For North American sport enthusiasts, fall is synonymous with American Football: a crisp sunny Saturday afternoon immediately evokes thoughts of the gridiron.
In France, American Football is just gearing up in the fall; winter and spring are the real football seasons as just about every level of play is in full swing. Because the senior schedule runs from January to June, training camps during this time are not an option for France’s national team; instead Head Coach Larry Legault relies on game footage to detect potential newcomers to the national squad.
“Over the past seven years we’ve tried to establish a sense of continuity within our senior national team program,” said Coach Legault. “The challenge lies in building a real team as opposed to simply a squad of all-stars.”
With a nucleus already in place, the coaching staff is constantly seeking to find new young players who fit the team’s needs and who can develop into major contributors.
“The fact of the matter is that there is a substantial difference between the reality of club football and the competitiveness required to succeed at the international level,” explains Coach Legault. “The biggest challenge that our new players face lies in adjusting to the physical and mental demands of a structured training camp; with the exception of our camps, most never experience anything like this during the course of their careers.”
Because of the squad’s continuity, training camp numbers are never exorbitant and only those players with a serious chance of making the squad receive an invitation.
“Generally, we like to invite one more player per position than we intend to bring to the tournament. We chose the final 45 just before breaking camp. It’s actually quite rare for a first-time invitee to make the squad. They generally need at least one training camp in their system to really show us what they can do.”
Football in France is fortunate to benefit from the presence of a strong federation that fully supports both the junior and senior national teams. Since the last IFAF Senior World Championship, France played in four friendly contests within Europe before qualifying for this year’s tournament with a second place finish in the European Championships held in Frankfurt last summer.
Although this will be France’s third IFAF Senior World Championship experience, they know that their work will be cut out for them.
“We have to look at this as a learning experience. Going up against football nations such as Canada and Japan is a fantastic opportunity for our players to get some experience at the very highest level of international play.”
France will begin training camp on June 28th in Strasbourg before traveling to Graz.
More about Head Coach Larry Legault:
A native Canadian, Coach Legault has been coaching in France for several years. He took the Les Black Panthers de Thonon les Bains club team in 2005 and in this third year at the helm, in 2007, the team finished 9-1 making it all the way to the championship game before dropping a 21-6 decision to the Flash of La Courneuve. The following year, the team had another strong season finishing 7-1 in the French championship and participated for the first time in the EuroBowl competition. Today, Legault is the Technical Director for the team.
Prior to coming to Europe, Legault coached in AAA Cegep league where he coordinated the offenses at both Vanier College and Cegep du Vieux-Montreal. From 1997 until 2003, Legault coached at Bishop University in Montreal, Quebec. He also had a stint at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
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