In the Landes, basketball has a special place. A central square. A real social bond, home meetings are popular with Landes supporters and in particular those of Elan Tursan, who are meeting this Saturday in Saint-Loubouer (8 p.m.) to support their team which will face Layrac (10th, 1V- 3D).
Ranked tied 12th but with a late match to play on Saturday October 19 against JSA Bordeaux B, Elan had a difficult start to the season marked by the tragic death of one of its most loyal supporters, player and employee of the club, Paul Castaings. A real test for the whole club. “It was difficult for us to think only about basketball but we had to overcome this ordeal as best we could,” confirms Damien Vithe, the coach.
On a purely accounting level, the balance sheet is one victory for two defeats. Undefeated at home (Saint-Médard-en-Jalles), the teammates of Benjamin Delseries (28 years old, 1.97 m) suffered the law of JSC Basket and Castelnau-Médoc: “The start of the season is frustrating, because we had good friendly matches but we had numerous injuries which did not allow us to be at full strength in our first three matches. It’s annoying because we feel that the matches were all winnable. »
“Good room for improvement”
Taken, like the last meeting played in Castelnau, lost by only seven points (79-72), without Kevin Sébie and Cylian Lalanne and with Benjamin Delseries who is “on one leg”. And “despite his injury problems, we are not far from winning anyway. We managed to have a big match at home (against Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Editor’s note) with intensity from start to finish. We will have to be able to reproduce this type of match this Saturday. »
Remodeled in the off-season, the Landais squad is big enough to achieve the objective set by the leaders – maintenance -, especially since the integration of the new ones (Paul Courcier, Baptiste Lafargue and Gana N’Diaye) has was perfect. Optimistic and realistic, Damien Vithe knows that his team has “a lot of room for improvement that we will have to fill as quickly as possible”.
Disappointed by the defeat at Castelnau-Médoc where “we missed our chance”, the match (and victory) against Layrac is essential. Indeed, Damien Vithe approaches this meeting “like a promotion who needs victories at home. Layrac is a great team with confirmed players at this level. We will therefore need ten hungry and vengeful players in order to be able to get back on track.”
