The rooms of boxing are always closed and if the clubs are hoping to reopen on the 22nd of June, the impatience begins to win the dismissed, deprived of their passion.The Boxing Club Vaulx-en-Velin has been organizing since June 7 workouts in the open air, but always without gloves or contacts. (JEROME VAL / RADIO FRANCE)
At the bottom of a dead end, in front of the college Henri-Barbusse, the boxing gym muhammad Ali’s boxing-club vaudais in Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône), is deserted. The ring emptied of its fighters, the bags striking pendant without a movement and it is heartbreaking for the accustomed places. “This is a lot of emotion to see her like that, “explains Zahir Nemer, one of the coaches. Normally, this is a room hyper living where we are there all day, we’re missing a lot.”
If the sports halls have been able to re-open from the 2nd of June (only in the green zone), contact sports remain for the time being prohibited, according to the plan of déconfinement of the government. “They do not, by nature, to respect the distancing physics”, had been recalled by the Prime minister.
Resume outdoor training sessions
To occupy the licensees, of the outdoor training sessions are therefore organized for the weekend of 6 June, not very far from the boxing room, but in an unusual environment, on the asphalt of a basketball court. The program this morning, under the sun : pumps, physical exercises and gestures of combat, but always alone and away from others.
All the time, we had been harassing the coach for him to ask ‘when is the room open, when can it be boxer ?Yasmine, boxeuseà franceinfo
“It’s nice to find people in this club”, says Yasmine. At age 17, the teenager has been vice-champion of France. Deprive it of boxing is suffering. “It was very hard during the confinement, especially for me, who have weight problems, “she explains. This has been complicated to stay in my weight class. I was trying to maintain, but this is not the same as training.”
“We stopped everything and it makes a little shock”
Saber Bouzaiane multiply instructions. This coach, a former member of the France team, appreciate him-also to find his boxers, even in these exceptional circumstances. “I note that some have worked for the containment, it shows. Others have worked less and it is also, he joked. We go gently. In recent times, one was on social networks, it was discussed between us, they set up challenges, we marrait. But then, to see them for real, it is more interesting. It is like a new year, we start again from zero.”
It gave me even more desire to train me, and just like that, I’ll come back as someone new.Magomed, boxeurà franceinfo
It is true that for this first meeting, the ten of the boxers who are given to heart joy. As Magomed : he has been practicing boxing for the first year and his momentum has been cut off by the containment. “As I had taken the habit to train every day, it was a bit complicated, details the young man 21 years of age. “For my first year, I was well off, I enchaînais the fighting. It has stopped everything and it makes a little shock.”
For licensees in the districts, this situation is a heart-breaking but you need to respect the rules, to Zahir Nemer coach of the Boxing Club Vaudais, in Vaulx-en-Velin. (JEROME VAL / RADIO FRANCE)
It will have to wait again to hand over the gloves and climb into a ring. The rooms will remain closed at least until June 22, and the reopening will be without doubt with constraints. The trainer Zahir Nemer understands and accepts the situation. “In a fight, it is close, there are exchanges, “he says. We do not want to take risks, neither for us, nor for the boxers.”
A glove, it is never clean. There are microbes. If you touch an opponent to the mouth or the nose, it remains dangerous.Zahir Nemer, coach boxeà franceinfo
The boxing club, which has 500 licensees, is a compass in a city like Vaulx-en-Velin, ranked among the poorest in France. Close this place of encounters and exchanges complicates necessarily the situation, see Zahir Nemer. “There has been a lack terrible, it is quite complicated, ensures the coach. But at the same time, there has been no misbehaviour. We didn’t have people who had come for us to break the room saying ‘We want to absolutely boxer’. A quiet situation, even if it is in a city rather hot. But the lack of boxing, the lack of physical exercise is felt at all levels.” These outdoor training sessions are the first step towards a return to normal. Three sessions are scheduled every week.
The rooms of boxing always closed : listen to the story of Jerome Val–‘—-‘–
