Right after its major general assembly, the President of the Regional Olympic and Sports Committee shares his analysis of the past sports year and the one to come with the upcoming Olympics.
A general assembly is a time to take stock. What is the assessment of the Regional Olympic Committee you preside over?
Ivan Coste-Manière Without being excessively optimistic, I am delighted with the genuinely friendly and trustful atmosphere restored within the Board of Directors and the Executive Bureau of the Côte d’Azur Regional Olympic and Sports Committee (CROS). This is reflected in our interactions with stakeholders, as well as in exchanges with representatives of various local authorities and different decision-makers. I would particularly like to thank the President of the PACA Region, Christian Estrosi, for his unwavering friendly support over the years, support confirmed with extreme goodwill during our General Assembly by the President of the Sport and Well-being Commission of the Regional Council as well as the Sports Deputy of the City of Nice, our friends Richard Miron and Gilles Veissière.
I am thrilled with the prospects and contents of the various meetings we have been able to hold with our Regional Directorate for Youth, Sports, and Social Cohesion, with the Departmental Directorates for Social Cohesion (DDCS), and of course, with the competent services of the Regional Council, the Departmental Councils, and their respective Presidents, Directors, and elected representatives.
The revival of our operations has been visible, with an extremely well-managed budget, despite the uncertainties induced by the implementation of the NOTRe law, the “Parfum de Victoire” initiative, and the numerous ad-hoc organizations across multiple disciplines, especially respecting fair territorial coverage to enhance the practical and pedagogical reality of social cohesion.
2016 is an Olympic year, an opportunity also to gauge the performance of the region’s athletes. What will be their participation in Rio and their chances of winning medals?
I.C-M: On this subject, I will display proud optimism. The new establishment of the “Team 06” by the Departmental Council is another demonstration of the strong will of a region rich in High-Level Athletes in the strictest sense of the ministerial definition.
The determination of President Eric Ciotti and his Vice-President Eric Pauget provides sure guarantees of success in the continuity of the sustainable efforts undertaken by the Departmental Council. This investment needs to be commended, and again, the warmth of exchanges is omnipresent.
At the CROS level, happiness is complete as the legacy of former Olympians like Tillie, Diagana, or Alain Bernard endures. They remain by our side, loyal and respectful of the necessity of transmitting Olympic values. They continue to “push” and catalyze our elite athletes on the regional level.
Personally, having the satisfaction of seeing some of my students achieve that sacred qualification for the upcoming Olympics, and having been able to adjust their schedules and evaluations considering their personal or training constraints, will remain my picture of the year. It’s sublime to see them qualify, smile, and live their dreams….
The renewal of High-Level Athletes’ agreements with the Rectorate of the Academy of Nice is a strong sign of this reaffirmed will, and our meetings with the Rector Emmanuel Ethis have been extremely fruitful.
The PACA Region will undoubtedly shine in Rio!
I.C-M: Sport conveys cultural, moral, and societal values. From your observation post and with your responsibility, what is your reaction about this?
It is urgent to rediscover cultural, moral, and societal values… A society without values is likely doomed to weakening or disappearance. And that is in no way part of my orientations or desires.
I believe that my past as a leader or athlete always pushes me to defend these vital ideals. This was true 20 years ago when I was elected or on the Social, Economic, and Environmental Council, and it has always been so in my engagement as a Professor.
It will be even more so within the CROS, with increasingly close relationships with various territorial actors or State representatives. It took very little time for the symbiosis with the Regional Director of Youth, Sports, and Social Cohesion, Mr. Jacques Cartiaux, to become visible. It is coupled with enormous mutual respect that encourages more involvement, project development. I have the same feelings towards Mr. Frédéric Roussel, our Departmental Director of Alpes Maritimes, of the same institution, as well as Mr. Arnaud Pouly, Departmental Director of Var.
Organizations like the Departmental Trail Challenge of Alpes Maritimes or the Sophia Games, in partnership with the Sophia Leaders Club, which obtained the CNOSF’s “Sustainable Development in Sport” label with the files we have established at CROS, testify to our commitment to sustainable development, while guaranteeing tangible positive economic benefits across the entire regional territory.
The new NOTRe law has modified the scope of territorial competencies. Has the organization of the sports movement been impacted?
I.C-M: It is obviously inevitable, logical, and legal. With this law enacted, it is our responsibility to define the terms of its implementation, to preserve the relevant jobs and field effectiveness, to maintain and further enhance our visibility across all territories, with present and effective branches.
Contacts with CROS Provence Alpes are undertaken with friendship, lucidity, and conviction. The elected officials of the next term must, given the territory’s expanse, be available, involved, and passionate, and have permanent support to project a strong and dynamic image of our region, one of the best equipped in France in CREPS, structures, and endowed with a perfect climate for top-level preparations and maximum sports challenges.
In this particular field, working serenely alongside Mrs. Aurélie Brunet, Director of the PACA region’s Sport and Well-being department, as well as Mrs. Brigitte Frattini, Deputy Director, and their teams is extremely reassuring and makes it possible to foresee success at the end of a period of fruitful consensual negotiations.
The DRJSCS, the Regional Prefecture, the Regional Council are once again our choice interlocutors, and personally, I am also part of the small team that must bring birth to the new “Athlé PACA” League, for which we have already held the Clubs Meetings with the President of the French Athletics Federation, Bernard Amsalem, and two of his vice-presidents, and the federal legal services. The same goes for contacts with the services of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and its President, Denis Masséglia.
All indicators are green, and these mergers are in good order for other delegee or affinity disciplines.
What are the major events of the year 2016 on a local level that the CROS will propose?
“Parfum de Victoire” will return, in an improved format… thanks to our feedback. Similarly, the European Community having identified our Penitentiary Games as one of the most effective organizations for reintegration through sport, we should renew them in a budgetarily acceptable form. Finally, competitions with schools, universities, and business schools will be multiplied.
We also launched at the very beginning of the year the “Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Sports City” label, for which I handed over the basic elements to Mr. Richard Miron at our General Assembly. It is a registered trademark that should enable the implementation of regional planning schemes through sports as necessary in compliance with the law, and in close collaboration with the region’s services.
And then the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio will “fill” a significant part of the year. The Côte d’Azur CROS has already been present at a large part of the region’s events, as no one today can deny that its economic impact has become inevitable. Present in supporting the Paris 2024 Games bid for an international handball match (won by France!), we will also be invested in health events, high-level and many more.
The CROS wants to highlight the remarkable action of CDOS 83 “Environment and Tourism Sports”, which consists, over an October weekend through sports activities, to work on the environment and tourism.
Finally, the Côte d’Azur CROS will be a founding partner with our friends from CDOS 06 of the International Sports Film Festival, under the aegis of FITSC and the International Olympic Committee: a French stage was missing in this international must.
In summary, I would reiterate some of the recent words of my President of the CNOSF, Denis Masséglia: “One of the objectives of the CNOSF is to strengthen this transversal contribution of sport to the economic, social, and environmental growth of territories by encouraging federations and their clubs to diversify their fields of action and thus develop activities that generate new resources and employment. To do this, we must accompany and train them so that they engage in these new orientations, for example, concerning health sports and prescription sports. Sport intends to take its full place in this vast employment challenge in our country (future jobs, ‘sport citizen’ jobs, apprenticeship…).” Actors of Sport No. 177 – March 2016.
Our professional training will be developed, aimed at volunteers, as well as professionals, as is already the case with this year with specific modules dedicated, for example, to the ATP, or to the French Handball or Swimming Federations.
The Côte d’Azur CROS will be this essential and unavoidable Olympic and sports spearhead.
I.C-M: As always, and whatever the sports discipline practiced, I intend to harmoniously and optimally blend endurance and resilience, for a great CROS for a Great Region of Sport, well-being, social cohesion, and projects that must continue to germinate.
