A word from Laurent Poupaert, Rugby Club La Hulpe team coach
I’m the coach of Wallonia’s first and only handirugby team, based at La Hulpe rugby club. It’s not easy enough for an official club to receive subsidies or budgets, but for a club just starting out, and in handisport no less, it’s even more complicated.
We started from scratch, 3 months before the covid, which further disrupted my already weakened team. But we’ve bounced back and now have a loyal core team and tournament offers as far afield as Montpellier.
None of this is possible without the help of people like Nadine. I followed the genesis of the Nicolas Gigot Foundation. Simply because I’d been following Nicolas before all this, and that really touched me. I’m also the father of a rugby player, a year older than Nicolas, who left at the same time for France to develop because these kids had talent.
I appealed to the Foundation because Geoffrey, one of my wheelchair players, is a former “classic” rugby player with a strong rugby frame, and he didn’t fit into the classic chairs. So we needed something tailor-made, with the consequent budget that goes with it.
Nicolas’ mom didn’t hesitate for a second when I called on her, and today Geoffrey can really take part in training sessions in comfort.
The Nicolas Gigot Foundation is important to her, but the existence of this type of structure is also fundamental to the world of disability, and this is what Nicolas would have wanted.
On behalf of the entire La Hulpe handirugby team, and indeed the club, I’d like to thank Nadine for bringing a smile to the faces of anonymous people like Geoffrey, through the donation of a magnificent handirugby chair.
I’d also like to thank you, our donors, because without you, none of this would have been possible.
Thank you, Nadine and especially Nicolas!