The best stories are made by the smaller characters, the pitch doesn’t escape this literary rule. The Gym’s season in 2016/17 doesn’t either. Written by players, the historic campaign still has its influential “extras”. These people behind-the-scenes, who when digging deeper, give another reading to the work of the players. The performance architects, never in the spotlight. The end of the season gives the opportunity to turn our attention to the work of Thomas Sammut, psychological coach who arrived in the summer of 2016, and the most recent example of the Gym’s constant desire to improve structures and become more professional.

Divonne-les-Bains. July 2016. On a chair, stood in front of the squad, the little song began, preceded by a speech that was for most… unexpected. “I am sure that you will get to the top and beat PSG.” The words were out in the open, players and staff received them with caution. Thomas Sammut had officially marked his arrival amongst the Red and Black squad. At 43 years old, the psychological coach, enters a football dressing room for the first time. “What shocked me at the beginning? The thin chaps in front of me, he jokes. The other sportsmen I work with are imposing physically. There, I am amongst players, some tall and some short, some built, others less so… I had no point of reference.” These reference points, the Nantes-born coach, had developed from birth on the side of water, or in the mountains. Coming from the world of sport, he spent a decade as a swimming coach, guiding several swimmers to the Olympic Games, before focussing on the training sector.

“For a decade, I led seminars for companies on leadership and managerial communication. Bit by bit, I became the psychological coach for the Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille. We set-up a very ambitious structure.” A combine harvester churning out success, thanks to huge names in the pool (Florent Manaudou, Camille Lacourt, Frédéric Bousquet, Fabien Gillot...), before going solo. A question of widening his involvement, and progressively, taking over 40 sportsmen under his wing from across the disciplines (“tennis, basketball, taekwendo, judo, fencing, water polo”) as well as managers from the business world.

“My job is not for sportsmen who are in mental distress”

His career takes a new stop off Charles-Ehrmann last summer. An old-school training ground, the office of legends. The mental coach attacks his job there in a serene manner, and his methods don’t take long to pay off. “We all have our unique traits”, explains Maxime le Marchand. I met him during my rehab (after an injury to his cruciate ligaments, Editor’s note), he took me through several stages to lead me to finding my performance level. We worked on things that, in my spirit, were negative for me. He made me see things differently, that helped me a lot. For both football and everyday life…”

His work will not be publicised by the coach though, with the details of the method remaining behind closed doors. The larger idea of his work doesn’t remain a mystery though. “My job is not for sportsmen who are in mental distress but for everybody, he clarifies. Whatever mental level you are at, there is always room to progress, just as you can physically. The work is specific for each player, but there is a theme in common: pleasure. My final goal, that they enjoy themselves on the pitch. It’s down to me to set-out the way to get them there.” “From young, we face challenges each year, Le Marchand explains. We say to ourselves: if you aren’t good, you won’t pass them. Thomas brings us the simple things which you can forget under pressure.” And this is completed during regular individual meetings. 

ANTI-GURU

Free-up the head to direct the body: this is the mission. A challenge which he applies with technique and simplicity, going above and beyond the prejudices that surround “mental preparation". “We often associate this job with a guru, it isn’t that at all. In Anglo-Saxons countries, mental preparation has been around for at least 20 years, even in football clubs. France is trailing behind with that. What is good with Nice is that we are making up for lost time…” In order to do this, a flick of a magic wand to go forward or a broomstick to fly onwards. Just a chat serves to achieve success and, so far, after one season, it’s a technique proving fruitful for the Aiglons.

“What has stuck out for me, is the month of January, a moment in which lots of people thought we would be stung on the nose. The players didn’t let anything go and, even if we struggled a bit, there was no collapsing. The game was put back in place. There could have some decompression, but that wasn’t the case. I could have also said the Paris match, but that would have been too easy…”

Especially as the victory was announced during his first speech, in the heart of the summer.

C.D

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