Siel Bleu: physical activity for everyone, whatever your age

Jean-Daniel MULLER et Jean-Michel RICARD

Co-founders of Siel Bleu

Adapted physical activity

France Active has been supporting us for many years, helping us to successfully carry out our numerous projects.

Siel Bleu: physical activity for everyone, whatever your age

Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin)

Adapted physical activity

Founded nearly 30 years ago in Strasbourg by two young graduates in physical education, Siel Bleu continues to grow. What is the association’s aim? To promote physical activity to prevent or reduce the effects of ageing and to rebuild social ties. It now carries out more than 500,000 sessions a year in France and employs around 870 people. Its growth extends beyond the French borders to Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Madagascar, Germany and Portugal.

At the beginning, Siel Bleu came out from an idea conceived by two physical education students who recognised the benefits of physical exercise in preventing the effects of ageing at a very early stage: “During an internship with elderly people, we developed a programme tailored to this group. At the end of the internship, they told us we shouldn’t let them down now that we were on the right track. That’s how Siel Bleu came about. We realised that physical activity also had psychological benefits. It brought a smile back to their faces, and it was by preserving these benefits that we wanted to develop all our programmes,” explains Jean-Daniel Muller. And it has been going strong for nearly 30 years.

Thanks to the word of mouth, the association grew very quickly: “We were receiving requests from other departments that we were unable to meet. From the second year onwards, we applied for a Local Support Scheme (DLA) to help us organise the association’s growth,” he adds.

Today, Siel Bleu offers adapted physical activity within care homes (nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, ESATs, independent living facilities) as well as group classes in gyms, community halls or outdoor for members of the association. Over the past six years, the association has been developing its own Health-Sport centres in Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Angers. Physical activity is at the heart of these centres. They are genuine community spaces, with general practitioners, psychologists and micro-nurseries complementing the services offered.

Siel Bleu supports its beneficiaries with health issues in the broadest sense, as defined by the WHO, encompassing physical, mental and environmental health. The association also offers its beneficiaries advice on nutrition.

A fundraising campaign to finance seven development projects

To finance several development projects, a major fundraising campaign for membership shares has been launched in early 2023.

The objective was to finance no fewer than seven key projects:

One of these focuses on sustainable transport to encourage as many people as possible to cycle or walk instead of driving.
Siel Bleu is also working to train healthcare professionals and care assistants in supporting vulnerable people through non-pharmacological solutions (initial and continuing training) to address the shortage of trained staff and the lack of prescriptions for adapted physical activity, against a backdrop of an ageing population.
The association also aims to digitalize its activities to expand its services and reach people who are too isolated or who are unable to access local support. Siel Bleu will develop a platform offering dedicated activities. To this end, the association has acquired a start-up that already offers remote physical activity programmes. Siel Bleu will develop programmes tailored to specific medical conditions via video conferencing or through adapted videos, using the technology developed by this start-up.
The development of the Maisons Bleues is also on the agenda. These will be community spaces providing access to preventive healthcare and fostering social connections (sports and health centres, third places, independent living facilities).
Siel Bleu is expanding internationally. To support all its projects, the association aims to establish a federation with a single objective: to reach an ever-increasing number of beneficiaries.
Finally, it will develop new therapeutic activities. Every year, the association launches a new programme to address a specific need. The most recent one focused on endometriosis. It was developed in collaboration with specialists and is available throughout France and worldwide.

To help carry on these development projects, France Active has been supporting the association for years, notably through a PIA (Plan d’Investissement d’Avenir), a government initiative providing funding for specific projects. France Active also offers the association advice.

Any advice for an entrepreneur just starting out?

To fully commit to the project if you believe in it: there are always difficult moments, but you must persevere.
To know how to surround yourself with the right people: having two of us from the start was crucial, and we were very quickly well supported.
Surround yourself with partners who can help you build the project with a fresh perspective, different skills, and ask the right questions: sometimes the idea is good but doesn’t resonate with the audience. You need to put your project to the test and not hesitate to go out and knock on doors.