On April 24, the municipality of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne hosted the Olympic Games Caravan of the Ile-de-France Regional Olympic and Sports Committee (CROSIF). Mini-museum around Sport, time for discussions with referees, introduction to first aid… The event offered numerous interactive workshops for children and adults.
The Olympic Games Caravan, put into circulation by the Regional Olympic and Sports Committees, brings together several highlights combining the history and passion for sport: an exhibition bringing together posters from the Olympic Games since 1924 and historic sports equipment by CROSIF, an introductory workshop on life-saving actions with the Red Cross and a stand on the values of arbitration hosted by AFCAM Ile-de-France, regional section of the French Association of the Multisports Arbitral Corps.
A first aid booster shot
On Wednesday April 24, the curious entered the gate of the Pierre-Denize gymnasium in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne to discover the world of the Olympic Games Caravan. The municipality of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne invited its residents to take part in this special event, in particular its local Youth Council, the leisure center, middle and high school students. Young and old took part in fun activities in each space: multiple choice questionnaires or role-playing exercises like with the local unit of the French Red Cross in Corbeil-Essonnes. From 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the volunteers conducted group initiations of 15 minutes to adopt the right attitude when caring for an unconscious person who is breathing, with the lateral safety position (PLS).
Ile-de-France sport is on display
The CROSIF presented a mini traveling museum with the official posters of the Olympic Games over 100 years, between 1924 and 2024 as well as multi-sport equipment allowing visitors to see the developments of the materials. For example, the leather laced rugby ball sits alongside the synthetic rugby ball from the last World Cup. CROSIF took out of its archives and exhibited the jersey of international basketball player Victor Wembanyama when he was still playing in Ile-de-France. Committee volunteers take the time to guide visitors and answer their questions, in addition to inviting them to answer the special sports and Olympics question wall.
A time to encourage vocations, such as becoming a referee
The Olympic caravan is about sharing the values of sport: respect, cooperation, humility… It is an opportunity to highlight the role of judges and referees. AFCAM Ile-de-France, represented by Nadine Cygan, former referee who distinguished herself in football and Christine Labarriere, bowling referee, presented their missions as well as portraits of big names in the refereeing body such as Pascal Vadja , international fencing referee and president of the national AFCAM. This stand inspired the town of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne which had a family of Ballancourt rugby referees testify on site. Mathieu Sassatelli, a referee for around fifteen years, presented himself with his eldest son Arthur, 17, also a referee. The passion for the oval ball also affects the rest of the family with Bernadette, president of the Rugby Club Ballancourtois and their daughter Marie, a referee at only 15 years old.
The Olympic caravan in Arpajon on April 27
The event closed with the presentation of an Olympic Caravan prize by Bernard Bruche, vice-president in charge of Sport and Professionalization of CROSIF to the mayor of Ballancourt-sur-Essonne, Jacques Mione. The locals were thanked many times by the stand hosts for the hospitality received that day. The system continues its tour of 24 municipalities in the Ile-de-France region between now and the end of June and will be in Essonne one last time, on Saturday April 27, in Arpajon, as part of the Together until the Games event. Numerous sporting activities await the general public at the Victor-Hugo gymnasium from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: introduction to rugby, inflatable structures, conferences and quizzes from Arpajon high school students…
A new animation around the Olympics on May 1st
Dominique Trehard, deputy mayor in charge of Sports and Culture in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne, continues to work to raise awareness of the practice of sport with a new caravan, the “En route pour l’Olympiad culturelle” caravan. Everyone is welcome on Wednesday May 1st at the Jardin de l’Europe to learn several disciplines: three-way basketball, freestyle gym (course on the street workout area), breaking (acrobatic dance style inspired by hip -hop appeared at the Olympic Games events in 2018), . Also on the program are artistic exhibitions, a breakdance show and a beatmaking workshop (designing a piece of music).
