Cheers, Disney Princess costumes and lots of smiles. All day yesterday, more than 200 participants, volunteers and athletes, met at the Serge-Mésonès sports complex for the first disabled sports meetings organized by the APF France Handicap Paca-Corse. Olympics organized throughout the country in the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games designed to bring together able-bodied and disabled athletes. Throughout the day, 16 teams of ten, at least half of whom had to be disabled, competed in good humor across four disabled sports: table tennis, wheelchair basketball, fencing and boccia. , this 100% seated petanque.
Expand the field of possibilities
“The idea of this day is to make disabled sports known, both to people with disabilities and to able-bodied people and sports clubs. Handisport is totally accessible, requires little equipment and should be much more widespread!“explains Mildrede Cossec, coordinator of the event. In this logic of inclusiveness, five primary classes from Aubagne made the trip to discuss sport and differences under the cries of amusement of the participants. For people with disabilities, the opportunity was to discover sports that were previously inaccessible, even for some to reconnect with a passion of yesteryear.”I loved basketball before being in a wheelchair, it’s really great to do it again today, I don’t want to leave!“, exclaims Ben-Ali, in his forties, with a smile on his face. For him as for the others, whether the ball goes into the basket or not, each action is celebrated as a success.
Among the participants, many of whom have a psychomotor disability, while many discover the soul of an athlete, some have already been practicing several sporting activities for a long time. This is the case of Alexis, Aubagnais from the medicalized reception center of the Maison d’Alexandrine: “I play basketball and archery in a club. I love the team spirit, but there is too little to do. ” In Aubagne as everywhere, the disabled sports offer remains very weak. An absence which resonates for them like a house arrest. “We are human beings too, we want to live, have fun, flourish, list Sylvie, who came from Ajaccio for the occasion. It is not we who have a disability, but society that has created a disabling environment! And here I finally feel free.”