Our adventurers
The people we introduce you below all have in common to be part of the big badminton family in general and Solibad in particular. By their generosity and solidarity towards the Association. Through challenges, adventures, or original ways of life, they have made Solibad known in France and around the world, and have contributed, in their own way, to the development of our projects on site.
Maxime – Our Bernard Hinault
Maxime François is a young man from Picardie (region north of Paris) who was the first to join the Solibad adventure with a crazy idea - to do the "Tour de France" of Badminton Clubs in the summer of 2013.
As it was during the famous Cycling race, he called it the "other Tour de France". More than 3000 kms spent alone on his bike, defying the wind, the mountains, the rain or the heat, to go and carry our message out and get the clubs to sign the "Solibad Charter". They all got mobilized in an extraordinary way to welcome our ambassador.
22 clubs signed our charter following Maxime's visit and many donations were generated by his presence and his incredible physical prowess - a badminton player in the French top 50, Maxime used to bike only for his leisure. Our friend Joran Love joined him the following year for "24h of cycling for Solibad", an incredible duo performance, where Maxime and Joran took turns night and day to promote our actions on their training bikes, based in Boulogne Billancourt.
Clem' – "Coeur lanta"
Clementine Julien is well known to Koh Lanta fans - she was a finalist a few years ago in that famous reality show on TV. Incredible strong minded woman, she also has a very big heart. She chose to support Solibad during a trip around the world that she made with two friends and her brother in 2018. Not only did she wear our colors in the most incongruous places, but she also made a memorable visit to our Indonesian program, with strong friendships that were created.
Fred – "Adventurer on trotinette"
Frédéric Benoist is an extraordinary adventurer who has travelled the world on his competition trotting machine. A former member of the Bry Badminton club - home of Solibad - he naturally offered to wear our colours on one of his trips - the crossing of the United States in 2016. This adventure, which proved to be too dangerous with trucks putting his life in danger, had to be stopped after a few weeks, but there is no doubt that Frédéric will go back out there with the rainbow colours on his back to promote our actions.
Geraldine - The committed cyclist
Géraldine Lam is an incredible Australian, a skilled cyclist and involved in many charity causes, particularly in Laos, where she has been volunteering for several years as a shelter volunteer for young women who have been victims of violence and human trafficking. It was quite naturally that she offered to join her to help this shelter in Vientiane, which has become one of Solibad's recurring programmes. In 2017, Geraldine wanted to highlight this action by crossing Asia, from Singapore to Istanbul by bike. An incredible adventure.
Luc - "Hakuna Matata"
Luc Bayetto is one of those modern adventurers. In 2017, he planned to travel around the world by car, with his tent and kayak on the roof. As a badminton player in the region of Savoie (French alps), it is quite natural that he proposes to Solibad to wear our colours on his route. Unfortunately, this one will end a few weeks after his departure, after big difficulties encountered in Russia. But we are grateful to him for having thus wished to associate us to his adventure and we know that he will leave again very quickly on the roads.
