Chazalon, Jackie

Jackie Chazalon began to actively engage in basketball at the age of 12 ^[1] . Chazalon’s playing career began in the teams of her native Ales . After playing one year at Valence and Montferrand, in 1964 she joined the club ( fr. Clermont-Ferrand Université Club ), in which she performed until the end of her career. In December 1963, in Strasbourg, Chazalon first played for the French team, going to the site in a match with the Swiss , and the next year she made her debut at the European Championship ^[2] .

Over time, in Clermont, under the leadership of , the strongest team of France and Europe was formed (constantly American women's university teams in friendly matches). The team, whose captain was Chazalon, also played and Catherine Chanewois. Since the 1968 season, Clermont UK and Chazalon have won the French championship nine times in a row, having spent 222 and 125 matches in a win-win streak ^[3] .

In 1970, the French team from Chazalon reached the final of the European Championship (where, however, they could not compete with the Soviet team , led by Ulyana Semenova ^[3] ), and the next year took part in the World Cup ^[4] . In 1971, the girls from Clermont first made it to the final of the European Cup and over the next five years achieved this success three more times ^[2] . However, they never managed to win this title - French women invariably lost in the final to teams from Eastern Europe ^[3] .

As part of the French team, Chazalon held 189 games from 1963 to 1976, gaining a total of 2270 points ^[2] . Among her achievements were 42 points scored in a friendly match of 1970 with the team of Hungary (the final score of the game 76:32) ^[3] . At the European Championships, Chazalon scored an average of 20.4 points per game, taking third place in the list of top scorers of the tournament ^[2] , and two years later - 18.9 points per game ^[3] . In 1976, she was included in the symbolic European team ^[4] , ending her performances at the age of 31 ^[3] after the sixth in the career of the continent’s championship, which took place including in her native Clermont-Ferrand ^[2] . A year after the end of the speeches, Chazalon, at the request of National Television journalist Jean Renal, organized a live match between French male and female basketball players. During this program, she participated in the free-throw competition and the dribbling show competition, where her opponent was the leading player in the French men's team ^[3] .

Game Style

Being relatively short for basketball ( 172 cm at the peak of her career), she developed her own special style of play based on virtuoso swinging dribbling (including behind and between the legs) and feints. From long distances, Chazalon threw the ball into the basket with two hands from her head, and from a distance of 3-4 meters she used a powerful and elegant jump-shot . Going out onto the ring, she sometimes started to jump on one leg, and this ended with a throw, which later became known as “a tear” in the performance of Tony Parker ^[3] . In her arsenal there was also a throw with a hook from any hand ^[1] . Chazalon focused on the playing style of Julius Irving and Oscar Robertson . In an era when women's basketball was still developing in the West (unlike Eastern Europe), it trained a lot with men, including American legionnaires of French men's clubs ^[3] . In the early 1970s, as a leading player in the French national team , she could skip training camps to travel to the United States to attend men's basketball workshops ^[1] .

Even in the years of playing for Clermont UK, Jackie Chazalon was formally considered a physical education teacher, receiving a salary equivalent to $ 400 per month from the state and the same amount of travel expenses ^[1] . After the end of her playing career, she really took up teaching. Using the experience gained in the USA, Chazalon became the founder of the first basketball schools in Europe ^[2] . Subsequently, Chazalon, with the help of an American Carmine Calzonetti, organized a network of youth sports camps Sports Elite Jeunes, where, in addition to basketball, golf, rugby and football classes are held ^[3] . Since 2004, she headed the Association of players of the French national team ^[4] .

Jackie Chazalon was awarded France’s state awards for her services. Already in 1975, she was awarded the Order of Merit . In 2012, the Order of the Legion of Honor was added to her awards ^[2] .

Chazalon is also the winner of numerous national and international sports awards. In 1970, she was awarded the gold medal of the ^[2] . In 1994, she was awarded the Robert Bünel Medal - the highest award of the French Basketball Federation, and in 1997 the Gold Medal of the French Basketball Federation ^[4] . In 1999, by the decision of the panel of experts of the monthly Maxi-Basket, Jackie Chazalon was recognized as the basketball player of the century in France (for men this title was given to ^[3] ). In 2003, she was awarded the prize "Gluard du sport" ( French Gloire du sport ), and the next year she became a member of the French Basketball Academy ^[4] . Since 2009, the name Chazalon has been included in the lists of the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame , where she became the first French player ^[2] , and in 2016 her candidacy was nominated for inclusion in the lists of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (USA) ^[3] .

• Hall of Famers: Jacky Chazalon (France ) . FIBA . Date of treatment December 15, 2018.