Japhet N'Doram, the former FCN player, during a training session with the migrants.
-
SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / SIPA
Every Thursday, in its “off-field” section, “20 Minutes” explores new spaces for the expression of sport, unexpected, unusual, clever or booming.
Twice a week, Japhet N'Doram, the former FC Nantes player, conducts football training with migrants.
These sessions allow these minors to make relationships, to clear the mind and to integrate more easily.
"Go on, if that's your pace, you're not going to take any speed ..." Smile, the whistle close to your mouth and wearing a parka from the Loire-Atlantique Departmental Council, Japhet N'Doram teases, this Friday afternoon, on the synthetic field of Pin-Sec, district east of the city of Nantes.
Like every Monday (at La Durantière) and Fridays, for three and a half years now, the former FC Nantes playmaker, French champion in 1995, has been hosting football training for migrants.
An hour and a half to two hours per session at least because "once they are there, they do not want to leave", smiles the former Sorcerer of Beaujoire, aged 55.
Japhet N'Doram has been leading sessions with migrants for three and a half years.
- SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / SIPA
Last Friday, they were fourteen, ready to do battle during small oppositions.
"All that interests them is the game, the workshops, it kicks them less", confesses N'Doram.
After an exercise to work on the conservation of the ball, the technician suggests one based on speed and explosiveness.
The enthusiasm is showered.
Smiles return a few minutes later with the opposition on a half court.
All are minors.
Housed in hostels or hotels.
For the most part, their arrival in the City of the Dukes is very recent.
Loaned outfits and studded shoes
Like this 16-year-old Congolese, who landed in December, and who while waiting to find a training or a school course, relishes this time devoted to the round ball that he fiddles with rather well ... "I played every day in the street at home, confides the one who left his land "for family reasons".
Apart from soccer, I don't have a lot of other occupations at the moment.
I have the impression of finding a real family during these training sessions.
The same feeling and almost identical words for this 16-year-old Ivorian who arrived last summer.
“I look forward to these moments.
These workouts keep me entertained and help me fit in.
I find a family, even if it is not biological.
"
This idea, emanating from the Departmental Council and supported by the City, which provides two weekly slots, immediately appealed to newcomers.
They were even a hundred three and a half years ago.
Since then, some have left the department.
Others have joined clubs in the Nantes suburbs or elsewhere.
“There are also fewer arrivals than in 2018,” explains Claire Drouet, from the Saint-Benoît Labre association, mandated by the Departmental Council to take care of unaccompanied minors.
They love to go find Japhet.
Once they have been told the time and place, they go there in complete autonomy.
"Footballers' outfits and football boots, collected from the Emmaüs relay, are lent to them.
Japhet N'Doram.
- SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / SIPA
"It is a moment of pleasure for them", continues the educator.
A time of entertainment and essential integration.
"Football can open doors for them, breathes N'Doram.
The reality for them is not always what they imagined before they arrived, but I feel that if they want to stay here, they have to be given the possibility and the openings for.
Two years ago, the former Canary convinced three migrants to join him in Haute-Goulaine, where he was a trainer.
The three ended up finding a job in the small town of Loire-Atlantique.
“Club leaders hired them in their kitchen, construction and carpentry businesses.
Football has thus enabled them to enter the world of work.
"
On a daily basis, Japhet N'Doram is more than a trainer for them.
“They see me as a big brother.
They confide in me, ask me for advice.
My role goes beyond that of an educator.
"For someone who landed in Nantes from Chad, his country of origin, at the age of 24, it is" almost a duty "to support the integration of these young people, battered by life.
“Some have had chaotic journeys to get here.
They have known misery, war in their country.
Others have lost friends and suffered atrocities.
Football gives them confidence and they assert themselves thanks to it.
And that's what touches me the most and makes me the most proud.
N'Doram knows better than anyone what the football can do.
“If I'm here today, thirty years later, it's thanks to football.
"
Nantes
Nantes: Threatened with expulsion, Bangaly the apprentice carpenter obtains a reprieve
Society
Nantes: Strong mobilization for Bangaly, “serious and integrated” apprentice carpenter threatened with expulsion
Soccer
Nantes
Social
FC Nantes
Migrants
General Council
Society
Sport