The task of persuading Melvine Malard’s mother to allow her teenage daughter to travel almost 6,000 miles from home was far from simple. Fortunately, Sonia Bompastor had a clear plan for the conversation.
“It is a huge responsibility for a coach to take a young player and move her away from her family,” Bompastor reflects.
“What mattered most to her mother during that call was knowing she could trust me both as a manager and as a woman.”
For the young forward, the move brought real challenges. Having grown up close to her family, Malard found it hard to adjust to the freezing winters of Lyon.
On Reunion Island, the tropical climate keeps temperatures above 20C even in the coldest months. In Lyon, by contrast, December and January often bring readings in the low single digits.
Bompastor still smiles at the memory of one exchange with her young protégé.
“She told me: ‘I am so sorry, Sonia, but I think I need to go home. It is so cold here. I cannot play football any more!'” Bompastor recalls.
Yet Malard stayed, unwilling to walk away from such a promising opportunity.
“When Lyon calls you, it may only happen once in your life,” she says. “So you have to seize the moment when it arrives.”
Bompastor’s support reached well beyond the pitch. As head of Lyon’s academy, she also monitored Malard’s schooling closely.
“Whenever I did badly at school, she would call me,” Malard explains. “‘Mel, where are you? The school has been in touch — what you are doing is not acceptable!'”
“It was a nightmare — Sonia was always watching.”
Their bond endured as Malard climbed through the ranks, finally breaking into Lyon’s senior squad as a 17-year-old in 2017.
By the time Bompastor took charge as head coach for the 2021-22 campaign, Malard had cemented her place in the side. At the end of that season, she started the Champions League final against Barcelona, where Bompastor’s team triumphed 3-1.
For the manager, it remains a treasured moment.
“When you reflect on the whole journey — Melvine arriving as a young child in an unfamiliar setting, so far from her family — and then see how she developed into a player who started that match, and for us to win it,” Bompastor says, “it is a remarkable achievement.”
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