Mounir Bernaoui took on a new dimension at C’Chartres Basket Masculin, host of Avignon tonight
Until the age of 14, Mounir Bernaoui had never touched a basketball. This son of an Algerian father and mother grew up far from the orange ball, in a district of Toulouse, in Casselardit.
“Like many neighborhoods in large cities, it was not always easy, but I managed to hang on”, confesses Mounir who will experience a somewhat disrupted education by being fired from several establishments. “I did some kidish nonsense, not bad. Maybe I was not made for school, he says before recovering. When I left for Lille to sign a trainee contract, I had to have the baccalaureate and I had an average of 14, with a fairly good mention … “
“The basket recognized the values that I needed”
A few years before getting this school sesame, Mounir Bernaoui had tried karate. “Like my big brother did, my dad wanted to put us together, but I wasn’t good because I wasn’t very flexible. Karate was just too much of my delirium. As I was tall, I had to be 1.97 m, on told me to go to basketball… I didn’t know anything about this sport at all and I loved it right away ?! »And Mounir admits:« The basket needs the values I had, knowing how to behave in a group »
His time at the Étoile Sportive de Casselardit, his first club, will be brief because the boy is immediately directed to the UGB, an entity in Gers where he operates as a cadet in France. Then it’s the big jump in Lille, at the LMB. After a lightning return to the Gers, to Valence-Condom in N2, Bernaoui returned to the northern region, where he signed at Portel, promoted to the elite. The strong-winger navigates between the professional group and the hopes for two seasons, then initials a contract in Saint-Chamond.
“I needed more responsibilities”
Eleven man in ProB for his first season in the Loire, the one whose coach is a certain Alain Thinet will learn a lot alongside this coach who will put an end to 35 coaching seasons next May. “He’s a coach who succeeds the youngsters, I played 13-14 minutes in ProB. But I needed more responsibilities, to demonstrate, which is why I went down to level, in Avignon. “
Mounir Bernaoui, third arrival at the CCBM
Convincing with USAP last season (12 points and 6 rebounds at 12 to score) in a team that will only win 6 games (20 losses), the Franco-Algerian has chosen to grow again by signing for Chartres, ” a benchmark club for the N1 ”, while Vitré and Les Sables-d’Olonne have soft eyes on him. “I wanted to show what I had done in Avignon. “
An XXL match in Lyon
Shy, sometimes borrowed, even clumsy in its first matches with the CCBM, Fennec * has turned a corner in recent matches, to the point of releasing an XXL score during the victory of Chartres in Lyon (81-75) by scoring 14 points and by gobbling up 19 rebounds (record of the season in N1). Like a new outbreak.
The men’s basketball C’Chartres wins on the Lyon floor, the leader
“I had taken 18 with the Hopes, but in Hopes … It is true that at the start of the season, I locked myself too much in a register. There, for a few weeks, I’ve been trying to serve the team as best I can. I’m a little smart on the ground, I try to position myself well to seize the rebounds ”This evening, the leaping Mounir Bernaoui hopes once again to shine against a formation from Avignon for whom he will have no mercy.
* Nickname of the Algerian selection whose jersey he wore in U18 at the Arab Nations Championship (gold medal and best player of the tournament) and in the 3×3 team.
Meyniel returns to Chartres
Four days after its elimination in the Coupe de France in Limoges (101-62), the CCBM puts on the warming blue against a pale team from Avignon, this Saturday, November 20, for the last day of the first phase. Although having revolutionized its workforce to 80%, with in particular the arrival of Bordeaux leader and native of Chartres Gaëtan Meyniel, and changed coach (the American-Swedish Kenny Grant succeeded Vincent Lavandier), the USAP does not not much better (11th).
CHARTRES (halle Jean-Cochet), this Saturday, November 20 at 8 p.m.
CCBM: Siegwarth, Thalien, Mekdad, Doumbia, Békoulé Ekambi, Green (US), Bernaoui, Ucles (ESP), Mukuna, Clerence. Avignon: Vincent, Meyniel, G. and M. Bonomini, Bourcier, Tomatis, Morgan (US), Papic (SER), Biog, Faustin.
Jean-André Provost