Two people from Rennes have launched an app to find sports partners, activities and fields in their city. With the Covid-19 crisis, the practice of sport has been turned upside down, with the closure of sports halls and the suspension of all club activities.
However, the French are not turning their backs on sport: 74% want to resume physical activity this autumn, according to an Ipsos survey commissioned by the French Federation of Physical Education and Voluntary Gymnastics.
While the majority (58%) are planning to take part on their own, mainly for fear of contracting the virus, 31% of those surveyed prefer to do sport with others.
In this context, a mobile application launched by two people from Rennes has come at just the right time to help them find partners and motivate themselves.
Called Practice, it brings together amateur sportsmen and women who share the same passion and the desire to practice together in their town.
“The idea behind the app is to find sports fields close to home and make it easier to organize sporting events,” explains Jérémy Toudic, one of the app’s two designers. Over 150 sports listed With a simple click, users can propose an outdoor soccer tournament, a game of pétanque or a bike ride to the community.
“It’s a great way of finding good training partners, or finding replacements in the event of last-minute cancellations,” says the young man.
The spectrum of activities is broad, with over 150 sports listed on the app.
These include, of course, the most popular sports such as basketball, tennis and running.
But also more unusual activities like Harry Potter’s beloved quidditch or Mölkky.
“We even added bridge at the request of one of our users,” smiles Jérémy. Already 2,500 users in Brittany Launched on the sly just before the start of the epidemic, the application already has 2,500 users, mainly in Brittany.
But the two designers, who recently bought the envie2courir.fr website, are already thinking bigger, and aim to conquer new territories by the end of the year.
As a result, they have made initial contacts with sports facility owners to increase their visibility and boost their occupancy rates.
“Eventually, we’d like users to be able to book their pitch directly from the app,” says Jérémy Toudic, determined to get everyone back into the sport this autumn.