Why did you decide to come and organise a volleyball camp in Cameroon?
I met Jean Merlin years ago in Switzerland and we became good friends. We had a very rich volleyball career together. Already then he was talking about the camp he would organize in Cameroon. I got a little interested in it. After he went back to France, we kept in touch through the internet because I was in Germany. That’s when he invited me to come to Cameroon and help him to organize the camp. I had a very successful volleyball career as a player and also as a coach. So it’s time to give back volleyball to young kids and this was a very nice opportunity. I like to do this kind of work. I put in energy and because of the energy of the children, this camp gives me more energy back. It also gives joy so many people.
How do you asses the level of the children?
The beginning of the camp was not easy for us. Some children already play volleyball but most of them don’t know it. So we had to start by explaining how things work, explain rules of the game before we started playing. In the second week we progressed a lot. They surprised me a lot because they learnt quickly. At the end, we had a competition two versus two, four versus four and others. The level was good. I have done many camps in volleyball and I like to do this kind of work. But I have never been so surprised by the leaning of Children. In two weeks we made several steps.
What could be the legacy of this Camp?
I don’t know the future but I hope the people here in Ebolowa will be able to continue the work began by Jean-Merlin and his team. They have got material and will have to make good use of it. The children can grow and produce some talents for the national team of Cameroon if some work is done on the ground. I think Cameroon should organize more camps. This is the future of Volleyball. If Cameroon invests in material and practice we could have players as Jean Patrice Ndaki who is the top volleyball player here in Cameroon. I know his brother, Yves Marcel, Hermann Engala and others. What I see here, volleyball has good prospects to develop in Cameroon. We can see a great future if people work.
