Pays de la Loire: a strategy based on making sport more attractive

©RPDL- Ouest Médias

A few months away from the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games the Pays de la Loire’s regional sports policies are concentrating on strengthening its leadership in encouraging people to do sport, supporting sporting excellence and making sport more attractive.

The Pays de la Loire Region remains convinced that sport is a factor for personal fulfilment and social cohesion, the region strongly supports the development of sport throughout its territory. Structured around 4 major areas, the region’s roadmap “Sport” for 2024 fits into the main priorities of the regional council: employment, youth, green transition and disability.

Developing active participation in sport for all ages and abilities in the whole of the region (Priority 1) involves support for the regional leagues and committees as they develop their activities. Agreements concluded with the sports movement concerning objectives and resources thus include concrete objectives, particularly in the fields of youth and green transition. The region is committed to making it easier to open school sports facilities outside school hours, to improve the range of sports available locally.

It has also launched a call for projects entitled «Reinforcing daily physical activity in high schools», financing actions, the acquisition of equipment or the fitting-out of spaces in volunteer establishments. It is also involved in the “Bus Club 2024 itinérant – Les Pays de la Loire célèbrent les Jeux” bus, which has been circulating in the region from April to September 2024.

To make the Pays de la Loire a place for excellence and performance in sport (Priority 2), individualised support (sport, school and work) plans have been set up with the élite athletes. Support for sports clubs is evolving too: fairness in funding for women’s and men’s top-level clubs in the same discipline was adopted this year.

Promoting the values of sport (Priority 3) will partly be achieved by doubling the budget for combating sexual and sexist violence and abuse in sport and promoting gender equality. The experiment being carried out to promote unpaid work in sports clubs and associations will be continued. The Pays de la Loire is the first region to support this innovative scheme in France.

Finally, to enhance the place of sport as a force for development and an additional attraction for an area, the Region will maintain its support for high-profile sporting events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Vendée Globe, the Mondial du Lion and the Jumping La Baule. The region also co-organised the “Région Pays de la Loire Tour” cycle race, which saw its second edition in April with the addition of a women’s race.

This article was published in the magazine Sport and Citizenship n°57 : protecting sport integrity