Every Thursday, in its “Off-Pitch” section,
20 Minutes
explores new, unexpected, unusual, ingenious or booming spaces for expressing sport.
This week, go to the beaches of Palavas-les-Flots (Hérault), where the beach was born in France, as well as to Carnon, very close to there, where its history continues to grow.
These lands, natural on the shores of the Mediterranean, or artificial in Montpellier, have shaped the best French beachgoers, while maintaining a spirit of diversity, conviviality and winning.
Palavas-les-Flots.
Right bank.
Shell beach.
A place of history?
It is here that beach volleyball was born for good in France, in the 1970s and 80s, long after its first appearances in the world in 1920 in California, then in the 1930s already in the Hérault.
"We played on the sand in the summer and we continued our practice indoors in the winter," recalls Christian Albe, president of the Occitanie volleyball league.
It was not quite beach as it is practiced in competition in 2x2.
We played 3 against 3 or 4 against 4.
At that time, in the 1970s, Montpellier was the capital of French volleyball.
The ASPTT, seven times champion of France and three times finalist during the period, hovered over women's volleyball.
The boys of the MUC, eight times champions of France and seven times vice-champions, were not left out.
“Obviously, we met a lot of members of the French teams in Palavas, continues Christian Albe.
There were 50 to 60 balloons non-stop on the beach at the same time.
»
Palavas made it possible to prepare for the Olympic Games
"I discovered this unmissable place in 1987, at the age of 16", confides Stéphane Canet, who a few years later represented France at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens with Mathieu Hamel.
Another athlete shaped at the beach on the sand of Palavas.
Just like the pioneers before them, Christian Pénigaud and Jean-Philippe Jodard, who participated in the 1996 Olympics (the first of the beach) and those of 2000 after having surveyed the grounds of Palavas together during their adolescence.
“There was a friendly, but also competitive spirit,” says Christian Pénigaud.
If you won, you stayed on the field, if you lost, you left your place.
“Stéphane Canet remembers this time perfectly.
“When we played against the elders, we knew we were going to be robbed of two or three points, he laughs.
In addition to the pleasure of playing on the sand, these moments forged a fighting spirit in me.
It gave me a certain winning culture.
»
A “super enticing” beach project with the 2024 Olympics in Paris
On the beach of the shells, time has passed.
The marina has eaten into the sand, the nets have disappeared and ball games (at the foot) are even prohibited there.
"With the appearance of mobile phones, the atmosphere has been a little broken," notes Stéphane Canet.
People found each other.
I think it kind of precipitated the end of the great beach moments in Palavas.
It is towards another Hérault seaside resort, in Carnon, that this sport has cast its nets, near the harbor master's office.
The fifteen pitches are constantly full.
“From now on, this is where everyone meets”, smiles Julien Lyneel (32 years old).
The receiver-attacker of the France team (220 caps) has just taken the plunge by ending his indoor career in May with a title of champion of France with Montpellier.
"It was the right timing, the beach project is super attractive with the prospect of the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024," he enthuses.
A sandy path that will pass by Roland-Garros, host to a stage of the Beach Pro Tour circuit, from September 29 to October 2.
"It will be a great moment to live", continues Julien Lyneel.
"The beach makes it possible to go beyond size a priori"
In Carnon, Maël Landally is another regular.
“We come regularly with friends, explains this Montpellier Beach Volleyball graduate.
We are a small community of a good hundred people.
On Messenger, we invite each other regularly, we organize ourselves.
» Maël, it is an impressive dry trigger but « only » 1.87 m under the fathom.
If it is big in everyday life, it is considered too small for the high level indoors, "where the players are hyper-specialized very early", as Stéphane Canet specifies.
"The beach allows you to overcome these preconceptions", savors Maël Landally, who has fun on the sand of Carnon, like that of La Rauze, in the Montpellier club.
“In 2016, I toured the beaches to see these kids playing on the sand, explains Stéphane Canet.
I managed to select the best from the south of France.
Then, we created courses during the school holidays. We showed all these young people that it was possible to play at a very good level, to have fun, even with more traditional profiles.
We picked up young people who would have left for other sports.
»
Even Kevin Mayer is a beach lover in Carnon
“Here, in Carnon, there is a lot of diversity among the people who come to play, whether in terms of the level of the players or their social background, notes Aristide Zinga-Taty, coach in Montpellier and in the beach section in Mauguio.
It's super fun.
There are people who come after work in the evening and more seasoned athletes, even very seasoned ones, because we often come across professional athletes.
“Last example to date, we were surprised to come across Kevin Mayer, double decathlon world champion, on Wednesday confronting his friends on a field.
Just before the Montpellier Beach Masters last weekend, Montpellier's Arthur Canet and Téo Rotar, U19 world champions (aged 17), also came to do a little exhibition.
Our off-road file
"This generation that is coming is fresh in its head", underlines Stéphane Canet, who is none other than Arthur's father.
A pioneer in his sport, he saw his club, the Montpellier Beach Volley, become the first hopeful center labeled by the FFVB, in partnership with the sports section of the Françoise Combes high school.
"Arthur and Téo are looking for results, they give their all to achieve their goals, but it's not the end goal," he insists.
They are first there to have fun together without pressure.
It is in this sense that the state of mind of the shell beach in Palavas is always present in the beach”.
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off-road
Volleyball
Beach
Occitania
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Montpellier
Languedoc Roussillon