Volleyball: how Plessis-Robinson prepares for its historic rise in Ligue A

There will be two Ile-de-France clubs in Ligue A next season.

Paris Volley will be joined by Le Plessis-Robinson.

Founded in 1964, the club from this town in the south of Hauts-de-Seine of 30,000 inhabitants will play for the first time in its history among the elite of French volleyball.

Saturday, the team of Cédric Logeais validated its rise by beating (3-0, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22) Saint-Nazaire in the final return of Ligue B. Last week, Le Plessis-Robinson s 'was already imposed (3-0, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23) in Loire-Atlantique.

This climb was not really scheduled so quickly.

“The club is getting structured and has brought real skills to the management committee.

We were aiming for 2024 to go up, it happened faster than expected, ”says Julien Lamy.

At 35, the captain, also a part-time professor of physics and chemistry, played in this final the last match of his career.

He will don the costume of sports director.

"I arrived at the club 20 years ago in National 2," he continues.

I had three climbs with this one to end my career in apotheosis.

On the one hand, it sounds crazy but the club works well and progresses every year.

"

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Le Plessis-Robinson will now have to have it validated administratively by the League. There is an anachronistic side to seeing the “Owls” (the team's nickname) in League A while the LNV (National Volleyball League) tends to become more professional. “Today, only 30% of clubs meet the standards of professional clubs. We are going to develop a club license, which will gradually mean that those who are not able to adapt will disappear. The idea is to have real sports entertainment companies ”, recently explained Yves Bouget, the new president of the LNV in L'Équipe. He was present at the Espace Omnisports on Saturday and said he was "pleasantly surprised" "The demands are increasing and we, when we read his interview, we take it as a challenge," explains Julien Lamy. The

(Editor's note: this Sunday)

, we are celebrating this climb with a big barbecue, but from tomorrow, we will get in working order to present a solid case.

We have a month.

But we have already worked on it so as not to be caught off guard.

»Le Plessis-Robinson will have to settle three main projects.

Finances

This season, the club had a budget of 530,000 euros in League B. The objective will be to increase to 900,000 euros, knowing that the LNV wants the clubs of League A to have an envelope of 1.2 million euros minimum within 2 to 3 years. “There are also requirements in terms of communication and social networks, but in this area, we are already innovative and we are even copied, continues Julien Lamy. To be able to increase its payroll, Plessis-Robinson relies on an extension from the town hall, the Hauts-de-Seine departmental council and its partners. "The discussions are going well," continues the future sports director. Like Racing 92 or Nanterre 92, we hope to become a club of excellence in the Hauts-de-Seine and represent the department where there is a large pool of volleyball players. The 92 is sensitive to our training work. "

The installations

With 600 seats, the hall is not currently approved.

The specifications of the LNV indeed require a minimum capacity of 1,500 places.

The elected officials took the file in hand.

“We could reach 1000-1200 places and obtain a dispensation,” emphasizes Julien Lamy.

The town hall should take charge of a new grandstand, a giant screen and Led panels.

These improvements would be transitory before perhaps considering building a new room in our community of agglomerations.

"

The team

With the retirement of Julien Lamy and Canadian Rudy Verhoeff, Le Plessis-Robinson will lose two executives. But he has already anticipated by resigning for two years, the passer Thomas Nevot, elected MVP of the finals. The extensions of central Tahitian Noaharii and Finnish international Niko Suihkonen are also on track. Coming from the training center, the young Julien Debes (18) will be the team's libero. “We need to recruit at least three big players, recognizes Julien Lamy. This is why we want to go quickly so that the coach knows what financial envelope he can have. We will be ambitious by targeting the play-offs (the first eight places). Our example is Cambrai, a club that looks like us. Like us, they stayed a long time in League B and for their first season in League A,they have just reached the semi-finals. "