We had to take the lead, to prevent the little darlings of the Elsa-Triolet school from worrying too much about their mistress. “It was last September, I had warned the parents by message of what had happened to me”, confides Maud Betard. No, the swollen face of the director of the Viennese establishment was not due to domestic violence.
The, or rather the responsible? A Mulhouse Water-polo player who is not very fair-play. “She gave me a voluntary blow during a pre-season match”, book, video in support, the polo player from the Grand Nancy Aquatique club. Maud Betard plays up front, a very physical position, sometimes rough, in contact with the opposing defense.
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The European Cup, just reward
“It’s the equivalent of the pivot in handball. I often have my back to goal and I have to get fouls. “Six stitches in the eye, laser sessions, two months of sporting rest and Lorraine was back in the pools. A victorious comeback. “We have just finished fourth in the final phase of the French championship. “Next season, the young woman will compete in the first European Cup of her career. A just reward as the training of the high-level sportswoman is a puzzle.
“My second day starts when I get out of school. Impossible to go to Nancy several times a week from the Pays Haut, so the teacher juggles with the opening hours of the swimming pools in northern Lorraine.
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“We move forward together”
“Tuesdays and Thursdays, I train with the Thionville men’s team, Mondays and Wednesdays, I swim alone in Briey, Jœuf or Jarny and on Fridays, I join my teammates in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy. In addition to its sessions, there is the Saturday match in a championship which notably includes Nice, Lille and Bordeaux. So many long trips, often by train, sometimes by plane.
“It’s difficult to reconcile water polo and my job, but I’m hyperactive,” smiles Maud Betard.
As time-consuming as it is, high-level sport serves as a tool for the school principal in the context of her work. “We say the things that annoy each other, we move forward together! Usually there is a lot of turnover in Piennes but at the start of the next school year, the teaching team will be the same as this year. Another victory for Maud Bethard.
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