At TC Lavaur, Marjorie Desforges and Emeric Tailhades organize tennis sessions for people with various pathologies. For real benefits.
The symbol is strong. John is present. Sitting on a bench along one of the two covered courts of the Lavaur Tennis Club (LTC). However, the one who is usually racket in hand is not there to hit the ball. His knee injury prohibiting him. “I come to see my friends, to spend a moment”, smiles this former cameraman. The heart of the initiative lies partly there: creating social ties. “It allows our participants to talk to each other. Some will also see each other outside of our sessions, ”says Marjorie Desforges.
Health sports referent to the Tarn tennis committee, she and Emeric Tailhades, teacher at the Vauré club, lead health tennis sessions. Every Tuesday morning, two groups follow one another in order to hit the little yellow ball. But in a suitable way. Because the students of Marjorie and Emeric are all suffering from various pathologies, ranging from cancer to osteoarthritis, and must therefore benefit from a specific practice. “We are vigilant on many parameters, poses Emeric. Depending on their pathologies, we will focus our attention on their movements, the power of the ball we send them. Nothing should be traumatic. »
“It’s even useful at home”
During their session, Emeric and Marjorie divide up the ten participants according to their level or state of form to offer them the best possible support through, among other things, exercises of skill – climbing on the fly and aiming for a cone with the ball – or gestures – how to hit the ball so as not to hurt yourself by using the right parts of the body.
Benefits students experience. “We are no longer 40 years old, justifies Jehan, who started tennis health three years ago. Already, it allows us to avoid doing bullshit! Afterwards, we store notions of breath, we gain in stability. It’s even useful at home. We no longer have the same reflexes, and we see things that seem logical to us. However, we realize that they are not innate. ” Contributions partly recognized since, during confinement, an exemption was granted for the courses to be held. “People with diabetes, for example, told us that they felt positive effects on their overall state of health,” says Marjorie Desforges.
Five Sport-Santé labeled clubs in the Tarn
This initiative, the Vauré club really launched it in 2017, thanks to a contest of will between Marjorie Desforges, Emeric Tailhades and the president of the LTC Guy Malaterre. “One of the trigger points was having, in one of my private lessons, a person affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” says Emeric. I didn’t really have the skills, and headed for Marjorie. Before implementing the process, it was necessary to obtain the diplomas necessary for the teaching of healthy tennis.
Through hard work, the LTC was the first tennis club in the department to be labeled “Club Sport Santé Bien-Être” by the French Tennis Federation, in 2019. Today, they are four more to have obtained this label in the Tarn: Gaillac, Mazamet, USSPA Albi and TC Albi. As for Emeric and Marjorie, they work with the Ligue d’Occitanie. Proof that the Lavaur club, which also works with the town’s Maison de sport santé, is a benchmark in this area.