It's a paradox: the practice of Basketball is booming in Creuse, more than 40% of graduates in two yearsbut it finds itself hampered by the difficulty of access to sports infrastructures in Creuse. The departmental basketball committee recorded almost new 500 licensees between 2022 and 2024: it went from 1050 licensees at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, to 1412 at the start of the 2024 school year and probably 1500 by the end of the year. year, once all licenses have been registered.
But today, certain Creuse clubs are forced to move abroad or give up welcoming more people because they don't get enough slots to train. “Some clubs are juggling, like Bénévent-L'Abbaye which was forced to move to Grand-Bourg for certain age categories, and other clubs are, on the contrary, refusing to open new slots even though they have the request” regrets François Le Caloch, the president of the Departmental Basketball Committee in Creuse.
At Sainte-Feyrois Basket-Ball, 50 children aged 3 to 11 train at the same time
In Sainte-Feyre, the club organized a public meeting at the beginning of November to inform parents about the situation. Created in 2022, the club already has 60 members two years later, mostly children. Problem: Sainte-Feyrois Basketball only has two slots in the municipal gymnasium, one for adults, and a single slot for children, all categories combined. The training schedule for adults has already been added thanks to an arrangement with the badminton club, which agreed to make room for basketball players. The initial slot, planned for the basketball school, now brings together 50 children aged 3 to 11 who share a single court.
“We still train the children by category, so they play on a quarter of the field” explains Valentin Danchot, coach and member of the club office. It is therefore a logistical challenge, he continues: “I challenge you to have 50 children in the same gymnasium, to give instructions to ten children at the end of the day, when they already have the day of classes under their belts, while other children nearby are bouncing a balloon.”
Among the consequences, children do not arrive well prepared for matches: “The U11s, the largest category, should play on a large field. They don't progress enough playing on a quarter or half court. This is felt in the matches, they do not necessarily have the physical conditions, nor the benchmarks. As a result, they have a series of defeats and that breaks their morale a little.” regrets the coach. The club would like to share the Wednesday afternoon slot where the gymnasium is reserved for several hours for football but not necessarily used. What this mother, Marie-Sophie Mayet, does not understand: “Living in Sainte-Feyre, we often pass the gymnasium and when we see it with all the lights off, it's frustrating..” A situation regretted by several parents of the club who also made themselves known by message during the writing of this article.
For this mother, the problem also comes from the fact that the gymnasium is also used for other activities on weekendslike lotteries and parties: “However, we already have a multipurpose room, the Géo Legros room, it is certainly smaller than the gymnasium, but it exists. If it weren't for the agreement with Saint-Vaury, the children wouldn't even be able to play the matches” regrets Marie-Sophie Mayet. The agreement she speaks of was signed with the Saint-Vaury club which hosts the matches of the Sainte-Feyre club when the latter cannot host them. “But this agreement is only planned until the end of the season. However, the club is exposed to sanctions if we cannot organize home matches.” explains Valentin Danchot. The latter regrets the lack of dialogue: “We would like to find an agreement with the football club as we do with the badminton club. We are associations and we should help each other. And, in the event of impossibility of agreement, I think that the town hall should impose mediation” continues the secretary of the basketball club.
The town hall believes it has already tried to find solutions. “On Wednesday, the gymnasium slot is provided for both futsal and football when the weather is bad. However, we cannot predict the weather in advance. It's tricky to tell a club that has existed for years and is functioning well that its slot is being taken away for the benefit of another club. And if we find an in-between, we make two dissatisfied people. Today I don't really see a solution” explains the mayor of Sainte-Feyre, Franck Réjaud, who says he regrets this situation. There are still a few slots available, but often at the end of the evening. As for the non-sporting activities that take place in the gymnasium, “punctually” underlines the mayor, the municipality hopes to build a new multipurpose hall but the latter will not see the light of day before 2027, at best.
What solutions?
The president of the Departmental Basketball Committee is pragmatic: “Building a gymnasium is relatively expensive, between 3 and 4 million euros and municipal budgets are already very constrained so it will take time to get off the ground.” explains François Le Caloch. But he believes that other, less expensive solutions are possible: “Lighter equipment can be built which would make it possible to generate a little space in the gymnasiums” he says. Among these light equipment, the president of the departmental committee is thinking of the amateur football aid fund for the construction of indoor futsal fields, supported in particular by the National Sports Agency.
“After, there is a lot of work that is currently being done at the level of the department and the regionwith the conference of sports financiers, on sports equipment in Creuse. Hoping that we can lead to some additional developments, and not just renovation, even if that is also necessary” concludes François Le Caloch. As for the State, the president of the basketball committee clearly points to the establishment of a development fund for the construction of 5,000 sports fields in Francebut with little impact in Creuse for the moment: “Fursac had made the request but it was rejected in favor of other requests from larger towns in the region” he regrets.
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