Handball/Proligue Final Four: Kévin Mesnard and Frontignan THB determined to “believe in the impossible”

Après sept saisons au FTHB, la carrière de Kévin Mesnard va s’achever ce week-end. Non sans émotion. MIDI LIBRE – Jérôme Belluire

Among the heroes of this season (and previous ones), the goalkeeper looks back on his adventure with the FTHB, which will end this weekend of June 1 and 2 during the Final Four.

You are going to retire this weekend. Did you think your career would end with a Final Four??

I really didn't expect that…hellip; My adventure in Frontignan is completely crazy. Every year something bigger happens. I've been here for seven years, and every season I see at least one article in the newspaper with the word history in it…

How would you define this team ?

Our great strength is our humility. The most important thing for us is our group life, not the results. But that’s what makes the results follow. Every year, we're here to have fun with friends. Players leave, but those who stay pass it all on to the new ones. Many players left their mark on me, like Olivier Lamarre, Pedro Delgado or Alexandre Saidani. And today, Ayhan, Lucas, Anthony and I are doing this relay.

The FTHB, in its construction and operation, is atypical…

This team is a bit reminiscent of the Barjots of the time. This all comes out of nowhere. I remember Asier’s speech when he arrived. He spoke to players who had a lot to prove. This is not the classic route for players who are already performing. And in the end, each member of this collective, and of the previous ones, emerged grown.

What will you have left of his seven seasons at FTHB ?

Honestly, I want to remember everything. Meetings, friends for life, values ​​that I already had within me but which have been strengthened and which I want to convey in my life. And exceptional moments, on and off the field. The rise to D2 in Mulhouse, the Coupe de France matches against Nice and Saint-Raphaël… And the playoffs at Pontault-Combault. These are sensations that I will never get again.

How do you position yourself for this semi-final ?

On paper, Tremblay seems to be the anti Frontignan. The big armada of players who have already proven everything and united to build a machine to destroy everything. And they have reached a collective milestone this year. We already had the impression that everything was possible last season and that was reinforced this year. We showed it against PSG. And in Tremblay, on the way back, we showed it for 45 minutes. We will not give up, we believe more than ever in the impossible.

In what state of mind will you personally approach this Final Four, knowing that your career will end ?

For the moment, and this has been the case since I made my decision, I am calm. It’s really the moment for me, that’s why I want to experience everything intensely. There, emotions run high. The closer you get to it, the higher it goes. And the more I slow them down too, because we have goals, something big to play for. I think it's going to explode at the end of this weekend. But it will only be happiness, to share with my teammates, my wife and my daughter.
For me, there is no more beautiful career than the one I had. Obviously at 23, when I left the Montpellier Training Center, I dreamed of something else. But I finally experienced everything I dreamed of. This is why I am grateful to the club and my teammates for making me experience all of this. It’s a dance that I didn’t do alone.

Tremblay/Frontignan, this Saturday June 1 at 3:15 p.m. Live on Bein Sport. I subscribe to read more