A bit of an Olympic village at the Yuri Gagarin stadium.
For the past two weeks, dozens of children have taken part daily in the “Yvelines All Implik” competition organized by the association Les Pépites de Sartrouville (Yvelines).
These mini-Olympics, organized two years from the real ones, have the particularity of associating able-bodied and disabled people.
It is, according to Mohamed Yagoubi, the project manager, to try to "break down a barrier" while occupying the youngest during the school holidays.
Basketball, athletics, football, archery but also badminton or boxing, the "competitors" are spoiled for choice.
And it is no coincidence that the organizers wanted the most varied events possible.
"We are here to be constructive," explains Mohamed Yagoubi.
This allows children to touch a little bit of everything, to taste different sports.
We hope, for example, that this will help them make a choice next year when registering, to avoid embarking on an activity that they will then drop”.
"The idea is that on Fridays, the question of disability no longer exists"
In the background, the objective of this familiarization with the various Olympic disciplines “is also to make the inhabitants aware of the Paris Games”, which is also worth these “Games” displaying the “Generation 2024” label.
For the thirty or so disabled children coming from medical and educational institutes, it is above all an opportunity to discover certain disciplines.
And “to mingle with others”, as Mohamed Yagoubi points out: “For many, this is the first time that they have played with able-bodied people, underlines the manager again.
All week they are together.
The idea is that on Fridays, the issue of disability no longer exists”.
The organization of such an appointment, running over three weeks, requires a substantial staff.
It is made up of qualified educators assigned to each workshop, as well as a dozen young people from civic service.
Osama learned a job and earned his pocket money
Boys and girls aged 16 to 24, from Sartrouville "who don't know what to do and who have said:
come and taste the animation and the profession of sports educator
".
Oussama, 18, is just coming to the end of his contract.
“I don't know why but I like working with the little ones.
And obviously, they like me too”, laughs the young man who will integrate a BTS accounting-management at the start of the school year.
In contact with children in recent months, Osama says in particular that he has learned “patience”.
“I also started to take initiatives, which I did not do before.
I have evolved a lot.
I learned a job while earning a little pocket money (Editor's note: 473 euros per month), "says the FC Sartrouville player who "strongly recommends" young people in his case to turn to the device.
This citizenship component of the project does not go unnoticed by the prefecture of Yvelines, which says it supports “a sporting action with a strong social dimension within the framework of city policy”.
The State has thus financed the organization of these Olympics to the tune of 25,000 euros as part of its summer district scheme.