. He knew how to deliver the ball 80 meters out of bounds while few players in the first division manage to achieve this. It’s as if Eden Hazard had stopped playing football at 16 when he joined the Losc first team.”slips Jean-Claude Dupont almost with regret.
gullIf he had continued his career, he would have become the best player in Belgium.
So much so that Oeudeghien’s ambitions were restricted with his departure. “It would have been the future Golden Glove, the equivalent of the Golden Shoe. It’s certain that the national team would have called him and he could have brought the club to division 1. The day he decided to quit, it put a damper on our goals. Either way, we would have had a hard time keeping him.”
Fatalist and nostalgic, the emblematic secretary will verify his prediction during the bankruptcy of Mouscron. During these few months, the last rampart of Sporting found comfort in the sieve. “10 clubs out of 12 in division 1 called me to get him.”smiles David Delavallée. From now on, the practice of pelota ball is part of his past even if he happens to do it again during his vacations. “One afternoon, he came to reinforce our reserve team. When the others saw him arrive in the lower division, they were pale.” snaps Jean-Claude Dupont.
This Sunday, in Venice of the North, Martin Delavallée will try to convey the same feeling to Kevin Denkey, Alan Minda and the men of Miron Muslic. To definitively launch his football career. And prove that he definitely succeeds in everything he does.
gullAfter the bankruptcy of Mouscron, 10 out of 12 division 1 pelota ball clubs called me to have it.
