Like many across France, amateur sport was hanging on the lips of Emmanuel Macron during his speech on Tuesday evening.
Regarding sports practice, the President of the Republic announced two major measures, which will take effect from this Saturday, November 28.
First of all, physical activities are now permitted within a radius of 20 km around their home and for a maximum of 3 hours.
In addition, the Head of State authorized the resumption of "extracurricular outdoor activities".
Good news, obviously, for outdoor sports, which will therefore be able to resume training but only in the young categories.
“It feels good, blows Pascal Barbier, president of the Crèvecoeur football club.
Everyone is happy, including the parents.
We already have phone calls to get the exact date of the resumption.
We have instructed our educators to warn everyone.
"
A certain vagueness remains all the same.
“We can organize trays internally, but will we have the right to do so with other clubs?
asks Philippe Segonds, chairman of Balagny.
I don't think so since gatherings should be avoided.
"" We must also see what the municipality decides, beyond what the government says, estimates Youyou M'Baye, president delegate in Chantilly.
We must not come forward.
There may be town halls that will not take risks, I expect anything.
And, concerning the recovery of seniors, the uncertainty is almost total.
Indoor sports still at a standstill
For them, it will be, at the earliest, December 15, the second stage defined by Emmanuel Macron.
"It would not be very wise, since it is just before the Christmas holidays", considers Philippe Segonds.
This could also be later since, before the presidential intervention, the Minister for Sports Roxana Maracineanu was rather counting on the "month of January, or February".
Knowing that it will take, in any case, at least two weeks between the return to training and competition, in order to prepare physically.
Finally, there is the situation of indoor sports, which the President has not authorized to restart.
Minors should be allowed to return to their gyms in mid-December.
And for adults, everything is still very nebulous.
"It is rather good news, slips Michel Garel, president of the handball club of Lagny.
Teens need to play sports, so we are in the process of seeing if it is possible to set up outdoor training for our young people before December 15th.
We are also going to make requests to town halls to have rooms available during the Christmas holidays, in order to catch up on our delay before the return of competitions at the end of January.
"
However, not all view these announcements so favorably.
"We are very disappointed, we expected to be able to resume next week, sighs François Ribière, manager of the Morigny-Etréchy basketball club.
If all goes well, we will resume on December 15 for minors, but the holidays will pull the rug out from under us.
We will try to offer internships during the holidays.
For adults, it should be January 20.
But, if there is a curfew, we will be forced to shorten the training sessions.
The competition should not be expected to restart before the beginning of February… ”
