Valenciennes makes a name for itself among France’s dynamic clubs. After hosting the 12U European Cup, Baseball TV France met with its President to hear his thoughts.
Marc Williamson, President of the club: « I am a happy and proud president today of what we have accomplished. Never would I have imagined it would be this huge. The volunteers finish exhausted but they have the feeling of having accomplished something gigantic. The numerous congratulations and gifts that many volunteers received spontaneously from the teams testify to this. Personally, I will long remember how our volunteers always did their best, with motivation to prove themselves. Their work was often highly professional. And I will also keep a second image, children filmed in close-up with a wireless camera, this pride of the players during the anthems, singing with honor and patriotism. I would have liked to be in their place to feel that feeling and I imagine their parents who watched them in the stadium or on television. »
After organizing the 2018 France Baseball Challenge, the 2021 France Women’s Softball Challenge, and the 2022 France Women’s Baseball Open, the club wanted to step it up and host a European competition. We expressed this desire to the federation, and they encouraged and supported us in this 12U project.
It’s an understatement to say it was a fantastic adventure. And it’s clear we wouldn’t have gotten this competition without the help of the Federation.
The organization and execution involved the entire club and beyond. Six months in advance, numerous volunteers began working on the project to try to prepare and anticipate everything. Some even took two weeks off to work up to 17 hours a day on site. About a hundred volunteers were present during the competition week. Volunteers licensed to the club, family members of licensed club members, former members who came to help, but also many members of the Dunkerque club (special thanks to Laure who stayed almost the entire competition), Cédric from the Reims club, Vincent from the Péronne club, Ilan Coupet who came from Lyon to comment on the matches, and notably the president of the Bourgogne league, Mathis Lebarilly, who was on the job every day from 7 a.m. until very late.
We started with an opening ceremony preceded by a city tour with guides speaking four different languages and baseball5 initiations in front of the town hall. The way the young people were already getting involved on Place d’Armes with baseball5, you would have thought the competition had already started. During the competition, we saw incredible plays, like the Italian center fielder catching a home run behind the fence thanks to a dive over it. Infielders making plays worthy of the major leagues, pitchers with impressive arms and effects, not to mention the numerous home runs by batters, including walk-off homers. We might regret that in the group stage, most matches ended with large score differences, but the final rounds lived up to all expectations, ending in a thrilling finale won 2-3 by Germany against the Netherlands.
We organized 100% homemade catering, serving no less than 1,200 plates, which required a titanic effort. A savory bar that was so successful that on Saturday we had to go to Cambrai for shopping because we had emptied the shelves of all the stores in Valenciennes. A sweet bar that mobilized 5 volunteers throughout the competition. Our field team managed in record time (given the 4 matches per day) to maintain a playing surface of excellent quality. It was a feat the last two days, as matches followed each other quickly for fear of possible storms. We will remember our communication team with its publications, photos, and of course Vipères TV, made up of 17 volunteers, who worked hard to offer a broadcast with 4 cameras and commentary in English under complicated conditions due to the rain and constantly changing light. The shop offered numerous souvenir items and was raided. The Bridge Sport store had so many customers that we had to offer volunteer security guards to help Guillaume (whom we warmly thank) sell in peace. Let’s not forget the volunteers for animation, sound, and cleaning… But with over 1,000 visitors per day on average, it takes what it takes.
And yet, the problems were numerous: the rain and wind on Wednesday blew the fuses and prevented Vipères TV from broadcasting the first matches, the fryer let us down on the second day, replaced by Promo Cash in 30 minutes (thanks Linda), the beer pump broke down the same day, to name just a few anecdotes… We made sure these different problems remained invisible to the visitors and I think we succeeded.
So what will be the impact on the club and what will it retain beyond the countless memories and images in its head? There were these exchanges with wonderful people and partnership proposals in the youth categories. We modestly believe we are making the club and baseball more and more known, especially to the people of Valenciennes, thanks to the important large-format public advertising campaign that took place throughout the city. Vipères TV had up to 1,200 viewers at the same time, making Valenciennes known in European baseball. We therefore hope to have given a good image of French baseball abroad and of the Valenciennes club within the French baseball community.
In terms of projects, we will have to digest this fabulous competition before applying for something of this magnitude again. In the immediate future, we have the Nord 18U plateau, which will take place at our venue in September.
