The Scottish Minister for Sports, Public Health, and Wellbeing, Maree Todd, met with the students of Ronchèse School on the field.
As part of the Ecol’Ovale project, two fifth-grade classes from Ronchèse School participated in numerous workshops centered around rugby. In the late afternoon, the Scottish Minister Marie Todd, who is a rugby player herself, met with the 60 students present. There was an opportunity to exchange a few questions and even make a few passes to score a try.
The Rugby World Cup allows the city of Nice to familiarize the younger ones with this sport, which is less publicized and less obvious for those who aren’t from rugby families.
Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice, explains why the city has a special connection with rugby: “We are fortunate to have this World Cup, which brings a particular enthusiasm for this sport. And in Nice, we have a large rugby school. We have nearly 600 children enrolled at Stade Niçois. So, there’s a rugby tradition, which means that at the primary school level, we offer more extracurricular rugby than other sports.”
Reconnecting Children with Rugby
She already organized a tournament for schools last June. The General Sports Directorate of the city of Nice, in partnership with national education, was once again behind this half-day event.
In the spirit of François Roël, head of the sports action department at the sports directorate, this initiative was made for the children. He explains how the classes were chosen: “They have already participated in the Ecol’Ovale project but also in the Emile project. It aims to familiarize children with the English language.”
Thanks to the efforts of the supervisors and the sports directorate, the children were able to spend an afternoon in good spirits and fair play. They were able to try out tackling, kicking, and passing. But the budding players also engaged in matches. A good training session for the tournament on October 3rd, which will bring together more than four hundred children at the Arboras stadium.
Sport is Important in School
“Only a third of my class is enrolled in a sports club.” This is the observation made by Guillaume Payan, a fifth-grade teacher. “From talking with my colleagues, we realize that fewer and fewer students are playing sports outside of school. They no longer have this culture of self-improvement; now children play sports solely for leisure.”
To address this, Ronchèse School is implementing several sports activities within its institution. So that students can practice as much as possible. A policy desired and embraced by the school principal, Marie Grimaldi: “We have archery courses directly in the school. But they do many other activities like hiking, sailing, or cycling. Sport is important; children need to do it. When they feel good in their bodies, they feel good in their minds.”
A vision that could help children regain interest in sports and rejoin amateur clubs, some of which are facing a shortage of members.
