Ambitious Hauts-de-France: portrait of Fâches-Thumesnilois Frédéric Dumont, new international badminton referee.
Hauts-de-France, a Region that supports sport, clubs, athletes but also sports enthusiasts. Frédéric Dumont is one of them: lecturer in agri-food at thePolytechnic University of Hauts-de-Francehe is also an international badminton referee, a sport that he has long practiced as a leisure activity.
Guarantor of the smooth running of competitions
Referee (not to be confused with the role of referee), he is the one who coordinates the proper organization of competitions, who can intervene on the field during a match but who above all ensures, upstream, during and afterwards, the smooth running of the event as a whole. Planning, compliance with the rules in the room, locations, the draw, the scheduling of matches, competition reports, or even the press and the broadcasting system, if applicable.
A kind “of a man in the shadows, often unrecognized, who pulls the strings, makes the decisions so that everything goes well. The real official guarantor, to the authorities, of a competition that he leads purely and simply. A major role which has always attracted me and in which I believe that common sense is necessary”confirms Frédéric, who had this revelation almost twenty years ago, during a French Championship organized in Villeneuve d’Ascq (59).
Hauts-de-France in the French elite
Since then, this 47-year-old resident of the Lille metropolis – who also chaired the Northern Badminton Departmental Committee for ten years – climbed the ranks and diplomas by multiplying experiences in different tournaments. First local over a day, then departmental, regional and national like the Orléans Masters where the French Open in Paris, for which he must now organize for periods of up to a week.
Recently, he won the honorary rank of International Referee. He is, in this respect, the only one from Hauts-de-France and this even places him 4th among the most important referee judges in France (behind two Bretons and one Norman)! “This recognition is an immense source of pride for me”admits the one for whom “the main thing is the sensations. The pleasure of doing well, participating in competitions whose level is now closer to a show-type organization, with protocol and ever more numerous issues to manage”.
Participation in the Olympic Games in Paris
On the calendar, Frédéric will be able to showcase this new status at truly major events in his field. At the beginning of May, he will officiate on a U17 International Championship in Austria. In June, he will dictate the smooth running of the Nantes International Challenge. This summer, he will also intervene on the Olympic and Paralympic Games as Line Judges Manager.
In 2025, Frédéric will aim for the rank of Continental Referee, which will allow him to officiate at international competitions held throughout Europe. Before, undoubtedly, the rank of world-level Judge-Referee… If badminton (5th most practiced sport in the world
) constitutes a sport which is becoming structured, particularly in Hauts-de-France, Frédéric Dumont intends to contribute to it in his own way. In France, badminton has 200,000 licensees but a much higher number of non-licensed players (an estimated one million). This is in particular the
2024-04-19 14:49:48
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