• Ground Bordeaux is a kind of sports complex dedicated to the performance of high-level athletes but also of everyone.

  • Thanks to a team of professionals (osteopath, physical trainer, adviser, mental trainer, etc.), it aims to complement the clubs by individualizing the follow-up of the athlete as much as possible.

  • The objective is not to compete with the staffs of the clubs but to bring multiple skills to the athlete in the same place.

It's the kind of structure that could soon spring up like mushrooms.

It is inspired by the concept of nursing homes.

Except that there they are above all intended to improve the sports performance of everyone and in particular of high-level athletes.

It is with this idea in mind that five partners, including football player agent Christophe Hutteau, opened Ground Bordeaux a few weeks ago Since then, they have been welcoming under the vaults of a magnificent building located not far from the Place des Quinconces. their first customers.

On this June morning, we find there in particular Théo Pellenard, defender of AJ Auxerre trained at the Girondins de Bordeaux.

He treated a few minor sores there and kept in shape during this off-season before returning to the Ligue 1 pitches with his club.

"Today, the clubs are well structured, it's undeniable but the player, he still often needs to get a little more, explains Maxime Guichard, sports advisor specializing in personal development.

Suddenly, the player goes a little to the right, to the left to look for skills but the problem is the absence of liaison with his club and even between the specialists.

Everyone does their own thing.

We thought we had to create a common place where everyone works together around the player.

»

Increasingly demanding athletes

On site, there is therefore an osteopath, a physical trainer, a mental and cognitive trainer... And Christophe Hutteau:

“We are not inventing anything!

We are just inspired by what has been done in the United States for more than ten years with top athletes.

That is to say that each athlete, regardless of the discipline, is ultra-supervised.

More generally, all the great sportsmen work with a whole staff around them.

There's no hazard.

I think that the individualization of the job is essential today »

Théo Pellenard agrees, recalling “that we tend more towards private support outside clubs for players”.

At Ground Bordeaux, everything starts with a project study with Maxime Guinchard's "starting point, the athlete's health" in the middle of the structure's cold and hot baths.

There is also a gym equipped with many connected devices to work on the whole cognitive aspect.

Théo Pellenard points out another advantage: “For example on video analysis, there are very few individual returns in a whole season at the club because it would be a titanic job.

There I can discuss my performance after each match with the team who can prepare a small video montage for me.

“And without saying that he owes everything to this structure and his team, the 28-year-old defender remarks that since he has relied on it, he has experienced a real rebound in his career after several struggling seasons.

Competing or complementary to clubs?

If for Christohe Hutteau it is a "real plus" for his players, one wonders how the clubs of the latter perceive a structure like this.

On this subject, Maxime Guichard immediately recalls that “the objective is to work in perfect collaboration”:

“Besides, things are going well with most clubs.

Very few see this as overtraining.

We are on a shadow activity and a long-term follow-up.

We are there to develop the man in the player and not the player of a club.

»

For Théo Pellenard, “it depends above all on each person's personality, open-mindedness and I would even say each person's intelligence.

In Valenciennes, we had a few problems at the start, for example, but in Auxerre, it's very healthy, everyone communicates”.

All this without looking at each other like a dog and with, in the end, a common objective, a player who performs well on the field.

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