Castres nautical sports organizes the French Paranation Championships adapted for young people on Wednesday and Thursday in the Archipelago. The club and the Tarn will be represented by Kilian.
Castres Sports Nautiques and the Departmental Committee of Tarn for Adapted Sport organize, in collaboration with the City of Castres and the Agglomeration Community of Castres Mazamet, the French Para-swimming Adapted Youth Championships (-21 years old). This national competition will take place this Wednesday all day and Thursday morning at the Archipelago swimming pool and will bring together more than a hundred competitors from all over France.
On these lands, Castres Sports Nautiques will be represented by Kilian Desjardins, 16, who has every chance of winning a medal as Marine Salvignol and Marie-Cécile Pirola were able to do during these same championships organized in 2018 by the CSN. It is also because the organization had been perfect that the Castres club was offered to host these French championships again which had not been able to take place since because of the health crisis.
It is therefore an important meeting for the CSN and in particular its adapted sports section which has around ten swimmers with mental or mental disabilities. Kilian is the youngest and the only one able to compete in this competition reserved for swimmers over 14 and under 21. And it is also the only representative of the Tarn!
“I’ll do my best”
The young man, in 3rd Ulis (Localized School Inclusion Units) at Jean-Monnet College, who suffers from autistic disorders, started swimming at the age of 4. And since he seemed comfortable in the water, his parents registered him with the CSN 2 years ago. “We immediately detected his potential, he has a good glide and he likes it”, confides the head of the section Philippe Baron who can count on Alain Garcia the coach and a few other members of the club like “grandpa” Gilou, Aurélie, Edith or even Perrine to supervise the training sessions of this adapted sport section for 2 hours every Saturday morning. They swim about 3 kilometers per workout”. Kilian is registered in three disciplines for these French championships: the 50m freestyle, the 50m breaststroke style and the 100m backstroke style. “These are his first French championships but has already participated in two regional competitions, continues Philippe Baron, who is pinning a lot of hope on the young swimmer who has the ability to win a gold medal in one of his three races. If he gets a first place, we can take him for the senior French championships which take place in May in Vichy with the other swimmers in the section who are already all selected.
In the meantime Kilian approaches this competition with a little stress but a lot of excitement. “I will do my best,” says the young swimmer.
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