The three Indre teams which played this season in the national team championship (N3 or N4) achieved a group shot which they would have done well without: all three were demoted at the beginning of June to pre-national, whether gentlemen from Poinçonnet, as well as ladies and gentlemen from CTC 36. A situation which inevitably upsets the president of Castelroussin, Alain Paillet, even if he refuses to give in to panic. Interview.
Your two flagship teams which do not meet the objective of maintaining, that must be complicated to live with…
“We’re not going to lie to each other. It stings a bit… A bit much, even! However, we knew from the start that it would be complicated. For the boys because the field was very strong; and for the girls because we paid dearly on the first day (3-3 draw; injury to a player); but we still hoped to get through it in the end. It was not the case. »
Suddenly, it’s back to the prenational, a level that the club and tennis at Châteauroux had not attended for a long time…
“We’re going to make sure it lasts as short as possible. The ambition in 2025 will be to go back up! »
It involves a lot of recruitment…
“(He cuts) For the girls, the idea would be to keep our two leaders (Sharleen Hamon and Juliette Charles) and attract two new players. But it is not that simple. Who to take? Where to find them? We’ll think about it. As for the boys, I read in your newspaper that they chose to stay among local players. We will study the best solution. »
Gone are the days when foreign players came to wear the club’s colors…
“It’s far and very close at the same time. I remind you that the girls played in Pro B and that was only around ten years ago (between 2013 and 2016). But it’s far away because, since then, we have suffered three descents. There is inevitably a bit of nostalgia when we remember that we had four players ranked at the WTA (the Georgians Anna Jikia and Sofia Shapatava, the Spaniards Rocio de la Torre and Ariadna Briones), that the courts were dressed in the colors of the club and that we had even created a partners’ village. Same for the boys: we had the Argentinian Marco Bella, the German Sebastian Fitz and the Croatian Dino Marcan. Unfortunately, all this is no longer possible today…”
A budget problem?
” Yes, but not only. In the heyday, we were around €320,000. Today, it has been reduced to €180,000 (including €60,000 from partnership). We are a bit at the bottom of the wave. In terms of licensees, we went up to 614 in 2018, one year we were the 3rd club in the Centre-Val de Loire league (behind TC Tours and US Orléans); now there are only 425 left and we must have left the top 10. When we add to that the hailstorm of May 2022 which caused a lot of damage (we estimated it at €30,000), the burglaries of our two clubhouses, a teacher who suffered a burnout, a private matter and the disappearance of Yves Gerbault, our trusted man for everything concerning equipment or buildings, admit that it did a lot in a very short time of time…”
How to get up after these cascading disappointments?
“By remaining passionate about tennis as I am and focusing on future projects. I am thinking in particular of the multi-activity center that we want to develop and where we will promote leisure sport; as well as on the three padel courts which should see the light of day in the very short term. We also want to bring more life to the courts of Beaulieu (three outdoors, two indoors) and La Pingaudière (six outdoors, seven indoors, four beach tennis courts) and try to create a great dynamic among the young people. In 2018, we had a generation of 17-20 year olds who were permanently present and who brought real momentum. We need to rediscover this state of mind…”
The president that you are seems to keep the faith…
“Yes, because it’s a club that I’m very attacked by. My father, Jean Paillet, was the president of the Entente Châteauroux. I have a duty to remember…”
How do you position yourself in relation to the future elections to the departmental committee, the regional league (of which you are vice-president) and the federation?
“I have a strong opinion on the question, but I am going to let the summer pass before deciding. Come back and see me in the fall…”
The CTC 36 Open: the big organization
The highlight of the Castelroussin club season remains the tournament which takes place each year between mid-October and the beginning of November, the CTC 36 Open, an event included in the famous CNGT, the National Circuit of the Greats. tournaments. “In 2023, we reached the mark of 330 participants,” underlines Alain Paillet who is releasing a budget of €35,000 for the occasion which allows him to attract the best French players. With one particularity: the ladies’ final has priority over the men’s final in the choice of the best possible time.
2024-06-11 12:41:39
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