Up Sport! | Paris, FR

Words by Karen Edwards. Photography by Anne-Sophie Soudoplatoff.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Karine Roussier understands the value of sport in maintaining physical and mental health. After many years living and working abroad, she returned to Paris to bring up a young family. There, she noticed the opportunity to foster more support for inclusive community sports. In 2016, Karine founded Up Sport! Her mission? To create a facility where people, who are disconnected from sport due to social, cultural and financial reasons, can access community and activities. Eight years on, Up Sport! coaches around 300 people a year in a range of sports from soccer to hockey. Here, the Up Sport! founder and managing director, joins project manager, Adrien Dupont, to share the story of this empowering Parisian charity.

Karine Roussier: I’m a strong believer that everyone deserves a chance at life. The Up Sport! membership program helps people to feel as though they belong to a club. We provide running, walking, cycling, soccer, grass hockey, kickboxing, yoga and more. Different options help people to find their energy, confidence and develop a desire for social contact through sport.

KR: Up Sport! has humble beginnings. I founded the program by coaching a small group of women from a local residential centre who were undergoing treatment for psychological issues. We’d go on runs in the neighborhood, which helped the group to find a mental health balance alongside their treatment. As an increasing number of residential centres asked if we could create run groups with them, Up Sport! grew by word of mouth. Today, we practise our many activities in public spaces or rent sports centres from the Paris Town Hall.

Karine Roussier

KR: People with cultural, social or economic issues are often removed from sport, and isolated from the community. Sport is an important way to reconnect them. When you register as a member, you can choose whichever sports you’re interested in. People who can afford to join, pay a fee for their membership which supports our work. Those who aren’t able to do this financially, don’t pay anything. Our volunteer coaches come from various local sport groups. 

KR: The diversity of our members, team and sports is what makes Up Sport! different from other sporting charities. Society is diverse and we want to mirror that. We are as diverse as our community. We have team members from Morocco, the Caribbean, and someone from Ghana who arrived in France as a refugee. We welcome members as they are – not with a label on them. We find this provides a safe environment for everyone to be themselves.

Adrien Dupont: We believe that every human deserves opportunity. Some of our members are refugees or migrants. When they arrive, often by boat across the Mediterranean, they don’t have identity papers – which means they cannot work or open bank accounts. We welcome them while they wait for their papers. By playing sports with us, we see them gain confidence, make friends and find a community. In due course, this can help them to study or apply for jobs. Some stay as volunteers once they settle, to coach our sports sessions.

KR: Swimming is a particularly important sport for our refugee community. Often, refugees and migrants have an enormous fear of water, as they often cross the Mediterranean Sea without being able to swim. Once they learn to swim, we see them overcome that fear – and master a skill that they never imagined they would have.

AD: Sport also teaches people life skills. On the soccer field, for example, members are encouraged to master their emotions. It is easy to be caught up in the excitement, especially if something unfair happens or there are rules to adhere to. We all learn to communicate and get ideas across successfully, without being confrontational. Our members also learn to break down the boundaries they have created for themselves and build confidence and resilience.

Adrien Dupont at centre

KT: Up Sport! activities are mixed gender, for people aged 16 to 70 onwards. Our oldest member is 77-years-old. It’s wonderful that no one notices the age differences, only how everyone connects. Sometimes, we hold women-only activities when a particular sport might be unrepresented in female circles. More recently, we’ve offered hockey to young people in northern Paris – an underprivileged area – to raise awareness about gender equality. We see a lot of seven to 13-year-olds, who are thrilled to play every week.

K: Our partnership with On gives us a visibility that we didn’t have before. It also gives us the financial security to develop our projects, so we can offer even more sports. Wearing On gear is also a badge of honour for our members. At the moment, sport is bringing more people together through International sporting competitions and encouraging investment from the government and public sectors. I hope that camaraderie and support will remain beyond the world stage in 2024.

Through Right To Run partnership support, Up Sport! is receiving funds to expand its sports activities and facilities for the greater Parisian community. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit Up Sport!