Sarah Hanffou

Interview:

I am Sarah Hanffou, a French-Cameroonian player; I have been representing Cameroon for over 15 years now.

How did you start playing ping?

I started playing at the age of 8, thanks to my school where we had the chance to go for an introductory session at a club in Lille. I loved it, and I've stayed with it for over 30 years now!

What do you like most about ping?

What I love is that, as we often say among ourselves, it's like doing a sprint while playing a game of chess, and I think it's the only sport in the world where you do that. You have to think very fast and constantly adapt. The players are all different, there are different playing styles. It requires very different skills: physical, mental, strategic, and I love that!

What kind of ping player are you?

I think I am a physical player. I think I manage to make up for the lack of training—due to my personal and professional constraints—by reflecting on my sport, my playing style, and my opponents.

What is your best memory?

The best memory for me is the 2010 African Championships. It was the first time I played the African Championships in Cameroon in front of my family, and I won, and that was just incredible in terms of emotions.

You preside over Ping Sans Frontières, can you tell us about it?

The association was created in 2006, so it's been nearly 20 years now. We collect sports equipment; that was the first step. We do coach training and training camps for young people. We build tables in a traditional way so that children can play almost anywhere. In France, we notably have a program called "Plaques pour tous" (Rubbers for all). These are bins placed in clubs to collect rubbers, rackets, jerseys... which we then redistribute as part of our projects, mainly on the African continent. The idea is not necessarily to create high-level pathways. The slogan is "education at the end of the racket," so it's about using ping as a tool to transmit values and allow children to grow as people, more than just high-level performance.

You are also a lawyer, how is your daily life organized?

My daily life is that of a lawyer. I have my firm in Toulon. I wake up at 5 a.m. and try to do my physical preparation in the morning. Then I go to the firm, I try to use the lunch break for my training sessions, and then I go back to the firm. It requires discipline and a lot of organization. My work week is based on 7 days, so no days off. And I've had this rhythm for a few years. I am passionate, it's exciting, it's difficult, but I love what I do.

Do you have other passions?

Yes, I have other passions. I love reading: French literature, and also the great classics of American literature. I love it! I also love music, even if I don't really have the time to go to concerts. I'm a jazz fan, and one of my dreams when I retire is to go to the festival in Montreux. So, I would say those are two of my passions, in addition to the others... I also like many other things, discovering and smiling at the world.