Winning ways: sports champions share tips on victory on the field
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It was a cool and breezy day when two of the hottest French names in sports caught up for a quick chat at the parade ring at the Sha Tin Racecourse. French jockey Alexis Badel, fresh off his magnificent BMW Hong Kong Derby win on March 19, played host to France 7s men’s rugby team captain, Jonathan Laugel, before the rest of the team arrived for a night at the races.
But before that, Badel and Laugel managed to grab some time together to share some of their secrets of success. Laugel also managed to get some tips on how his team, which is vying for the Hong Kong Sevens crown this weekend, could play to the home crowd.
Both Badel and Laugel started in their chosen sport at a young age. Badel was born into a horse racing family, his mother is respected horse trainer Myriam Bollack-Badel and his father Alain Badel is a former jockey in France. The younger Badel was on a horse at eight years old and by the time he was 18, he was named Champion Apprentice in France.
“My dad was a very good jockey and I was probably born to be a jockey because of my physical ability, my small size and my light weight so I had everything perfect to be a jockey. My mom was very good and she really pushed me to be better,” says Badel, who has been racing full time in Hong Kong since the 2020/2021 season.
“I believe my parents only pushed me because they knew I was very good at it so they really gave me all the keys and everything I would need to achieve my professional career.”
Laugel also cites parental support as a crucial component of his development into an international rugby star, even though the family had no particular links with the sport. “My grandfather and my father were never into rugby and so I had no pressure to be the next rugby player in the family. But, my parents gave me the confidence I needed and they also gave me a framework because we know that we need to be serious when we are athletes. We need to be rigorous; we need to wake up early every morning; and we need to watch what we are eating,” Laugel says.
“I feel like that I had that foundation that allowed me to get to perform and to be where I am now.”
Unlike Badel who seemed destined for a life of horse-racing, Laugel says he never seriously thought about playing the sport as a career until a letter came in the mail offering the then 15-year-old a place in a rugby boarding school. He was only one of 15 of the best players in the region to be made the offer.
“Suddenly I was at the rugby boarding school, waking up at 8am and doing rugby and studying in parallel until almost 8pm. I certainly found that, all right, now it’s serious, it’s real, and I really want to become the next big rugby player of my family or the country,” says Laugel.
Being in highly physical competitive sports isn’t without risks, with injuries being at the top of the list. On the track, there are many factors that can play a part in accidents and tumbles that may not be within the jockey’s control.
Badel took a nasty fall last November, leaving Badel with a dislocated shoulder and a broken ankle that took him out of commission for some time. It made his comeback win at the BMW Hong Kong Derby all the sweeter.
“Most of the time [when there is a fall], it’s just very unpredictable. We have to face quite a high velocity and very strong impact so it makes it a very difficult sports,” Badel says.
After a serious injury in Dubai a few years ago where he was tackled by another player in the knee, Laugel has also found that no matter how careful he may be, some injuries are also out of his control.
“We are much more in control of our environment, we are not relying on a horse or someone or anything like that so we’re much more in control but what we don’t control is the other player,” he says.
Laugel chose to tackle his own recovery with positivity. Unable to train on the field, he took to doing something he had never done before: he visualised his games and his manoeuvres in his mind so that he could be back on the field in top form when he recovered.
Laugel will be co-leading his team against Uruguay and Great Britain today in the run-up to Sunday’s finals and Badel will be cheering his fellow countrymen on, just as he will when the team plays on home ground at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.