New president of the French Badminton Federation, Franck Laurent talks about the key topics and areas that he intends to develop over the next four years.
You have just been elected head of the French Badminton Federation. What assessment do you draw from the campaign carried out over several months?
We had a great campaign, during which we met a lot of people. We were able to discuss with clubs, leagues, departmental committees… this allowed us to refine our program and what we would be able to implement over the next four years. We had ideas that we were able to confront with reality, so it was a very positive campaign which allows us to approach the four years ahead in a positive way.
Precisely, for these four years, what are the strong areas that you wish to develop for French badminton?
There are two very strong subjects. The first is the reconciliation of French badminton. We have experienced a very difficult Olympiad in relations between the federation and the decentralized bodies. The badminton family must be able to talk again and heal the wounds. So we opened the door to everyone to be able to discuss and exchange again. This is going to take time, obviously. We are going to set up a territorial council so that there can be spaces for discussions.
The second major axis is structuring. I am mainly thinking about the structuring of our clubs, which is necessary for the development of our clubs. As part of this structure, if we want to continue to develop, we must also have our own equipment. This will be a driving subject over the next four years, a subject on which we will discuss a lot with clubs, communities and partners.
The Paris 2024 Games, “very encouraging for the future”
The French Badminton Federation will soon reach 250,000 members, a historic level. What are the avenues for riding this dynamic?
There are obviously several possible areas of development. I am thinking in particular of para-badminton, which remains an underdeveloped practice. This is therefore one of the areas of development, just like the development of the practice among the senior public. We are also the leading school sport, but we do not attract enough young people in schools who then have the reflex to sign up for clubs. There are therefore many possible development avenues to continue to allow French badminton to grow in terms of the number of players and licensees.
One of the strong subjects will also be high level. What assessment do you draw from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games?
In para-badminton, the results are very good, since we won three medals, we are doing better than in Tokyo. Among the able-bodied, it should be noted that it was the first time that we had qualifiers in all five tables, which is very positive. Of course, we would have liked to have had one more round, in singles or mixed, to show a better record. But we note that it is very encouraging for the future.
Concerning the future, how can we support the athletes to enable them to approach the Los Angeles deadline in the best conditions?
Since September, the French Badminton Federation has hired Fernando Rivas full-time, in charge of the seniors project. This will make it possible to offer better support until 2028. We will work very soon to see how exactly to move forward until 2028, what we can put in place to allow our players to continue to progress and evolve. in the best conditions.
