An integral part of any mega games is its integration with the city and its public. On the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, a colleague and I had made a trip to Parc Monceau, one of the fan parks set up for the Games. This was on the day of the high alert and high security. The entire city of Paris was on the edge with the police swarming the streets, which were otherwise pretty deserted.
Parisians had possibly retreated indoors, or as some indicated, might have gone away that weekend. Train services were disrupted and we had trudged across to Parc Monteau from the Hyatt. But once there, it had felt like the entire strain that hung over the city ahead of the opening ceremony left us and we were in a happy space. Table tennis boards, a tennis zone, a gym area for children and the rest of it for relaxing and watching the opening ceremony on a giant screen.
Everyone played with everyone else, even if they didn’t follow each other’s language. I was helped with some TT techniques by a gentleman who said he lived in the neighbourhood. He spoke a bit of English and I spoke a bit of French, and he in turn introduced me to the president of the local ping pong association, as they called table tennis. People seem to know each other, and indeed neighbourly activities and get-togethers of that weekend seemed to have moved from back gardens and backyards into the fan park.
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Though, of course, people had come from way beyond as well, Parisians who did not have access to the opening ceremony tickets joined the spirit of the Games at these venues, like Parc Monceau or the Terrace des Jeux, a giant fan park created on the grounds in front of the city hall of Paris. And as one respondent told me, it was so less complicated and more enjoyable to be in the fan park and watch everything on TV, away from the security at the venue. I couldn’t have agreed more.
Come Paralympics, I will return again to Parc Monceau and the other fan zones. Parc Monceau will have a workshop on wheelchair table tennis for those wishing to know more about the discipline. And both able-bodied and para ping pong will be played here by fans during the Paralympics. At different fan venues para table tennis, para handball, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, para handball, sitting volleyball, wheelchair rugby and blind football will be played. Introduction to para taekwondo will also be done at Parc Monceau.
In the Grange-aux-Belles sports field, those interested will be initiated into blind soccer, with a mask over their eyes. As the promotional material says: “From getting to grips with the pitch to passing to your team-mate, all your senses will be awakened in this discipline designed for blind people.” Para tennis enthusiasts will be bound to their seats to try their hand. And in all of this, the endeavour is to generate a greater sensitivity and interest for the para games and its disciplines.
With children of all ages and their parents, and other young people participating, the spirit of the para games will spread through happiness and fun, through the involvement and cohesion of everybody, able-bodied and disabled.
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