the essential Since 2021, the Columérin club has entrusted its scrum and its launchers to Alexandre Castola.
Behind the power and violence of the bodies that bind and challenge each other, lies a precision mechanics that can only be detected by those who have already put their head and shoulders into it. “Yes, the scrum is Swiss watchmaking,” laughs Alexandre Castola, 44, a former hooker who worked notably at Clermont, the Stade Français but also Bègles, Aix-en-Provence and Rouen, in charge for two years of the columérine scrum and throwers, his other “hobby” for which he has an overflowing passion: “Already as a player, I was passionate about throws into touch. A thrower is like a scorer to whom you add a jumping block who wants to take the ball from him,” continues Alexandre Castola to explain all the difficulty of adjusting an alignment in touch with his triptych: thrower-lifter-jumper.
Precision mechanics therefore that Colomiers entrusted to this former player who began to taste training within the Tournefeuille club in 2009. “I was then approached by Blagnac where I went in 2013 to intervene in the conquest sector before specializing in the scrum from 2016″, continues the former hooker who joined Colomiers in 2021 where we were looking for a successor to Gurthrö Steenkamp, who left to join the Top 14 and Stade Rochelais .
“Just consider myself a companion”
There, in Pro D2, he satisfied his passion for the scrum within the Columérin staff where he intervened every week, while continuing to give his advice to the Blagnacais. “And this season, I even took care of the girls from Blagnac who asked me for a helping hand,” specifies the man whose working method receives positive feedback from the players he looks after. Because Alexandre Castola, who knows all the difficulty and technicality that a good scrum requires, has been able to adapt his work: “I am passionate about this sector of the game. I want to help the players on the front line in difficulty on the individual technique. I focus a lot on that. Moreover, several Top 14 or Pro D2 players have come to consult me in recent years for individual work. » And Alexandre Castola continues with his intervention with the Columérins forwards: “This is my third year with them. We built a scrum with the players, it belongs to them. Everyone takes part in the project. I accompany them in this, you just have to consider myself as an accompanist. » An accompanist who nevertheless gives an identity to the melee according to the means at his disposal. “Indeed, it depends on the profiles. In Colomiers, we have a dynamic scrum, we work to optimize our qualities to compete with the big cars in the championship. »
The work is bearing fruit because the Columérins have a solid and respected building in Pro D2 which fits well with the image of the club: “Our scrum is very technical if not overpowering, but it is also due to our qualities with mobile and dynamic fronts. We favor standing play, circulation, we play in spaces. »
Always looking for solutions and developments, Alexandre Castola regularly enriches his knowledge. He recently completed “action types” profiling training to better work technically with his pitchers. “It allows me to better understand the cognitive and motor preferences of individuals, but also their deep motivation. I rely on this to understand them better before supporting them,” continues the man whose very technical and precise work also requires exchange. “The scrum, the throws, it’s Swiss watchmaking. But there is an additional human element, essential, and which must remain at the center of the project. » A mechanism of the heart in short…
#Colomiers #Rugby #Castola #watchmaker #scrum
