Short of competition after his forced four-month break, Earvin Ngapeth could be languishing at being a substitute during Euro 2023, but that would be a bad idea for the French volleyball star who is “having a blast” in this role of luxury joker . You have to see him perform an improbable dance step, all smiles, after a French point on one of his serves in the round of 16 against the Bulgarians on Friday evening. Or even accommodate his teammates during training on Saturday morning, in one of the many rooms in the basement of the Palace of Culture and Sport in Varna.
Ngapeth, who suffered a cracked quadriceps tendon in his right thigh in April, is doing well and feeling better and better before the quarter-final against Romania this Monday (8:00 p.m.). “I had a good comeback (against Bulgaria beaten 3-0, editor’s note), I have good feelings,” he summarizes. However, it was not won for the new receiver-attacker from Ankara who will soon discover Turkey after France, Italy and Russia. Especially after the defeat against Romania (3-1) in the group stage, at the start of the week, where he was started, without being able to impact the match.
“I thought about it, you always have the impression when you’ve trained for fifteen years that it’s going to come back like that,” he admits, snapping his fingers, “but I’m sorry. .é, I worked a lot, a lot. The fact of not feeling good with the ball and even physically, it was a bit of a blow to my morale.” To the point that with Andrea Giani, the Italian coach of the Blues who trained him until June at a club in Modena, they reached the same observation. “We discussed it in Israel (where the group stage took place, editor’s note) and we decided by mutual agreement that I was not ready and that we had not had enough time,” recalls the best player of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Italian coach even plans to do without it in the round of 16 and beyond, before using it at the end of the first and second sets to disgust the Bulgarians. “Arriving in Bulgaria, I had never felt so good in the summer (…), I feel better day after day, it is progressing quickly”, asserts this rap enthusiast. As he continues to work alongside his teammates on his physical condition and muscle building, Ngapeth could very well see his playing time increase if France go far. “You can see his progress with the naked eye. He will not make five sets against Italy, but the idea is that he makes five points, then fifteen points, then a set”, hopes the physical trainer of the Blues, Laurent Lecina.
This is not the first time that Ngapeth has approached a major event without being in full possession of his means: he was hit in the back during Euro 2017, had injured his adductors before the 2018 World Cup or even his ribs before Euro 2019. “The difference, he notes, is that I no longer have any pain at all. Whereas in 2017, for example, I was really injured, I couldn’t even train.” Another notable difference, given his lack of competition and the emergence in particular of Timothée Carle, he cannot be a starter in the eyes of Andrea Giani.
“You have to use it because its service and reception are important. He plays for the team and the team needs him but in a different role,” notes the Italian coach who also emphasizes Ngapeth’s impact off the field (“He lights up the team”). “We have our way of life,” confirms the person concerned. We’re the only team that lives like that, that has a blast like that at the hotel. It’s something that annoys and makes others want to beat us. But when we put on an intensity like the one we showed against Bulgaria, it’s complicated for everyone to play us,” he says, as a warning to the Romanians.