Two years after bringing home a bronze medal from Palma de Mallorca*, Lou Labarthe is preparing to return to Spain and for the last time, due to the age limit set at 17, the European Youth Team Championships.
From this Thursday October 3 to Sunday October 6, on Isla Cristina, in Andalusia, the Livinhacoise, licensed in Creissels, intends, this time, to seek the Grail. “I’m going there to win the title.” To do this, this community will still be able to count, with the shooter Kaylie Victoor Demeter, now a member of the prestigious CASE club in Nice, joined by the doubist pointer Camille Picard (Russey) and the Valentinoise Lena Merlin (sister of Mathis, the another member of the Pétanque de Creissels, selected for the French youth men’s team, Editor’s note) over an XXL teammate experienced in the most exclusive competitions, as evidenced by her recent success in the National de la Talaudière, near Saint- Étienne.
Level, mental and altruism
“The girls, the team, the coaches, the form pushes me to believe in our victory” insists the 17-year-old student in her final year at the Monteil high school in Rodez, who has, in particular, won, over the last twelve months, the French D2 club championship for women’s teams with Creissels, the Aveyron junior precision shooting championship and reached, with Les Bleues, the final of this ultimate in the category that is the International Youth of Valence. “But I owe my selection above all to my level of play, my mentality and my intrinsic qualities as a teammate which naturally encourage me to always encourage my partners.”
To “bring back the medal and the jersey”, Lou Labarthe, possessed of a fierce strength of character, gave herself the means to achieve her ambitions. She, the football addict, put her career as an attacking midfielder on hold with the Druelle U18 women’s team, to solely devote herself for two months to preparing for the European Championship.
Specific exercises
“After several training courses this year, the coaches sent us specific shooting and point exercises to which I underwent two to three times a week.” Tests intended to bring the girls to their peak form at the beginning of October.
“I’m leaving on Tuesday (today) to join Kaylie (Victoor Demeter) in Toulouse. From there, direction Paris for the gathering of the four French young and hopeful female and male selections, then Andalusia where we will be hard at work on same evening.”
Plenty of time for Lou Labarthe to get her bearings and sharpen her weapons, before getting to the heart of the matter, Thursday morning, firmly decided, despite the threats from the Spanish and their pressing public and the Belgians, to join, at the winners of the 2024 European Championships, the other Creisselloise, Aurélie Bories, crowned in head-to-head and senior doubles, in June, in Switzerland.
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