The disarray of handball clubs in Calvados

Stop, we're not playing anymore.

The French Handball Federation put its games on hiatus on October 23.

The violent rebound of the Covid-19 epidemic led the instance to temporarily interrupt its federal championships.

Volleyball and rugby in particular followed suit.

This break for two weekends cut Colombelles in its tracks.

The club of the Caen agglomeration, resident of National 1 female, won its first three meetings and proudly sits at the head of its group.

"It's sad to stop," blows Julie Préaudat, the left wing of the Yellow and Black.

“We have already experienced this in March.

It's frustrating.

And we are not sure of anything for the recovery.

"

The specter of a white season

The recovery, the handball coach does not believe it.

“We are not under any illusions, loose Reynaldo Mazzoli.

The break will be extended.

I don't see us playing again before 2021. "The technician hopes" for visibility, because everything has to be redone.

It is very difficult to develop training programs.

“All the more so than Colombelles… can no longer even train.

The recent curfew measures in Calvados, before the re-containment, have sounded the death knell for gymnasiums, with a few exceptions which do not include the club's pennant team.

“Our last training dates back to October 23,” slips Julie Préaudat.

Since then, we run by ourselves, sometimes in two or three.

And we bring out the fitness mat at home.

Even the sports halls are closed so… ”During the spring confinement, the training sessions took place by videoconference.

For the moment, Reynaldo Mazzoli “has no solution.

Niches are hard to find because the girls work alongside handball.

There is a curfew, plus we no longer have a gymnasium.

»A request for exemption was made to the prefecture.

But more than the break and postponements, the world of hand fears a new white season.

"You have to at least finish the first phase of the championship to have a ranking that looks like something", asks the Colombelles coach.

The federation has designed the formula for its competitions, to give itself more chances to lead the season - at least partially - to a successful conclusion.

A call from the world of sport at the Elysée

A few kilometers away, Thomas Lamora, the president of Caen handball, does not go by four ways either: “We thought that the hardest part was behind us.

Now it has to go to the end.

“His club, another resident of Nationale 1 (for men this time), is one of the only ones in the division to be able, sportingly but also… financially and administratively, to claim access to the professional world.

“Our partners honor their commitments.

They understand that the calendar is upset.

But if it doesn't go to the end, it will be more complicated.

"

Thomas Lamora regrets that the break was imposed on all the pools of National 1, including the Elite pool, more raised and structured.

For men, this level has a slightly different status from its female counterpart and allows Caen handball to train.

The players are therefore still playing together, without problems so far.

Also the president wonders: “I am not unconscious but the players are young people in good health, with a much lower risk of developing serious forms.

However, we are under heavy constraints and there we are arrested.

Sport is very much affected by the situation.

"

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95 sports federations sent an open letter to Emmanuel Macron to launch an “SOS: sport in distress.

“While waiting to be can be heard, the Caen handball and the CL Colombelles will take their troubles patiently, and the players and players get back to their fitness mats, far from the competition.