Mickaël Genais, a Toulouse Bear who hunts the quarterback
After an injury from his first appearance in Elite 2 and a “covid”, the Tarbais Mickaël Genais relaunched his sport-passion to integrate with the Toulouse Season Bears the Elite American football championship.
With Mickaël Genais, the only Tarbes representative playing in an American football team of the French elite, we parted at the dawn of a promising season with the Toulouse Bears in January 2020, a time for which he was preparing to tread the lawn of the Argoulets stadium in Elite 2. A great challenge to take up after a late debut (21 years old) with the Tarbes club Mad Predators and after a stint at the Sphinx de Pau in D4 with which he became champion de France by being voted best attacking player (MVP) of the 2017 final.
An injury and a rebound in the Elite with the Bears
But fate had to play a bad trick on him when the Toulouse receiver was, in the first game of the season, cruciate ligaments on a tackle before seeing the following season put on hold due to the health crisis.
Not up to a new challenge, Mickaël Genais for his part tackled intensive rehabilitation to return to his best level while the post-Covid period allows the Toulouse club, selected on file, to integrate the top French level: “Without having played for almost 2 years, the return to competition was violent but I held myself back to keep in shape with a lot of weight training during my rehabilitation and the long period of Covid”.
A recovery, last January, which took place in a new position since Mickaël Genais went from receiver to defender: “I raised a lot of cast iron (laughs). But it’s an important role because we won the last two close games, conceding very few points. I am considered an experienced player and I am lined up in every game. The Defensive end is a first tackle position where the goal is to tackle the opposing quarterback. It’s a very explosive position.”
And the number 85 takes his role to heart, chasing the quarterback on the grounds of France, succeeding in tackles to make a rugby player pale and even a “fumble”, the ultimate buffer that makes his opponent lose the ball: “It’s huge and it’s one of the two big things you can do on defense with interception.”
daily sacrifices
But, behind the beautiful window, hides a few sacrifices for this young (31 years old) multi-active Tarbes entrepreneur in his premises in rue Maréchal-Foch, imposed by several round trips a week between Tarbes and Toulouse, “when we he match at the weekend hurts. But it’s the search for adrenaline on match day that motivates me and of course, the passion for this sport” in a championship where each team has an almost professional workforce. : “There are a lot of American players from the 1st university division who come and they are paid. With us, it’s like that. Well, it’s not the case for me, it’s the passion that drives me since my debut at Tarbes. But, when we are asked for additional video training for professionalism, that’s a lot. But, it’s true that the level of requirement of the club is very high “.
Because the Toulouse Bears represent the South-West at the highest level and thwarted all predictions by winning against Grenoble at the opening of the championship then against Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence, last weekend. “As a result, we no longer have the same status and we are starting to be referenced even on American sites which have maintained our level”.
In the middle of the rankings, the Toulouse Bears are now dreaming of the play-offs where the best in the conference (North and South) will compete for the title: “For a first participation in Elite, it would be magnificent and I invite all fans of the Hautes-Pyrénées to come and see a match of the Toulouse Bears”.
A great occasion, Sunday, at 2 p.m., at the Argoulets stadium against the Argonautes of Aix-en-Provence where the show and the number 85 will be there.