Events - Serge Betsen Academy

Event: 9th Challenge at the Unifying and eco-friendly vineyard!

June 28, 2018/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

The ‘9th Epernay Vineyard Challenge’, brought together 1,850 rugby players aged between 7 and 12 years old. SBA provided a stand with recycled rugby balls manned by volunteers Chest and Kenos (the TQT finally reunited!).

It was a great success, especially with the ‘Week-End’ bags and the getting together of Belgian, Dutch and French neighbours! There were 39 clubs participating in this sports day from Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands.

The proceeds from the sale of confectionary items exceeded €3000. Lionel and Christophe were able to interact with Jeff Tordo from organisation “Pachamama of Madagascar” present that day along with many international guests including: Jean-Pierre Garuet-Lempirou, Jacques Boussuge, Francis N’tamack, Cédric Debrosse, Jean-Maurice Oulouma and hundreds of children.

A tombola was organised with great prizes contributed from the profits of the Pachamama and SBA associations. A donation of more than 330 euros will be poured into our association as a result of funds raised. Rugby material (shirts, studs…) were also collected for this event creating a thrilling showcase for the two associations.

A big thank you to Guillaume Martin, Director of Pedagogy (MSc and MBA) at L’INSEEC and to Laurent, the organiser of the Vignoble Challenge. Thanks also to the École Polytechnique and all the young people attending and offering their support. Congratulations to Racing Colombes, winners of the Tournament!

A beautiful day in the Champagne region!

Some photos that will help you get a sense of the atmosphere and a copy of an article from L’Union(in French)

(Translation from French version : Raphael Nash)

Event: Dinner at “La Clef des Champs“ Restaurant

April 28, 2018/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

« Everyone here is so approachable, it really represents the spirit of rugby » observed a fan who attended to support the association. The event took place in the presence of many French rugby icons including Bakary Méité, Alain Gazon and Serge Betsen accompanied by his troupe that helped organised the dinner at La Clef des Champs restaurant in Paray-Vieille-Poste to honour the Serge Betsen Academy.

The flags of the Stade Français, Wasps and Massy Essonne Rugby Clubs were proudly on display, so it was impossible to misapprehend the context of the evening. A warm welcome was given by Yves and his team, around 50 people gathered for this memorable dinner in honour of the association working together since 2004.

“There is a lot of generosity in this association which corresponds perfectly with my sport: rugby. Thank you all for being here tonight.” declared Serge.

After a presentation of educational videos, Serge and his team answered questions posed by the audience. This provided a clear opportunity to observe the passion and enthusiasm that this association generates.

Tables were brightly decorated with the colors of the association which, together with the festive menus contributed to the warm atmosphere; a perfect match with the spirit of the Serge Betsen Academy. The guests stamped their mark on the meeting with conviviality, enthusiasm and solidarity.

“It is crazy how rugby can make you want to succeed” a woman whispered in her husband’s ear.

A highlight of the evening was the auctioning of champions’ jerseys including Mathieu Bastareaud from the 2010 Six Nations Tournament and another from Massy which was followed by further surprises to bid for.

“Are there any supporters of Stade Français here in the hall this evening?” Lionel asked.

A few smiles broke out and five or six hands went up. The auction was fun, successful and really well conducted.

“I know that all this money will be used for direct and positive actions for this association, so it is with great pleasure that I have participated” declared a benefactor.

This charity dinner has evoked the true spirit of rugby and raised more than four thousand euros. Success will now follow very quickly as a result.

“I want to thank everyone for coming tonight and especially Yves and all his team to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for making this event possible” Serge Betsen.

This text was written by our volunteer Jean Verdon who has also created a video! (Thanks also to Raphael Nash for the translation into English.)

Event : Dubaï 7’s, SBA Pirates

December 7, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

Our brave SBA Pirates reached the final at the Dubai 7’s veteran tournament. Two iconic ex-rugby players were featured on the SBA team along with Serge: Yann Delaigue and Francis Ntamack. Despite a tough match against our English friends: Iain Balshaw, Simon Shaw and Olly Barkley, we are proud of our Pirates who wore the colours of our association!

Thanks to the support of their sponsors, 850€ were donated to the SBA. A huge thank you to the Pirates and their sponsors for their engagement and motivation. Bravo and thank you!

Cyril Mattera, one of our Pirates who represented the association, confessed: “Lots of emotions still 72 hours later and already the desire to restart this tournament! A 2017 tournament for the books! Meeting these extraordinary men who have such incredible values! Thank you to all the people who helped our team. Thank you to all the players! Long live rugby! MATOS”

Translation by Jean Verdon

Event : Ealing Half Marathon, UK, Sept. 2017

September 24, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

On the 23rd of September, SBA team SBA ran the Ealing Half Marathon.

Two years ago they raised nearly £4,000 for the charity and it made a life changing improvment for many children in Cameroun.

This year, a new team has decided to take up the challenge again and beat the record. They fixed their fundraising target at £5,000 (6,578$).

They trained as hard as professionnal runners…. Have a look here!

The dream team: Bertie Kloetgen; Laurent Leslé; Sebastien Gerinet; Philipe Allard; Emmanuel Pringalle; Arnaud Leclerc; Roger Nash; Gareth Down; Édouard Sénéchal; Olivier Morato has won its challenge.

They are all finishers and they managed to collect around £9,000 (11,840$) !

A big thank you to them, the new heroas of the SBA!

Event: Summer 6 Stations Tournament, July 2017

July 24, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

For the first edition of the Summer version of the tournament, the organising team (Yann Delaigue, Stéphane Rouault, Francis Ntamack et Cedric Debrosse) chose to support Serge Betsen Academy and Rugby French Flair associations.

We enjoy the visibility offered by this event, during all this crazy week! One week allowing all these Veterans to get together over the oval ball and to share other activities with the public, especially the kids. They even walked on the water!

For more information about the Summer version of the 6 Stations Tournament, take a look at photos and videos on Facebook … Seeing is believing!

Unfortunately, the crowdfunding platform did not work as we expect. But we will be back for the Winter version with new ideas to collect funds and support our projects.

Event: 10 km Race, Great Newham, London

July 3, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

On July 2^nd, 10 brave athletes meet the double challenge of running the 10 km of the Great Newham London Run and collect more than £ 1800 for the SBA Cooperative.

Thanks to all the athletes and friends of Renault UK, Victoria Oil and Serge Betsen Academy, who had the honour to finish the race in the iconic Queen Elisabeth Olympic Park.

Congrats !

Thanks for the £ 1800 collected for the creation of our cooperative, the SBA Coop.

Event: L’Assiette d’Or, Château de Janvry, June 2017

June 21, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

Following our encounter of André Gréjon at the diner “Enfance et Ovalie III” at Issy-les-Moulineaux, and also at Rungis on January 31^st, he proposed us to be one of the associations benefiting from the 2017 edition of “L’Assiette d’Or”, together with our friends of Kampuchea Balopp.

“L’Assiette d’Or” is an event created in 1995 by Andie’s Factory, bringing all the Chefs together for a very busy day.

All the guests come to relax and enjoy this day in the country side.

“L’Assiette d’Or” gathers more than 500 cooking professionals each year.

Guests and partners compete for “L’Assiette d’Or”, shooting on clay targets at the Ball-Trap in the shooting area set up for the occasion.

The Castle of Janvry (France – 91) and its wide estate offer privileged places for setting up the Exibitors’ Village and the Flavours’ Village in a beautiful environment.

Thanks to this great event, the Kampuchea Balopp and Serge Betsen Academy associations could collect more than 3.600 € (1.800 € each). This will allow to support the organisation of the SBA kids’ parties.

Many thanks to SBA Ambassadors Stéphane Rouault and Vincent Deniau, who supported Jenna, the representative of the association.

Huge thanks to Andréa and André Gréjon for the invitation and the organisation !

Event : Beach Rugby, La Grande Motte, June 2017

June 12, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

June 10th was the day of the traditional Beach Rugby of La Grande Motte, organised by SBA’s friend Philippe Herranz.

This year, Serge Betsen Academy has been honoured to be the association which benefited from this event.

A dedicated SBA team was created on purpose. And what a team !

Serge Betsen, Martin Devergie, Sébastien Kuzbik, David Genot, William Accambray, Philippe Herranz, Didier Chouchan and Yannick Saladié

On the pitch, Cadet (youth), Women and Senior teams have succeeded one to another. The SBA team gave its all but lost the quarterfinal.

A 3.000 € donation has been offered by the organising team to support our projects, especially the organisation of the second SBA inter-centres tournament in 2018.

200 Classic All Blacks t-shirts have been offered in addition. They will be sent to Cameroon in the next coming months.

Thank you very much for your support !

More photos available here !!!

Event : London Marathon, Nico and Manu supported the SBA

April 23, 2017/in Events, News/by Mailys Finel

You followed their training through our social media sources. Today they have completed the race and we are very proud that these finishers wore the SBA colours. 2h43 for Nicolas and 3h55 for Emmanuel, both beating their personal scores!

Along with these results, they were able to raise more than 3600£, which has covered the costs to purchase the medical equipment necessary for the dispensary and to finance the prevention campaigns of 2017. With this we can ensure the medical follow-up of children and their families with visits to a doctor and midwife 2 times per week at our L’Eau Clair centre for an additional 6 months.

Again, bravo gentlemen and thank you!

Cameroon : Inauguration of the new site for Centre Eau Claire, April 2017

April 22, 2017/in Actions, Events, News/by Mailys Finel

You have followed along as we bought the land in February 2016 and then as the centre and Philippe’s artist studio were built.

We had the pleasure of inaugurating L’Eau Claire’s new location this past April 22^nd. As you remember, construction began in November 2016. Thanks to Annick, an architect from Yaoundé, this work was realized in less than 6 months!

Thank you!

The 255m² centre is made up of 1 medical dispensary, 1 bedroom, 1 water closet, 3 classrooms, and 1 kitchen. We can now welcome up to 130 children for educational activities.

This project, which represents an investment of 92 785 €, is thanks to our generous partners:

The station of Val Thorens
The WASPS Legends Charitable Foundation
The WASPS Academy
Victoria Oil & Gas
Two French senators established outside of France
Local Cameroonian donors
And everyone who participated in our diner on October 8, 2015 in London

Thanks to this support, this project became a reality! Let us not forget our loyal godparents, without whom we would not be here today.

Since June 2012, 8000€ (integrated in the overall amount of this investment) was collected for Philippe, thanks to the initiative of Martin and his classmates, who organized classical music concerts in London.

This little annex building will be used by Philippe, as soon as he has finished his training to create objects out of bamboo and beads. He will come here to work on his pieces and then store them until they are ready to be sold.

April 22^nd was a wonderful occasion to gather the traditional and official authorities, public and private sectors, around a beautiful inauguration ceremony for one of the biggest Serge Betsen Academy projects.

Here are some pictures of this beautiful day of celebration:

The children thanked us, traditional Benskin dances from this Bamiléké region in Western Cameroon were presented, and speeches by official and traditional leaders were offered before Serge Betsen cut the inaugural ribbon. He then toured the new facility for the first time.

Serge received an enormous amount of presents for his local actions and achievements, in particular this traditional dress. The representatives from Bangangté presented it to him as a form of high recognition on behalf of the local inhabitants.

A hand outstretched to childhood!