Narre Warren South volleyball sensation Cedric Legrand could be playing AFL in 2010.By Stuart Teather
Narre Warren South’s Cedric Legrand was born into volleyball.
His Dad, Nelson, played volleyball for his native Mauritius, so Legrand picked up the sport as a kid and has been playing ever since.
So it came as something of a shock when Essendon Football Club approached him about a career in AFL.
The 20-year-old former Mazenod College student has played both indoor and beach volleyball for his club, state and country over a distinguished junior career, and was so good that he even had a sponsor.
As it turned out, signing on with FitDeck Australia was to change his life.
FitDeck’s Mahamoud Fahour became Legrand’s volleyball manager, and, as Legrand explained, did much more than further his career in front of the net.
“I was hanging out with my manager (Fahour) and I told him I love footy — I love watching the games, I love tackling people, I love the physical aspects of it that volleyball doesn’t have,” he said.
“The next day he just gives me a call and goes ‘we’re going to have a meeting with (Essendon recruiting manager) Adrian Dodoro’ — I was like, ‘what?’
“It was completely out of the blue.”
Legrand is now on track to do pre-season training with the Bombers in the lead-up to the 2010 season, with the ultimate goal a spot on the club’s AFL list.
Not bad for a kid who has barely played a game of AFL in his life.
“I played juniors, but that doesn’t really count. It was for Springvale, the Springvale Scorpions. “I’ve hardly played any games, last year I played a couple of games for the Dandenong Demons because my mate needed a couple of people to fill in, but that’s about as far as my footy career goes.”
Legrand may doubt his football credentials, but his sporting resume is impressive in itself.
He recently finished equal seventh on the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour, in 2007 he travelled to Spain, Russia and Italy for the World Junior Championships and he is one of the hottest pieces of property on the indoor club circuit at the moment.
To top it all off, he comes from a family of sports stars. Along with his Dad playing at international level, two of Legrand’s three younger brothers — who all attend Mazenod College — play state level volleyball, while the youngest recently pulled on the soccer boots for Victoria for the first time.
For now, Legrand has the indoor volleyball season with his club Heidelberg to keep him occupied, but he knows sooner or later he has to choose a sport.
“It’s still a hard choice, I’ve been playing volleyball for so long, but footy’s just given me a shot to make it big.
“I was playing volleyball all my life, and the next thing you know a footy career might happen. “It’s blown my mind. I wouldn’t even have thought about footy.”
