Football, fencing, judo ... the puzzle of sports activities in times of Covid-19

From the stand, the club president gently calls to order a group of young children who are heading towards the exit of the stadium.

"You have to go to the other side of the field now to get out," said Antonio de Almeida, the manager.

This Wednesday in September, after long months of frustration, it is the day of resumption of training for the many licensees of RC Arpajonnais, a football club which brings together four towns in the south of Essonne.

And despite the signage, with arrows painted on the floor of the athletics track at the entrance to the Louis-Babin stadium in La Norville, habits are stubborn.

“We will need some time to take our marks and enforce the sanitary protocol,” continues de Almeida.

"Before we asked children to help put away the equipment, we hesitate now even if this gives more work to educators," says Thomas Lacoste, head of the football school.

The club also had the other two accesses to the stadium condemned to limit and monitor the round trips.

The coaches, for their part, must draw up the list of players present - as well as parents - in order to communicate it to the Regional Health Agency (ARS) if necessary.

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Some practices already seem to be well established in everyday life.

Along the handrail, the parents, who came to accompany their children aged 7 and 8, the first to train on Wednesdays from 2 p.m., wear a mask despite the heat and the scorching sun.

Same obligation for educators and coaches who are not idle on the lawn.

“I'm suffocating, it's really not easy but we have to set an example,” says Julian, one of the supervisors, who is also afraid of not being able to organize snacks after the sessions this year.

Young people over 11 must also wear a mask until they enter the lawn.

Among the new habits, it is now advisable to come directly in outfit for training.

In order to facilitate the cleaning and disinfection of the changing rooms, access to them is only authorized for senior matches on Sundays.

"We are at half of registrations compared to last year"

“It is the mayors who decide on the changing rooms.

We have the right, despite everything it is strongly recommended to shower at home, ”explains Antonio de Almeida, 65 years old, including five decades at the club.

“We have to limit the presence of players and their number.

For the moment we prefer to leave the teams outside.

The weather allows it today but how will we do this winter or in the fall when it rains?

"

La Norville (Essonne).

Arpajon football club expects to lose more than a hundred members.LP / Olivier Corsan  

This is not the only uncertainty that hangs over the heads of leaders.

Even though many parents are lining up in the clubhouse to register their beloved darlings, the club fears an erosion of memberships.

Last season, he had 594 licensees, he hopes for 450.

"We are at half of the registrations compared to the same time last year but we refuse to panic, it will be the same for all the clubs, some parents will wait for the evolution of the health situation before joining" , considers the leader.

“I can sense a real desire on the part of parents to see their children resume sports, and I have only had one reimbursement request.

We still made a commercial gesture by setting the license at 180 euros instead of 200 for renewals.

"

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With a budget of 150,000 euros, the Essonne club, which has not been able to organize the remunerative end-of-season tournaments and risks seeing its refreshment bar running empty, cannot afford a more generous gesture.

Especially since the purchase of masks, bottles of hydroalcoholic gel, disinfectant products for the balls and equipment, and all the signage is not without impact on the finances.

“We have the support of communities but we are still waiting for a gesture from the League of Paris and the district of Essonne, blows the leader.

But we have to adapt, it's our everyday life.

"

"We drew on our cash reserve so that each child has his foil"

Other place, other rules.

On the wall, well-spaced posters indicate the space reserved for the only parent authorized to attend training.

“Unfortunately, this is only tolerated for the baby classes, because at that age (4-6 years), children often still need a presence, specifies Lionel Ghesquier, the president of the club of fencing in Clermont, in the Oise.

To welcome the public, we have to put in place dedicated resources and we cannot afford it.

"

Clermont (Oise).

This year the young people come in uniform and everyone has their foil.

LP / Sandrine Lefèvre  

Gone - at least for a few months - the days when parents, sitting on benches, discussed while scrutinizing the first steps of fencers of their children.

The health protocol is also strict, and perfectly orchestrated within this club of 87 licensees.

The room is large enough, even if the changing rooms remain closed.

Young people now also come in uniform (loaned for the year), wash their hands on arrival, take a one-way route and no longer exchange arms.

"We drew on our cash reserve to buy foils so that each child has his own," said the president, who wanted the license price not to be increased.

Each fencer must also have his own body wire, this cable which allows points to be counted.

And now, only a dedicated person - the “Covid manager” - has the right to connect or disconnect it.

Because the course must be done in complete safety, with a fencing master who keeps his mask.

Measures inevitably have a cost.

"Our sport which is practiced with a mask reassures"

"The League has provided the clubs with wipes and disinfectants, we bought masks for the volunteers," explains Lionel Ghesquier.

The Oise clubs have also benefited from a Covid protocol grant of 1,500 euros.

The risks are limited to the maximum, and each fencer must indicate his presence on a sign-in sheet, sent "if necessary" to the ARS, which can thus have traceability.

The measures are necessarily complicated to put in place, especially since they are scalable.

“We are volunteers,” smiles the president, “but this is all part of the president's contract of responsibilities.

The licensees are visibly reassured.

“Traditionally, we know a peak of attendance in the year of the Olympics.

However, even though Tokyo 2020 has been postponed, many people are coming to give it a try.

No doubt because our sport, which is practiced with a mask and a specific outfit, reassures.

"

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Ivry (Val-de-Marne).

The coach makes sure to disinfect the hands of his young students.

LP / Philippe Lavieille  

At the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie sports complex in Ivry (Val-de-Marne), the tatami still shines with disinfectant with which it was generously coated a few minutes earlier.

Faced with 14 children aged 6 to 8 who attend this first training since the start of the school year, Frédéric Colico is wearing a kimono and masked.

"Everyone puts their flip-flops pointed outward from the tatami mat so as not to walk on the ground and bring back germs," ​​launches the black belt, a member of the US Ivry board to his young students.

A few minutes earlier, he interrupted his session to spray the hands of a judoka with hydroalcoholic gel.

"It's a martial art, we can't avoid contact"

“We do everything we can to limit the risks as much as possible.

I no longer touch them to show them the catches, each young person has their own pair for training fights and they are required to clean their kimono, underlines this volunteer.

Now it is a martial art.

And in essence, one cannot avoid contact.

"

This Monday, in front of the sports hall where the training sessions of this Val-de-Marne club take place, a ballet takes place between the parents who come to drop off their child and those who come to register him.

In the hall, President Hachem Douiri rebukes those who enter the building without being invited to sit down.

Precautionary principle requires.

Some parents do not hesitate to register their children for judo, others are afraid.

“You have to understand people's apprehension and show that we are doing everything we can to adapt to these particular conditions.

»LP / Philippe Lavieille  

"We really have to be careful and make sure that as few people as possible come to congregate inside," he slips.

I dread the winter when we will have cases of flu, whose symptoms are similar to those of Covid-19.

The town hall warned us that it would stop all activity for two weeks at the first suspicion.

"

"There is no more risk that it will bring back the disease than in the park or at school"

A few meters away, Julie finishes registering her 5-year-old daughter Jana for the first time.

"There is no more risk that it brings the disease here than in the park or at school," says the mother of 41 years.

The children have been psychologically abused enough with the sanitary measures, they must be able to express themselves.

I would rather she spend her time on judo than see her go around in circles in my living room and get bored.

"

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At US Ivry, not everyone did the same math.

At the same time last year, the club had 250 licensees.

Today, they are 50 less.

“It affects all age categories, breathes Hachem Douiri.

Some are afraid.

"We have to understand people's apprehension and show that we are doing everything possible to ensure that judo adapts to these particular conditions", concludes Frédéric Colico.

A real challenge for club leaders now.