Coming from a family of basketball players, it seemed hard for Émilie Petiteau to escape the tradition. “I liked this team sport because the atmosphere was nice,” she says. “I felt comfortable in that environment.” Thus, Emilie began playing basketball at the age of 6. She played for nearly ten years at Gazelec de Toulon. There, she was noticed and joined the training center in Aix-en-Provence for three years. She stayed two years in National 1, because “given my age, I wanted to have playing time.” Afterwards, she was called by league clubs to become a professional. After Sceaux and Clermont-Ferrand, she started her third season in the professional women’s team of Nice.
Passionate and determined, at 24 years old, Émilie Petiteau is an accomplished athlete. Eighteen years ago, she was an amateur walking the basketball courts. Today, she has made basketball her profession. She plays as a “shooting guard” in the professional women’s team in Nice.
Interview of a woman who champions women’s basketball.
Nice Première: Athletes are often portrayed as intellectually limited. How do you deal with these preconceptions?
Émilie Petiteau: Badly. It offends me. I find it very harsh. The issue in France is that athletes are not given the possibility to combine higher education with high-level sports. Since we frequently travel, it is not easy to follow university courses. And so far, no alternative means have been offered to us athletes. Furthermore, coaches put up obstacles. According to them, if we attend classes alongside training, we will not be at our full potential on the field. As for myself, I’ve always been frustrated about not having pursued the studies I wanted. Even though basketball requires a lot of thought since it’s a very tactical game, I don’t find it intellectually fulfilling. That’s why, since last season, I’ve been working outside of training. I need to engage my intellect.
N.P.: The reality is simple: women’s sports are underrepresented in the media and thus little known by the general public. Moreover, women are significantly less represented in team sports, both as coaches and players. Do you believe in the advent of gender equality in sports?
E.M.: Yes, I believe in it. I fight for it. I try to restore equality, even though I am aware of the differences. Aware of physical differences. It’s well-known that a man is stronger than a woman. A man jumps higher than a woman. But at the same point, a woman through her sport can give the public as much pleasure as a man. She can provide the same sensations. Thus, I find it regrettable that women’s sports are so unrecognized and underrepresented in media.
Moreover, sports is a playful way to convey messages. Messages of equality and fairness. Regardless, it is important that we maintain our female identity, as it is also what gives us strength.
N.P.: Basketball players are often stereotyped: young black men from American ghettos. What image do people have of a female basketball player?
E.M.: There are too many clichés attached to this sport.
People often have preconceptions about the height, build, and sexuality of female basketball players: tall, sturdy, and lesbians. I don’t care about that. I feel feminine, that’s what matters.
Watching videos, I realize the very masculine and beastly vibes that female basketball players give off during matches. In life, I’m calm. I don’t like conflict. On the field, I change. I vent. I become very primal. Consequently, our partners have difficulties presenting themselves as husbands of basketball players, unlike the wives of football players!
Youths, meanwhile, struggle to understand a woman playing basketball. They associate this sport with the United States, the NBA, and Tony Parker.
Elsa Rigaud
