Call for donations: Collection of rugby boots and sport shoes in progress

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Friends of the Paris and Toulouse regions, we need your sport shoes and rugby boots!

Our young people are truly enjoying rugby, even barefoot or in flip flops.  Still we would really like to give them sport shoes or rugby boots so that they can train in better conditions.

If you have any of these treasures in good condition (child or adult sizes) in your closets, please send us a photo along with the size of the shoes by email (contact@sergebetsenacademy.org), so that we can see if they would suit one of our budding rugby players.  They will for sure make someone happy.

Thank you so much to all of you who have already shared our call and made a donation.

Our favourite physiotherapist, Major Mouvement has published some great stories on his Instagram account to give us a helping hand and we thank him!

Major Mouvement's call for donation

Translation : Katy Birgé-Wilson

 

Event: Once again, so much solidarity this year during the WateRugby!

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This year, the Serge Betsen Academy (SBA) was present in Toulouse from September 11 to 13 once again as a partner in solidarity with the “WateRugby Sud de France” tournament. Why ? Because the joy of playing rugby is to be shared and because rugby and solidarity go hand in hand.

We had an SBA stall set up where everyone was welcome to discover our mission and our actions, and also to get goodies or a Recycling Rugby confection. The total sales amounted to £1459 (=1608 €)!  Of course, Lionel’s bags made from recycled rugby balls came out as the sales’ big winners.

Stand SBA WateRugby Stand SBA WateRugby 

International players and amateurs alike got involved in all the photos, posing with a Recycling Rugby bag. It was a great solidarity moment, thank you!  We also thank all the visitors who came to us and asked questions, and bought one of our wonderful creations for a good cause! If you have not yet had the chance to grab the bag of your dreams, head to the @RecyclingRugby Facebook page. 100% of the profits are donated back to us. Custom-made confections are also possible.

This year again, we were able to count on the presence and the energy of 10 passionate volunteers whom we would like to thank a thousand times. Big thumbs up to Boris and his daughter Émilie, Nina, Caroline and her son Marius, Corinne the famous girl who taught Serge Betsen to tackle, Stéphanie, Aurélien, Christophe and his daughter Cassandre. You were absolutely perfect!

Stand SBA WateRugby Stand SBA WateRugby volunteers 

A big Thank you also to all the players for making us dream during three whole days! In these complicated times, it has done us a lot of good!

Thank you to Yann Delaigue and the entire “WateRugby Sud de France” team for the organisation and to all the superb partners gathered this year despite the Covid crisis, in particular: Sud de France, Barraque Peinture, Das WeltAuto, GPM Pharmateam, le Groupe ATF, Trade Discount, Laptopservice, La Région Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée…

Stand SBA WateRugby Stand SBA WateRugby

Finally, we send a special thank you to the Groupe ATF for setting up their solidarity operation in favour of the SBA and our friends from Rugby French Flair. On the Trade Discount platform, the Groupe ATF has sold 2100 recycled computer equipments in September, therefore the SBA is going to receive a donation of £1909 (=2100 €).

Finally, if you want to see the official pictures of our stall and of the Legends posing with the #RecyclingRugby bags, go to our Facebook page. See you next year! Take care of yourself! Stay Safe!

Stand SBA Recycling Rugby at WateRugby Stand SBA Recycling Rugby at WateRugby

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

Event: A great fundraising rugby event in St Palais!

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On February 2 in St Palais, Xabi Comets organized a rugby day raising funds for our charity. USD864 were collected to help our underprivileged children in Cameroon!

 

 

We would like to warmly thank Xabi Comets for organizing this charity day which highlighted the actions of our charity. It was a great opportunity for us to be presented to your partners and members. Thank you also for organizing a raffle and for giving us a beautiful cheque after the matches.

 

 

We also take the opportunity of this blog post to thank Nelly, our faithful volunteer from the South West of France and her mother-in-law. This event won’t have been possible without you! Thanks for introducing SBA during the lunch and for selling SBA goodies and bags, cases and wallets made of recycling rugby balls to the participants.

 

 

Thank you all for your great support and for your interest in our charity. The raffle tickets made USD772 and the sales on the stand, USD92. It was a beautiful charitable rugby event!

Event: WateRugby, rugby on water in Toulouse

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A massive thank you to our awesome team in attendance at WateRugby Sud de France from the 13th to the 15th of September 2019, on the “Quais de la Daurade” in Toulouse!

Our volunteers Boris, Isabelle, Aurélien, Caro, Marius, Djamel, Stéphanie, Élie, Guilhem, Thierry and Claire were wonderful! Thanks to all of them, we collected a little more than $1450 (€1300) over the weekend and met new partners.  A big thank you also to all the rugby players for the show and entertainment, for coming to our stall to meet the volunteers (they were really happy) and for advertising our activity. Thanks also to the team in charge of organising the WateRugby event.

For those of you who were not able to come to our SBA stall, you can order a bag, wallet, purse … made out of recycled rugby balls on Recycling Rugby!

 

Translation by Katy Birgé-Wilson

 

WateRugby

 

Event: Journée Rugby Solidaire #SBA15ans on 24 July in Bayonne

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Enjoy rugby at the Fêtes de Bayonne!

Come and join us on Wednesday 24 July at the Christian Belascain Stadium in Bayonne for a rugby solidarity day. This free and open event will feature junior tournament, women’s rugby, rugby 7s, and matches with former French rugby legends.

This will be the perfect opportunity to celebrate the 15 anniversary of the Serge Betsen Academy which will support for this special day the Aupa Jakes charity.

See you all at the Christian Belascain Stadium in Bayonne for a busy schedule:
10 am: U10 Rugby Tournament, U12
11:30 am: Women’s match
12:30 pm: Match 7’s and rugby 7’s initiation for all
2 pm: Basque Country vs Basque Coast Match
3:30 pm: French Legends vs Xapirons & Archiballs Match

The benefits of the stands will be entirely donated to Serge Betsen Academy.

More information on our Facebook event.

Event: Gala Dinner #SBA15ans on 23 July in Biarritz

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Come and celebrate our 15th anniversary!

In honor of our 15th anniversary, we are delighted to invite you to our Gala Dinner at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz on Tuesday 23 July 2019 at 7:30pm.

The dinner will be prepared by Vivien Durand, one Michelin start Chef at Le Prince Noir in Lormont and Jean-Marie Gautier awarded “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” and Chef at the Hôtel du Palais.

The theme of the evening will be the Rugby World Cup since its beginning. On this occasion, all generations will be represented: Pascal Ondarts, Olivier Roumat, Philippe Bernat-Salles, Serge Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy, Patrick Tobacco, Nicolas Brusque, Pepito Elhorga, Jérôme Thion, Damien Traille and many other rugby stars. They will gather to support Serge’s initiative, which has been operating for 15 years!

The evening will be punctuated by musical interludes, rugby stories and an auction with exceptional prizes: a stay in Porquerolles, a stay in Cognac, a weekend at the Hôtel du Palais, some beautiful sculptures, unique spirits, signed jerseys and also jerseys of Dan Carter and Matthieu Bastareaud.

We hope you will all be able to attend!
Advance reservation required here and business attire dress code.

A big thank you to our sponsors for making this event possible: Financière Arbevel, our Principal Partner and Audio Network Limited, our Partner.

// SOLD OUT NOW!!// You can still write to Jenna on jenna@sergebetsenacademy.org to feature on the waiting list and you can still make a donation to support our charity via this form.

Event: Fundraising French Cards Games Event in Action!

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It seems that playing belote and jeu de tarot and raising funds for a good cause are more than compatible! Roger Nash, our dear volunteer proved it by organizing an amazing fundraising event at Wasps FC in Action on 3rd May 2019 which brought £4,410! It is a great amount of money to support our underprivileged children in Cameroon.

 

About 50 people gathered in Wasps FC to spend a nice evening together playing cards, enjoying a delicious duck confit, hearing great stories about our charity and donating money.

A huge thank you to our organizer Roger Nash, our hosts, the sponsors (Flint Wine, Europa Foods, Chanteroy, Papa Chef, Eric Merceron), the auction buyers and all the French cards games players for this fun evening together.

Event: A charity golf day with Dovehaven care homes!

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On 9 May, the Gilbert family and some Wasps Legends played golf with Serge Betsen at the charity golf day with Dovehaven care homes in order to raise funds for Serge Betsen Academy. The Gilbert family had met Serge in La Manga and decided to support us. We are so glad they made this decision of helping us as they managed to raise £28,770 in one day for us! It seems that they had great fun as well playing golf together.

We would like to say a huge thank you to our dear golf team and the Gilbert family for raising this amazing amount of money for us in order to offer a brighter future to our children in Cameroon.

 

Event: Frenchy Cocktail with Serge Betsen at Boulangerie Christophe in Washington DC!

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The Boulangerie Christophe in Washington DC hosted a fundraising cocktail on 26 April 26 2019 to raise funds for our charity. Serge Betsen who was travelling in the US on this date was therefore delighted to represent us alongside Odile Prevot.

$4,719.38 were raised during this Frenchy Cocktail with Serge Betsen for our young people in Cameroon! Delicious canapés were lovingly prepared by the chefs of the bakery and served with carefully selected French wines. Christophe and Didier gathered many guests around a so Frenchy yummy cocktail, who came to find out more about our actions in Cameroon and shake hands with the  rugby legend.

A big thank you to the Boulangerie Christophe for organizing this warm evening where guests had lively and passionate discussions! Thank you to our donors and to all participants for their enthusiasm and generosity. It’s so inspiring to spend such nice evenings like this one.

During his trip to the USA, Serge also had the honor of meeting with Odile Prevot, His Excellency Mr. Mahamadou Nimaga, Ambassador of Mali to the United States during an audience to present our actions in Cameroon to eventually apply our model in Mali. And of course Serge could not resist playing rugby during his trip so he joined the DC Touch Rugby team on the pitch for a nice training. This great team helps us to raise awareness about our association there, so we are grateful to them.

A big thank you to everyone for your support!

Event: Our young SBA ambassadors shined at Salon Promote!

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After receiving an invitation by Sharon Ganney and the British High Commission in Cameroon, the Serge Betsen Academy proudly took part in the 7th edition of the Salon Promote in Yaoundé this past February.

Five talented young students from our SBA centres in Bangangté and Bafia took part in the Salon to network and met different companies established in Cameroon. Our champions were accompanied by Odile Prevot, our CEO who attended the Salon during the three days and by Djibril, Manager of the Bangangté Centre. We would like to congratulate Bienvenu, Fanny, Sorelle, Baudelaire and Gilles on representing our charity during the Salon and on managing to introduce themselves to companies with such professionalism. They took part in a fruitful working session with the British High Commission in Cameroon and met with dynamic companies to learn about their activities. They notably had the chance to discuss with our friends from GreenHouse Ventures and our sponsor Victoria Oil and Gas Plc based in Douala. Through this meeting we hope that they were able to build meaningful connections for their future careers.

Odile Prevot also delivered a speech about “Rugby for education: from street idling to community champions”. She was accompanied by Fanny, who shared her experience as a Serge Betsen Academy student and gave details about the impact of our actions on her education and her life in general.

This Salon was a great opportunity for our five SBA ambassadors to develop their business network and for our charity to gain some visibility. We are proud of what they have achieved so far and we wish them all the best in their professional careers! And it seems that our team of superstars had great fun as you can see from their video ;) :