Dominated from the first round of Roland Garros by the Brazilian sensation Thiago Seyboth (172nd in the world), the Russian Daniil Medvedev, seeded number 2 in the tournament, alienated part of the Parisian public by reporting his bad mood on the ball boys. At the Léon-Delagrange college in Neuville-aux-Bois (Loiret), 28 students learn to face the whims, hats and particularities of players on the professional circuit in the only “open” class in France, offering a “ball collectors” option. “.
Open to classes of 4th and 3rd, this option is deployed over two years, with two hours of weekly lessons. The first year, they learn the basics and the technique – very choreographed – of this function, while refining their knowledge of the rules of tennis for officiating, in 3rd grade, on the courts of the Orleans Open and the Open Paratennis. du Loiret, one of the few disabled sports tournaments that offers a ball collection service.
The selection favors the attitude of the students
Some of them were even selected during the fortnight of Roland Garros, following very thorough selections, accessible to tennis licensees aged 11 to 16.
This option, unique in its kind in the country, was founded in 2005 by Odile Cailleaud, a former PE teacher at the college “who had developed links with Didier Gérard, the director of the Orléans tennis open”. , says Juliette Venard, the principal of the establishment. Since then, an agreement binds the organizers of the Orleans tournament, which bears almost all the costs at the time of the open, and the college, which undertakes to provide the students, the supervisors and the training.
The selection favors the general attitude and the ability to behave well in a group more than the academic level of the pupils: “Some have difficulties. This option places them in a rigorous framework and sometimes hangs them up at school. That’s the point ! “, she welcomes, proud of this establishment project. “Even the cushions, on which the net collectors put their knees, were made by students, educated in SEGPA class (Adapted General and Professional Education Sections)”.
