She has won 183 caps for France and a host of titles with Les Bleues and Bourges but Cathy Melain has no regrets about her decision to play in Italy with Venezia.

A member of Les Bleues' 2001 European Championship-winning team, the 29-year-old has also won three Euroleague titles and five consecutive French championships with the Bourges club.

But she had a chance to explore a new environment and grabbed it with both hands.

		“	My objective is always win, win, win	„
		Cathy Melain

A change of clubs is nothing new for the player who has never baulked at moving on when her career demands it.

Melain was motivated to leave home at the age of 13 to pursue her dream of being a basketball player.

A move to Venice was the latest stage in the development of the player who says she is settling in well in "la serenissima".

"I am very well here," Melain told PA International. "There is not a great difference (between France and Italy) and it is not a problem living here.

"I wanted a country that was quite similar to France, another Latin country.

"I am learning the language. I don't really speak it well yet but I know I am improving because I can understand well now."

There were other places she could have played.

Russia has lured many of the game's stars in both the men's and women's game, but the Rodina (Motherland) didn't appeal to Melain.

		Melain has played 183 times for France

"I did not want a too big change of culture - if I had gone to Russia it would have been a new alphabet, new everything," Melain said.

"Italy is a Latin country and I was particularly interested in Venice - it is a special city."

Italian basketball has presented her with new challenges, anyway. Italsoft Reyer Venezia are in the FIBA Europe Cup Women and have won their first two games.

She has also had to get used to the parity that exists in the Italian game.

"The level is different in France," she said. "There is a bigger gap between the clubs at the top and the rest whereas here (in Italy) the clubs are of a similar standard.

"In 2004 my objectives are to have a good season for myself and for the team - there are play-offs for the title and play-offs for the relegation and we want to be in the top four.

"We want to get in European competition and now when we play we must be at the maximum."

Melain became interested in basketball as a child when she was dragged along by a friend to training and immediately she was hooked.

"I had a friend who was into basketball and I went along and ended up getting caught up with it all," she said.

Born in Rennes, Brittany, she still considers herself a "petite bretonne" (little Breton) although at 1m 83 the 29-year-old can't really be considered little.

"I wanted to reach the maximum of my potential and I agreed with my parents that I could go to a school where I could play basketball so long as I would continue with my academic education," she said.

At the age of 13 she went off to a sports school in Normandy before moving on two years later to the famous INSEP academy in Paris where many of France's young athletes are trained.

However Melain was desperate to launch her club career and when she got the chance it was southern outfit Tarbes that gave her her first opportunity.

"Then at 17 I was off to Tarbes," she said. "It was the best choice and they were the best club at the moment and they were the ones who made me an offer."

She has no regrets about leaving home at such an early age and believes she owes her pioneering spirit to the values instilled in her by her parents.

		The 2003 European Championship was a dissapointing tournament for Melain and France

"It was no problem leaving home after such an early age because my parents taught me from a very age to be self-reliant and do things for myself," she explained. "I had a very good relationship with them."

Her parents always insisted that she give the necessary attention to her academic studies and, although her ability means she has never had to look outside basketball for work, she has remained interested in many other facets of life.

"If I had not been a basketball player I might have been a lawyer because I enjoyed my studies," she said. "I was very interested in law and also computer technology. Many things interest me."

After Tarbes, Melain moved on to Aix-en-Provence which is one of southern France's most beautiful towns and has a rich history.

"At Aix-en-Provence it is a beautiful town and very pretty - I was fine there and we had a very young team," she explained although it was not a love of history or culture that persuaded her to move but the chance to work again with one of her mentors.

She explained: "I got on with the coach (Jacques Vernerey) there and I had worked with him at the France junior team."

But it was at Bourges that Melain had the most successful spell of her club career and although she is enjoying life in Venice she has by no means cut her ties with the city that set the standard in European women's basketball.

"At Bourges I spent so much of my life and it is very good at Bourges and I have become very attached to the town and the region," she admits.

"I have put down a lot of roots there and still have many friends there."

She is reluctant to single out any one success.

"There is not one honour that sticks out because I have had many great victories and each was a great day with a great story," she said.

The chance to play abroad was not something she had contemplated when she first started out but eventually she was tempted to spread her wings.

"I had been thinking of playing abroad for some time - that's what I was thinking of," she said. "But 10 years ago I did not think it was possible."

"I have wanted to do it for a very long time."

Now she is hoping to make the same impact abroad as she has at home and with Les Bleues.

"My realistic ambition is to win something abroad and get into European competition and I would like to add to my trophy list with a foreign club or to help them step up a class.

"My objective is always win, win, win."

Despite her never-say-die spirit Melain admits there are limits to her ambitions.

"My unrealistic ambition is to win an Olympic gold medal and sadly that is not going to ever happen," she said.

France didn't qualify for the Olympics earlier this year when they failed to win a medal at the European Championships.

Melain has no regrets about leaving her homeland and feels she is settling in well in the "Serenissima" - as Venice calls itself.

"I am very happy, happy to be here," she explained. "People have made me feel very welcome in the team and are really nice. I am very happy."