INTERVIEW. Handball World Cup: “I must have watched 6,000 matches…” the Blues video analyst, Vincent Griveau, details the behind the scenes of his job

Since former coach Claude Onesta called him to his side in 2004, Vincent Griveau has never left the Blues staff. On the eve of the start of the World Cup, the adopted Toulouse native, originally from Saint-Cyr (37), faces the camera. For once.

Tell us how you got into this video analyst role. Was it a vocation?

Absolutely not. There was no real video unit in place at the time within the Federation, the position was created and I was chosen by Claude Onesta to occupy it. I am a handball player, a coach, we had the same vision of the game and I was at least as crazy as him to accept (laughs). I am completely self-taught. I worked day and night to understand how it all worked because I was more coach-player than videographer-computer scientist. I also benefited from the help of the “Dartfish” software produced by a Swiss company which wanted to give a handball dimension to its software. We developed it and I trained with them too.
In 20 years, we imagine that the equipment for filming and analyzing matches has entered another dimension.
Yes, I remember, at the Joinville Battalion where I went, seeing Sylvain Nouet, one of the greatest French coaches, arrive with a suitcase on wheels containing all the VHS tapes he had accumulated and that he gave me. I copied all that onto DVDs. And then we moved on to USB keys and finally to servers and software.
More efficient and less bulky…
Exactly ! Before, I carried boxes of equipment, now a backpack is enough.
Filming, sequencing, analyzing the data, giving feedback to the players and staff, you don’t stop. Especially in the middle of competition.
This was the case until ten years ago. Since then, I have colleagues who do the sequencing. I am completely invested in my role as an analyst. However, during a competition, it’s around 15 hours a day.
If at one time the video sessions were very vertical between the staff and the players, today, can we talk about transversality?
Totally, the video is the translation of reality, it serves as an exchange between staff and players. Claude Onesta brought this exchange, this idea of ​​building together, with the players, the game project, of being co-responsible for the performance. The video session is a meeting place between players and staff, it is an exchange on the best way to play. Guillaume Gille has built mini-groups with game phase leaders who come up with their ideas. Luka Karabatic, Fabregas and Konan work on defense, Remili and Mem are in charge of the attack.
Was it obvious to you at the start?
No, I had the idea of ​​making Luc Besson, a beautiful film to explain how to beat others (laughs). But that’s not it! Video is sequencing with strong messages to convey in a group session or in an individual interview.
Are gamers addicted to video?
It depends, there are all profiles, those who rarely view them and others a lot. A Luka Karabatic, he wants to rewatch the matches in full because he needs to feel the rhythm of a match. Nedim Remili is more into cutting. For example, he asked me for all the defensive sequences and defensive withdrawals from Qatar’s last three matches. Goalkeepers are big consumers of video and it’s Jean-Luc Kieffer (the goalkeeper coach, Editor’s note) who manages this directly with them.
In the 20 years that you have held this position, do you have an idea of ​​the number of matches you have watched?
(He thinks) At around 300 matches per year, do the math, I must have watched 6,000 matches. Knowing that you can watch a match three to five times…
We imagine that AI will become an ally in your work.
Yes, we are trying to develop solutions to save time, for AI to serve human intelligence, to suggest ways to analyze the game in order to give us avenues for work and reflection.
By the way, what happened to Sylvain Nouet’s VHS tapes?
These are databases, everything is archived, so we don’t lose memory.
Collected by Xavier Thomas