BTVF: Who is Stephen Lesfargues and what is his mission?
S.L.: I am an Aquitaine native born on March 15, 1970, in Bergerac. I have been licensed in our federation since the age of 8 and have been the national technical director since August 1, 2013.
I took my first steps at the clubs of Pineuilh and La Force as a family. I was also a senior international baseball player from 1988 to 2001 at first base.
My missions are placed under the functional authority of the President of the Federation and the hierarchical authority of the minister in charge of sports.
My missions mainly focus on the following areas:
managing and animating the team of federal coaches, personnel exercising missions as sports technical advisors, and national coaches placed with the federation.
the high-level policy (PPF) and all the French teams of Baseball, Softball, and Baseball5.
the training of animators, federal coaches, and continuing education through the INFBS.
the promotion and development of federal activities in collaboration with federal elected officials and federal commissions.
the implementation and follow-up of the action program validated within the framework of development and performance contracts with the National Sports Agency.
the coordination of medical and paramedical actions planned for the benefit of the French teams (medical follow-up and anti-doping prevention).
the implementation of the policy and priority orientations of the ministry in charge of Sports.
participation with a consultative vote in the meetings of the governing bodies of the federation (directing committee and executive committee) and the work of the federal commissions.
participation in the work of the Baseball Commission of the WBSC Europe and each year assignments as a technical commissioner with the WBSC and WBSC Europe.
BTVF: The French teams are engaged in numerous competitions, can you list them and in which categories?
S.L.: We currently have 14 French teams in the federation.
Baseball: Senior Women’s and Men’s Baseball EDF, University EDF, EDF 23U, EDF 18U, EDF 15U, and EDF 12U.
Softball: Senior Women’s and Men’s Softball EDF, EDF U22, EDF U18, and EDF U15.
Baseball5: Senior EDF and EDF U17.
For the year 2022, we will have 10 France collectives engaged in international competitions with highlights such as a first participation in a World Cup in U15 with our manager Jean-Michel MAYEUR and in Senior Baseball5 with our manager Lahcène BENHAMIDA.
BTVF: Baseball5 and Women’s Baseball are putting France in the spotlight given their results, how do you see the progress in these categories?
S.L.: Regarding the French teams, our ambition is to maintain our current ranking, namely European champions. We are also eager to face the best at the world level in both disciplines.
We also aim to participate in the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar in 2026 with our Baseball5 French team. Baseball5 has been recognized as a high-level discipline by our ministry. We will gradually implement a high-level pathway through Lahcène BENHAMIDA, whom I have appointed manager of our two French teams and technical referent for the discipline for the national technical director.
Regarding development, we want to continue our support in structuring all the disciplines of our federation without favoring one over the other.
The year 2022 will see the creation of the first Open de France féminin de Baseball in Valenciennes from April 16 to 18, 2022. A great exposure for the promotion of the discipline.
BTVF: Men’s and women’s softball seems less publicized, why does France struggle in this sport category and how to remedy it?
First, we need to change the mindset and habits of our coaches in the clubs. The club culture is historically more baseball than softball. We have a number of clubs that do not currently offer the softball discipline. The absence of a youth championship in softball is detrimental to its development. Young people start in our federation only through the prism of baseball and often discover softball later in their federation journey.
For example, the PACA League seems to be more advanced than other territories in this openness to both baseball and softball disciplines. This culture of practicing both disciplines was certainly born with Claude Achille in Nice.
To remedy this:
Act on the ground to promote the practice of softball for all from a young age.
Support women’s high-level as we have done since my appointment with the nomination of Céline LASSAIGNE as manager of our senior, U22, U18 teams, and the Pôle France in Boulouris, and men’s high-level with the nomination of Anthony CROS as manager of the senior French team. Engage a good dynamic in this high-level access device for women with Raina HUNTER as manager of the U15 collective.
Continue each year with major women’s events such as Division 1, the Challenge de France, the Achille Challenge, and the mixed U12 Open.
Strengthen men’s practice with a stable Division 1 and the return of the Challenge de France in the calendar.
Mobilize our ecosystem to move the lines on our territories, in the regional and federal sports commissions, to then publicize softball in both genders, to make known and give the desire to join one of our affiliated clubs.
Continue our efforts to publicize our high-level athletes in national media.
Finally, softball suffers from not having a well-established professional championship. The MLB focuses much of the attention of our community. Women’s softball is visible at the American university level, notably with its NCAA D1 championship (with our two French athletes, Mélissa and Kimane), but then there is not much for these athletes and much less international publicity.
BTVF: The senior French team suffered from the health crisis with postponed championships, the non-arrival of Bruce Bochy in France, disappointing results in Italy last year, what can be done to relaunch the rise of the French men’s baseball team?
S.L.: Our disciplines have been impacted by the health crisis in terms of licenses and practice through the various regional and national championships.
The senior baseball collective certainly paid a heavy tribute to this health context, but it’s not an excuse. The disappointment was hard to digest on all levels, before, during, and after the European Championship. The non-presence of Bruce Bochy at the last moment and the obligation to rebuild a staff in less than a week combined with the absence of some key players was not the best preparation to calmly approach a European Championship. Despite all this, we have retained interesting performances for the future, notably on the side of the pitchers.
Since last October, the page has been turned, and with the deputy DTN Boris ROTHERMUNDT, our senior manager Keino PEREZ, the head of the Pôle France in Toulouse Gerardo LEROUX, and myself, we are focused on our next deadline in July in Bulgaria with follow-up and support of the selectable players.
We will continue our dynamic engaged in 2014 on the training and development of our young players in France and on North American territory.
The entire newly appointed technical staff will follow more than 60 players this year. From my point of view, we have very good players on this roster, a manager who is building his group by sending messages to the players for the deadlines of 2022 and a qualification for the European Championships in September 2023 under better conditions than 2021.
BTVF: What can we wish for you?
You can wish to arouse enthusiasm and the desire to surpass oneself for all our licensees selected in a French team, in order to be effective in all competitions where France is engaged.
You can wish to continue working with the clubs, departmental committees, regional leagues, all the actors of the high-level pathway, and the INFBS through the work of Éric DEDIEU and Aina RAJOHNSON, seeking a sense of belonging and a dynamic and innovative work environment for the development of our disciplines in France with, I hope, the launch in the first half of 2022 of the MyCoach by FFBS platform.
The wealth of our federation lies in the great quality of its men and women. These are national and regional technical cadres, national coaches, employees of the headquarters, whom I know well and with whom I have been working for many years, federal elected officials with whom it is very enriching to exchange, but also employees and volunteers from the leagues, committees, and clubs very involved.
It is a beautiful adventure at the service of others that I share with my entire team and that I wish to continue, for the athletes in the French teams, in the poles, and for the passionate licensees of all our disciplines.
Statements received by Didier CANNIOUX
