“We have been anticipating for 6 months”: how the Millavois clubs are preparing for the post-Olympic Games ?

Les futurs Antoine Dupont sont attendus au SOM rugby. Midi libre – Maxime Cohen

À la rentrée, les clubs millavois dont les disciplines ont été en vogue aux Jeux olympiques attendent une hausse de la demande. Ils sont prêts.

Monday, blues after a fortnight enchanted by French athletes at the Olympic Games. It will certainly be accompanied by a boost in the Millavois clubs, as everywhere in France, at the start of the school year, when choosing your sporting activity for the year to come. Some federations have anticipated it, others less so and it will be up to the structures to find solutions to push the walls and welcome all these beautiful people.

Inspired by the Lebrun brothers

Among the most publicized sports of the fortnight, there is inevitably table tennis, worn by the Lebrun siblings and Simon Gauzy. The SOM, with a renovated gymnasium, knows that it will have additional demand. "We hope so and count on it, smiles Fabien Enguix, president of the club for 10 years (he handed over in June). We have been anticipating this for six to eight months because the Lebrun brothers were already making headlines. The real challenge will be to retain new players over the long term for us." On a national scale, this love for the two small ball prodigies is growing This has already been felt with an increase from 211,000 licensees at the end of 2023 to 228,000 at the start of the summer. In Millau, after Covid, the club lost half of its members (from 80 licensees to 40) to find 78 during the last season. "Figures normal, for the former president. We think we will have people at the start of the school year and we hope to have enough slots.&quot ;

"We're already doing just-in-time"

Indeed, the walls of the Millavian structures, already narrow, cannot expand in such a short time. "We are already in tight flow in the rooms and installations, recognizes Jean-Pierre Mas, elected Sports representative for the City of Millau. We know that this can pose a problem and certain clubs like handball, basketball and table tennis, which are highly publicized, even more so. Questions will have to be asked to see what is possible to do."

Double effect in the pools

Aqua grimpe now has a new facility that will be able to benefit future Léon Marchands. "A positive impact is expected on swimming and climbing schools, confirms Vincent Thomas, director of the club. There will be more classes at the start of the school year than there have ever been. The swimming pool and the hall will never have had the capacity to accommodate so many participants."

The FFR is behind on rugby 7s

Rugby could be the rare discipline that cannot meet the demand of young people inspired by Antoine Dupont or Paulin Riva in the rugby 7s tournament. The federal circuit is indeed still thin on this newly popular practice. "The federation is getting involved, recognizes Johan Bernad, an employee of the SOM. We have a few dates at the beginning of the year for our youth categories (U16, U18) that did not exist before. They will serve as preparation because it is complementary to the XV but for the moment there is no 7-a-side championship throughout the year." Historically, XV players played 7-a-side tournaments at the end of the season.

On the other hand, it is with the National Education that things could change. “It could be that the UNSS competitions (National Union of School Sports, Editor's note) will be played by 7, it was in the pipeline at the end of the year, continues the SOM technician. The young people already had a cycle of 7 that we will keep but this could add real monitoring throughout the year." And thus vary the pleasures.

The first indicator of this popular frenzy around sports practice will be confirmed at the time of the forum of associations for the undecided (planned for September 7). And good news is also expected from the State on September 14 when Emmanuel Macron will announce new means to encourage the practice of sport in France. This would allow us to extend the range of possibilities a little more at the level of Millau structures.

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