Moroccan-Born Coach Messaoud Settati Honored for Decades of Shaping French Athletes

Messaoud Settati is known on the French sports scene, especially in Agen. He starts basketball, which he discovers at the Madrid train station. "I started in Laroque-Timbaut where there were young people playing on the town hall square. One day when I was sitting on a bench watching them, they invited me to join them," he tells Sud Ouest. Shortly after, he turns to other disciplines. He does judo in Villeneuve/Lot. A discipline that did not conquer his heart. Later, he is interested in running. "So I was directed to the AS Caoulet/Foulayronnes athletics club." The native of Meknes finally finds his way. He takes out his license during the season.

His first cross-country race took place in Cahors. "I came across a French soldier who came from Casablanca. We ran together, he finished first and I finished second. So the club asked me to do a 3,000 meters for the interclubs in Aire-sur-l’Adour at the end of May. It was a big unknown for me. Very quickly, the second in the race lapped me." This first experience will launch his athletic career. Messaoud aims high. His desire to share, to give to the young people leads him to Bordeaux, where he passes his 1st degree coach. He will pass the 2nd degree in Toulouse. "And I started coaching at SU Agen in 1982."

40 years later, the one who joined France at the age of 18 has made a name for himself on the French sports scene. With his method based as much on technique as on the human being, he has become a talent maker. The middle distance specialist is successful. In 2012, his athletes Benjamin Malaty and Djelali Bedrani were respectively crowned seniors and juniors at the French cross-country championships in La Roche-sur-Yon. The one who is now licensed to the Nérac club received on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 a "Sud Ouest" sports Oscar in La Rochelle.