The 12th edition of the LR Beach Cup, the largest European inter-school sports tournament on sand, took place on Ile d’Oléron. The 7th & 8th April saw some 1000 students come to defend their school colours, competing in five different sporting events. Here’s a closer look at LR Beach Cup… a student association quite unlike any other!
A sporting and convivial event
With its primary aim being to encourage participation in sport by bringing students together in a friendly and relaxed environment, this year, the LR Beach Cup organised five different events in which many schools participated. Different teams competed in basketball, volleyball, football, rugby and handball matches, endeavouring to score a maximum number of points, to be able to return victorious to their school. Open to management schools and engineering schools, the tournament perfectly illustrates the values of sport… ‘sharing’ and ‘surpassing yourself’. Participants on the side-lines could also enjoy nautical and fun activities. And as all effort deserves to be rewarded, at the end of the event, the association organised a festive evening so that everyone could relax and chill out after the competition.
Civic commitment
In an effort to encourage participants to ‘surpass themselves’, this year, the LR Beach Cup wanted to use other ‘terrain’ apart from sand to achieve this. With this in mind, in mid-February, the association organised a conference on the theme of sporting exploits. To encourage participants to take an active part, the conference took the form of a round table where its three guest speakers, Florian Fluhr (aventurer who travelled from Strasbourg to Morocco by bike), Michaël Grall (former French teacher with disabilities, now trained in hypnotherapy) and Edouard Detrez (the founder of a wheelchair manufacturing company, Le Fauteuil Roulant Français, who travelled 710 kilometres using the strength of his arms) presented their vision of ‘how to surpass yourself’ to the students of the Group. Following the conference, the participants had the opportunity of spending precious time chatting with the guest speakers.
An entrepreneurial approach
As an independent association, LR Beach Cup works relentlessly to be able to offer participants a first-rate experience and divides its efforts into five areas of activity: Contact and liaison with schools, event development and promotion, the organisation and management of the tournament, logistics and security, and finally event partnership links. The 34 members of the association are fully committed, on a daily basis, to developing a ‘company’ that, only 12 years ago, was nothing but a crazy idea.
"Today, there is strong competition between all the events organised by the different business schools. This forces us to go just that little bit further every year, which I think is a good thing not only for our tournament but for all sporting events in general", explains Laëtitia Corneil, Vice-President of the association.
Whether keen sportspeople or not, through the various tasks and projects they carry out, the 34 members of LR Beach Cup have discovered capabilities and skills that had previously lain dormant. This is how Laëtitia Corneil, the 2017-2018 Vice-President of the association (although with a sporty background) discovered, through her commitment to the association, her ability to be a leader. As a showcase association of La Rochelle Education Group, LR Beach Cup, through its tournament as well as the various actions carried out over the course of the year, intends to maintain its status as leader and perhaps even develop synergies with other associations such as the Group’s sailing club ISSE'O.
7th & 8th April… a look back at the event in pictures
Click here to see the post-event film
Click here to see photos of the event
About LR Beach Cup
Responsible for organising the largest ‘sand’ sports tournament in France, the association provides more than 1000 students from over 30 schools with the opportunity to participate in the tournament and proudly defend their school colours, competing in five different events… on sand: Beach Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Beach Soccer, Beach Rugby and Sandball.
