How is the discipline doing in the Grand Est?
It’s going pretty well. We have just broken our historic record for licensees. We passed the 16,100 mark. We are in a good dynamic and the season is not over.
What explains this craze?
Today we have a fairly solid club maturity. We support them in their development. With many devices. Bad is practiced a lot at school. This also helps us with renewal. Bad people like it. As much for girls as for boys. It’s fun.
What are the areas of development?
We have two important levers. Firstly, supporting clubs in their structuring and in the search for supervisors. Then, the development of equipment. Today we are dependent on rooms that we share with other disciplines. With slots located at the end of the day. We would like to be able to expand the offer. We therefore work on specific equipment, such as tennis or squash. While also seeking to associate with other snowshoe disciplines.
On this subject, do you see padel as a new competitor?
Our first competitor is sedentary lifestyle, TV, screens. Le padel is people who play sport. So, that’s a good thing. I even see it as an opportunity to join forces within the framework of a multi-activity practice. People are fond of this type of structure. So I see padel more as a lever for consolidation rather than as a rival.
Can the Paris Olympics help the development of badminton?
The Olympic Games are accelerators for disciplines like ours. We’re going to see a little more badminton on TV. Especially since the French are moving up the hierarchy. I am thinking of the Gicquel-Delrue pair who entered the world top ten in mixed doubles and who made the semi-finals in the Masters Series, the toughest tournaments. But also to the Popov brothers (Toma Junior and Christo), who are a bit like the “Lebrun brothers” of bad. They are capable of beating players in the top ten in the world. Our young people have their poster in their room. But a medal at the Olympics would be a fantastic accelerator for attracting new licensees.
Will the Grand Est be represented at Paris-2024?
We will have volunteers, of course. Thom Gicquel too, because he is licensed at Red Star Mulhouse. We don’t yet know if we will have referees, it hasn’t been decided.
2024-03-28 13:06:00
#broken #historic #record #licensees
