The enthusiasm for these courses is such that in the coming years, sport-studies could become one of the most popular courses. Provided that recruitment and infrastructure follow.
In the heart of the Ain Sebaâ district in Casablanca, the students of the Sports High School find their favorite sport every day at the start of the afternoon. Football, mini-football, basketball, volleyball, judo or taekwondo: no less than nine sports disciplines are taught there. And it’s not the space that’s missing. Spread over an area of 6 hectares, the sports establishment has an integrated infrastructure with fields, a covered room, a swimming pool, athletics tracks, a physiotherapy room, in addition to a restaurant and a boarding school for boys and girls. “We could even consider a cycling track in the future. We are precisely in discussion with the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation to integrate this discipline into our establishment,” says Mohamed El Mahboubi, director of the Ain Sebaâ sports high school.
A place steeped in history, since it was in turn a former orphanage in the 1920s then a training center for physical education executives in the 1980s, before experiencing a new destiny and being one of the very first establishments, with that of Tangier, to integrate the Sport-studies sector in Morocco in 2018.
“Currently, 194 students follow their academic and sports education diligently. We want to offer talented young people all the conditions to strengthen their sporting skills, develop their physical abilities and acquire the necessary scientific, linguistic and cultural knowledge, from the 1st year of college to the last year of the baccalaureate”, continues the director.
Strengthen your body… and your brain
Among these students, Yasmine Salhi, a young schoolgirl, finds the tatami every day to train in judo. “It is a sport that I have been practicing since I was 7 years old and thanks to the sport-studies sector, today I have the opportunity to live my passion and why not become a champion in this field”, she hopes. .
For his part, Youssef Elbouinany, 2nd year baccalaureate, is one of the young talents of the school in the volleyball section. “We have to participate in national and African school competitions. These are often challenges that you have to know how to learn to manage, ”says the young teenager, who joined the national team of U17s in his discipline.
If these students learn rigor from the first years of study, it is because they are faced with multiple demands and sometimes overloaded schedules. Their day starts early in the morning to follow their lessons from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. The troops join the refectory for lunch before starting
afternoon training from 3:30 p.m. “Generally, they must observe a good break between the two periods, the time to digest before starting any sporting activity. Especially since they are followed in terms of food and diet to avoid disappointment, ”warns the director.
Training then begins in the afternoon for the various disciplines exercised within the school or outside in the grounds of the partner clubs when the establishment does not have them. “This is the case for tennis where we have a partnership with the club La Noria de Mohammedia. We have two future champions who train there every day,” says El Mahboubi. From 7:30 p.m., the students have dinner and go to the classrooms for study sessions before heading to the dormitories at 10 p.m.
High school girls champions of Africa!
Similarly, these future budding champions are also called upon to participate in national and international competitions according to the calendars of the various federations but also continental ones. For example, the women’s football section of the Omar Ibn Khatab high school in Rabat won the title of African champion in school sports last year. This year, she will represent North Africa at the African School Championship in Tanzania. “Given the various competitions, absent students are required to benefit from support lessons or even send them audiovisual lessons by Whatsapp”, notes the director.
The efforts made in training are also rewarded by the increase in the coefficient of the material called “sports training” in the continuous controls which can reach up to 30%. “The sport coefficient is 4 for middle school and 12 for high school,” says El Mahboubi.
On the option side, students in the sector obtain a baccalaureate either in natural sciences, or in economics-management, or in human sciences. The AREFs (regional education and training academies) can open classes for other baccalaureates if there is a demand. This device makes it possible to broaden the choice of students to pursue their higher education in other sectors other than those oriented towards sport.
Opportunities are not left out. The sports sector can guarantee output by directing sports students towards national or international establishments with a sports vocation or non-sporting establishments (medicine, engineering, management, etc.), depending on the ambitions and abilities of the sports student.
At the national level, the enthusiasm is such that in the coming years, sport-studies could become one of the most popular sectors. To see the current figures, we have gone from a workforce of 267 including 90 girls in 2019 to more than 6,138 including 2,046 girls for the year 2022/23. A figure multiplied by 30 in the space of only 3 years!
And the best is yet to come. In fact, the creation of “sport-study” establishments involved all the regional education and training academies. No less than 88 establishments joined the course this year and the process should be generalized in the future.
Some difficulties remain for the supervision of young people
Partnerships have been signed with sports federations to promote sports training in this sector. It should be noted that 36 federal sports disciplines are represented with a workforce of 2,675 people in football, followed by athletics with 926 beneficiaries.
For Abdesslam Mili, director of the promotion of school sport, under the Ministry of National Education and Sports, “the enthusiasm is strong and, currently, there is a significant demand from students, whatever their cycle of education. education. However, the organization of student schedules in our establishments does not allow young athletes to effectively reconcile their compulsory studies and their sports training. It is clear that our young athletes are forced at some point to make the painful choice between continuing their studies or abandoning them for a tempting, but sometimes ephemeral sports career.
Still, although efforts have been made, some difficulties still persist. For Mili, “federations and clubs still encounter difficulties in recruiting or paying a coach to supervise students during sports training sessions. This situation has resulted in the cessation of training, which is a problem for the establishment, because the students are left to their own devices. There are other difficulties to consider, such as the quality of the food offered to athletes which does not meet dietary requirements, as well as the accommodation which requires renovation and equipment in accordance with international standards. In short, you will have to surpass yourself to reach the finish line…
How to integrate the sport-studies sector
The establishment of “sport-study” courses is part of the framework partnership agreement signed on September 17, 2018 between the Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and scientific research and the Minister of Youth and Sports.
To join the sport-studies course, students must meet three conditions: be affiliated with a federation, a national league or a club affiliated with a federation, have a school average greater than or equal to 12/20 and finally take and pass the test. athlete according to the discipline of the candidate.
Any sports student with a federal license can enroll in sports stream classes from the first year of the secondary education cycle to the baccalaureate.
The list of sports students is presented to the Regional Direction by the federation, the league or the affiliated club and with certificates of authorization from the parents.
During their course, students are supported by their clubs or federations in sports training sessions.
