Toulouse. Jean Azéma: “The human has always been my driving force”
President of Spacer’s since 2008, he will leave his post at the end of the month. Back with him on the highlights of this “human adventure”.
> His discovery of the Toulouse University Club: “I have always been involved in volleyball: I started around 13 in Montpellier. I played up to National 3 level, I was a central receiver, a “complete” player, they said at the time. : a good level, without being exceptional (smile). I discovered the TUC when I arrived from Barcelona in 1989. I joined the reserve team to have fun. After two, three years, the club was looking for a youth coach and I went. In 1994 the TUC and TOAC merged to form Spacer’s. I continued to coach and entered the management staff becoming vice-president in charge of the amateur teams. And it was in June 2008 that I took over as president.”
> His first steps as president: “I discovered a rather dramatic financial situation. We were also challenged by the DNCG in 2009. We had to bail out, look for money. With Michel Ruffat and Bernard Bély, we said to ourselves that “We were going to fight to save the club by cleaning up the finances as much as possible. We managed to mop up 100,000 euros a year for four years and in 2012 all the lights were green. Christian Ferreol then regained control of the cash. Today, the club has all its legitimacy as a professional club.”
> The creation of the training center: “We very quickly said to ourselves that we had to stand out from the others by being rewarded with a high-performance training center. It was consistent with the financial situation as well. It was I who went to defend the ministerial approval file The first youngster to come out was Nicolas Rossard. Then there was Franck Lafitte. We have always favored young people trained at the club rather than recruiting: that’s how Nicolas Burel had his chance, then Thibault Rossard and so many others afterwards. This training center is the result of reflection, of a strategic policy. It is a real source of pride today.”
> Zago’s clap in the hand: “What makes the strength of this club is that we have always managed to rely on a core of servants. This is true for the leaders as well as for the volunteers or the players. I am thinking in particular of Zago, who was a player before becoming an assistant coach. We just had to clap our hands in June to extend his contract (he laughs). Nicolas Burel is both a son and a brother. people have always been my driving force. We can sometimes separate, as was the case with Josef (Smolka) or Stéphane (Sapinart), but I always made sure to do so with the greatest possible respect for people above all else. hope to have succeeded.”