The club’s finances are fragile. Even buying a trailer for 2,500 euros, to replace the one that was stolen in December 2022, was not possible. “It is an essential tool for transporting competition wheelchairs”, explains the president of Euskal Taldea, which plays in N3 of the French wheelchair basketball championship.
Close ties
A friend of the club took the initiative to launch a crowdfunding kitty on the crowdfunding platform leetchi, with the objective of obtaining the 2,500 euros necessary for the acquisition of a new trailer.
In less than two weeks, the sum was reached. “Among the first donors, underlines Nicolas Bachoffer, there were the players and the players themselves. Everyone felt concerned. This flight, very unpleasant, had the effect of strongly strengthening the ties between us. We said to ourselves that we had to believe in what we were doing and that it was worth it to continue despite the difficulties. »
Nicolas Bachoffer also remembers this gardener and this mechanic who both offered to lend their trailer to the club, while he finds a solution. “We did not need to resort to their kindness, but the gesture touched us”, continues the president of Handisport Pays basque, “For trips at the end of the year, we were able to benefit from a minibus ACBB (Anglet Côte basque basket) for a trip. For the other, we rented a vehicle. Thanks to the kitty, we were able to order a new trailer. It will arrive at the beginning of February. We should have him for our first trip to Toulouse on February 4. »
Sporting ambitions
For the resumption of its championship, Euskal taldea will receive Puy en Velay, on January 21, in El Hogar. “This flight has really remotivated us and we intend to play for the first places in N3 this year, continues Nicolas Bachoffer. We have a few assets to achieve this, in particular our captain Éric Coussau, Pette Noblia and François Xavier Ribak, all three of whom played for the France team. Our squad is thirteen players, including three girls, who come from all over the Basque Country and don’t back down, even when the weather is bad, to come and train. »
