Hospitality is the spirit. Preparation is the organisation.
”A successful welcome begins well before the young person's arrival.
Welcoming an OSE ambassador is not simply a matter of preparing a room, a timetable or a place on a team.
It means preparing a community to receive a person with their own history, culture, habits, expectations and particular way of being in the world.
Hospitality is the art of making room for someone until they are able to fully take their place for themselves.
Before their arrival, everyone must understand that the young person being welcomed will be neither a simple visitor, nor a foreign club member, nor the passive beneficiary of a scheme.
They will be an ambassador entrusted to an entire community.
For an ambassador to be able to flourish, four realities must gradually come into alignment around them:
The person always remains at the centre.
A young person does not become an ambassador through personal qualities alone. They come into their own through the meeting between who they are and the environment offered to them.
This is therefore not a matter of mechanically solving an equation. It is a matter of seeking the best possible fit between a unique individual, a family, a club, a scheme and a culture.
Success does not depend on the excellence of any single element. It arises from their harmony.
The family does not simply receive a young person into their home. They welcome them into their pace of life, their habits, their relationships and their daily intimacy.
The club does not simply receive a new player. It welcomes an ambassador entrusted to it by another club and by another OSE Country.
The educational plan, sporting activity and daily life must be able to fit together simply.
The welcome must never rest on a single person or on the family alone. Everyone knows who to turn to and understands that the welcome will need to be adjusted to the person actually met.
Preparing a room is not enough.
It is also necessary to prepare:
One can never fully prepare for the arrival of a human being. What can be prepared are the conditions that will allow the encounter to take place.
If the answer to an essential point is “NO”, it is best to take the time needed before the young person's arrival.
Time spent preparing the welcome is always an investment in the success of the exchange.
Hospitality is not a scheme. To welcome is, above all, to open the door of the heart.
A sheet is not meant to be read. It is meant to be lived. Take the time to talk it over before deciding.