This is undoubtedly the other side of the coin. Thanks to the Paris Olympic Games, certain sports experienced an unprecedented boom in attendance at the start of the school year. In Rennes, some clubs say, they are reaching “saturation”. This is the case of the table tennis section of TA Rennes, one of the largest sports clubs in the metropolis. “We have 260 licensees for a single room of eight tables, and as we want to welcome our members, we cannot have more than 20 players per session,” explains David Bodiguel, coach of TA Rennes.
To cope with this unusual influx, he had to adapt. And two additional slots have been created this season, on Wednesday and Saturday morning. “It allows us to welcome more children, but we were still forced to refuse registrations among young people and adult leisure activities. We’re at our max.”
Less training, but a cheaper license
At CPB Rennes, the largest sports association in Rennes, table tennis has also experienced a boom, with around fifty additional members. Although it was not forced to refuse memberships in this discipline, the Cercle Paul Bert formed larger groups. But François Almange, director of CPB Rennes, knows it, he will refuse more people this year than last year. “We had refused 4,700 memberships in 2023. This year, it will be more. In volleyball and basketball, we were already almost at full capacity before the Olympics. » In the handball section, which recorded an increase of 10%, particularly among adult leisure activities, the CPB lacks slots in the gymnasiums. “We therefore had to lower the price of the license for some and only offer them one training session per week instead of two.”
The problem is the same in dojos. “We are going to have over 100 members this year for our judo section, even though we had already beaten our record last season. We are trying to have additional slots with the city of Rennes because it is not enough, points out François Almange. We found ourselves with 80 practitioners at the same time in a dojo in September. »
Discovery courses to welcome those who have failed
In swimming, it is even stronger, around a hundred additional young people have joined. Too much to welcome the budding Léon Marchand. “We set up discovery courses for those we could not accommodate. When the Villejean swimming pool is completed, we can think about developing the activity. For now, we are adapting. And the courses will allow young people to know if swimming really appeals to them. »
Because if the boom is real, nothing says that it will last. “Today, we have a lot of children who saw Alexis and Félix Lebrun at the Olympics, but we are going to lose some,” thinks David Bodiguel, from the table tennis section of TA Rennes. If the dynamic continues, there will be work to be done in terms of infrastructure, but we will first see how it evolves. »
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