Renewed by more than half, due to the Covid crisis, the Hopes division made its return to school on Monday during a three-day internship in Salazie.
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Unmissable at the start of each season, the new season training camp at the Espoirs pole is a founding moment for the coming season by allowing its residents to meet those with whom they will train on a daily basis. “This course allows you to take the pulse of the group, comments Bernard Chermain, one of the members of the regional technical team (ETR), who came to bring his expertise to the Salazian dojo. The idea is to integrate everyone and allow newcomers, in particular, to discuss and exchange with those who were there in previous years. “ If they constitute the bulk of the troops at each re-entry, they will find themselves in the minority for the first time.
The Covid pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the previous promotion, which now has only ten survivors out of its 23 residents in 2020. “There are a lot of departures, notes with a touch of bitterness Justin Guillemin, the head of the Hopes division. These are not young people who leave disgusted with judo but they are athletes who no longer want to train, with the rigor required by a structure such as a Hopes Center, without having any visibility. “
Some have also kept their license within a club while three of them even moved to the next level by integrating a pole in metropolitan France: Lucie Viroleau (France pole of Strasbourg), Killian Rakotonanahary (France pole of Marseille) et Ethan Baillif (Hope of Brétigny center). But these cases remain marginal within a collective which will now give pride of place to new blood.
Tournaments in September
“The others have gradually cracked over the season, continues Justin Guillemin. From January, it was complicated for these young people who ended up thinking in the absence of competition. The motivation was nevertheless very present at the beginning of the year, but in some it withered away more quickly than in others. Now we still have a hard core that has emerged stronger from the difficulties he went through. “ Those who held on until the end of the season were also rewarded with several national meetings.
After a first cancellation of the national test-matches at Brétigny-sur-Orge at the beginning of April, the 974 delegation was able to complete the season by participating in the semi-finals, then in the cadet and junior finals with convincing results. (Thomas Vigne 3e, Ethan Baillif 5e, Sheldiny Voula 5e). These veterans of this first year under Covid will now have an important role to play with the new arrivals detected during the workforce reviews implemented between October and December 2020. “We hope that they will know how to inspire them with their state of mind, comments Justin Guillemin. For these alumni, we have also planned to allow them to participate in tournaments in September. We’ll make a selection, but if the remaining ten are okay, they’ll all leave. “
Christopher Mermet
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