Stade Toulousain Handisport: champion of France, Toulouse is (also) the king of wheelchair rugby
By Toulouse editorial staff
Published on
Definitely, Toulouse rugby shines with a thousand lights. There is “the” Stade Toulousain but also the Stade Toulousain Handisport, which is also damn efficient. He has indeed just won, on Sunday April 10, 2022, under the impetus of the captain Jonathan Hivernat, the French wheelchair rugby championship.
Toulouse News met Pablo Neuman, happy president-player of this team in the firmament of sport. Not handisport, just sport.
“It’s our tenth title! »
News: How did you feel at the final whistle of the last round of the French Championship, when Toulouse beat Montpellier 52-32?
Jean-Claude Simon: We’re a little used to it, it’s still our tenth title! Nevertheless, we felt very proud, happy and relieved. This victory still had a certain flavor, after two years of interruption, it was important for us to set out again to conquer new titles. It’s in our DNA!
Beyond the sporting achievement and one more line on the list, it is disabled rugby which, thanks to you, is highlighted…
J.-CS: Yes, especially since my teammate and captain Jonathan Hivernat also wears the armband of the French team, crowned European champion on Saturday February 26 in Paris.
These titles reward not only the players, but all those involved in disabled sport. We are highly publicized, at the top of a pyramid that only exists because the base is solid. The base is all those people who work with us.
The world of disabled sports is, it is true, quite confidential, but our successes change that. When I saw our team at “Stade 2”, at the “Canal Rugby Club”, in “l’Équipe”, it made me feel funny!
Can these successes encourage young disabled athletes?
J.-CS: We could play this role of raising awareness among young people, showing them that it is possible and warning them of the sacrifices that this means in terms of logistics, travel, costs…
“Stade Toulousain is proud of us! »
You were injured in 2001 and founded the Stade Toulousain Handisport in 2003. Is this revenge for this accident, for life?
J.-CS: When this happens to you, you immediately think of all the things you will no longer be able to do. But sport forces you to become an actor in your life, to seek within yourself the abilities to do what you have been deprived of.
What relationship do you have with the Stade Toulousain players?
J.-CS: We have very good relations and we often collaborate together, in the neighborhoods, for example, or on solidarity actions. They are very proud of us, of course!
Jean-Claude Simon
Info on the club’s Facebook page.
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