SSAA took step ahead towards success by Winning the Fair Play trophy at the recently concluded PO Paris tournament 2009 - Didier Pers Trophy. SSAA was represented by its promising U 12 team.

To give a brief history of this tournament, it was established in 1979, the tournament PO has always had an international vocation.  For nearly 30 years, Italian, Spanish, German, Belgian, English, Dutch, Austrian, but also American, Canadian, Brazilian, Chilean, Peruvian, Uganda,. French. Didier Pers trophy was named officially in the memory of a friend who worked sincerely towards the success of this tourney.

The Steadfast squad left in the wee hours of 18 th June ‘ 09, under the tutorage of its official coach Mr. Daigo Fernandes, an ex Mahindras player . The PO organizers were there to receive the squad at the state of the art Charles De Gaulle international  airport. The hospitality of the community was unsurpassed and every minute detail and care was taken to make the children comfortable during their one week long stay. The children were treated to some sumptuous breakfast, lunch and dinner during their Paris sojourn.

Before the main business of the tournament started the children soaked in the sights and sounds of Paris, in the first few days. They did Seine river cruise. Many of Paris most famous monuments are on the Seine river banks, including Notre-Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel tower. The Seine is lined with beautiful quays and crossed by many old bridges. You will specially notice the oldest one, the Pont-Neuf, built in 1607, and the romantic pedestrian Passerelle des Arts. The children enjoyed every minute of this scenic cruise which obviously is a huge tourist attraction. They also visited Eiffel towers The tower is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris.

The most sought after attraction was the Euro Disney park and the children couldn’t wait to to enter this amusement park and after a full days excursion they still hadn’t got enough of the various fantasy lands, endless joy rides not to mention the innumerable Disney characters that they kept bumping into for their autographs and photographs. It was a truly memorable day not only for the children but adults alike.

With all the fun and frolic behind them it was down to some serious business of playing football. The tournament was a great exposure, high on individual skills and team play. The fine playing condition and face off with international team was reveleation of the level of game. The taste of the competition started from first game, SSAA team losing a well contested game by a solitary goal. The tournament was a bag of mixed result, but finished the tournament on a winning note, claiming the Fairplay trophy.

The other highlight of this trip was a visit to Stade de France. The Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 80,000, the French football team also uses the stadium for almost every home game, and it was there where they defeated Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final. The children were truly fascinated by this intimidating arena and were absolutely thrilled to get a chance to visit the player’s dressing room and check out the other infrastructure, As if this was not enough they actually got a chance to step on the hallowed turf and compete in a friendly game of futsal. It brought an end to yet another exciting day in Paris.

The last day of their stay was reserved for a visit to Clairefontaine, training center. Clairefontaine is the national association football centre and is one of the nine elite academies of France; only the best players from the country train there. Located 50 km southwest of Paris, Clairefontaine is arguably the finest football academy in the world. It has a high reputation of producing some of the world's most gifted players, including the likes of Frenchmen Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas and Thierry Henry.

The day at Clairefontaine was an absolute eye opener not only for the children but the coaches alike. "We have never seen infrastructure of this kind and magnitude back in India. And this is exactly what we need if we have to excel on the international stage" was the unnanimous reaction. Many children are going to be tempted to be back and be part of this phenomenon training center of excellence.

It was a fascinating stay in Paris and the week had passed by in a blink of an eye. It was time to bid goodbyes to the families who had extended their hospitality and the organizers who had put together a brilliant tournament. Au revoir Paris, we’ll be back again next year.