Meet the Pen Pals - Part II

So...you have met some of the Cameroonian youth who are participating in CFDP's Premier Pen Pal Program (See Blog Post Below). It's imoprtant to learn more about the players from FSS Salaberry - the soccer club in Montreal - who are partnering with these boys and girls for this fantastic cultural exchange.

The senior players representing FSS Salaberry will spend two weeks in July in Cameroon. They will stay in Kumba as their home base, play LOTS of soccer, travel to a few other cities and suburbs in the Southwest Region, and spend some quality time with their Pen Pals. Did we mention they have organized for an ENTIRE SHIPPING CONTAINER to be filled with donated soccer equipment ?!?! Contributions ranging from soccer balls to entire team sets of jerseys have been donated from people across the North American Continent - from Montreal to Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh to Minneapolis!! But I digress...

Working closely with their WONDERFUL coach, we have been able to match the Pen Pals according to their interests.

For example, Isabelle (medical student in Montrael ) is connected to Kelda (see below :0).

Nadine (Montreal) and Tambe (Cameroon) have a few things in common besides soccer. For example,they are both African!! Nadine is half-Egyptian!!

Gaëlle (Montreal) and Janet (Cameroon) both love MUSIC!!! They will have no trouble enjoying the beautiful sounds of Makossa, of Cameroon, and Coupé Décalé, of Côte d'Ivoire.

The Pen Pals have been Introduced. The FSS players have written their first letters and the Cameroonian youth are forming their responses now!

Samuel Eto'o named African Footballer of the Year!!!!!!

Samuel Eto’o, the face of soccer in Africa, was named the continent’s player of the year Monday, the fourth time the Cameroon forward has won the award.

Eto’o beat out Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast and Asamoah Gyan of Ghana for the award voted on by the coaches and captains of all 53 African national teams.

This year was the biggest in African soccer history, and it began with Eto’o and Drogba competing to be the face of the game on the continent. Both strikers led their teams in the African Cup of Nations in Angola in January. Eto’o set an African Cup scoring record and Drogba’s panache garnered much of the attention, but neither Cameroon, eliminated by Nigeria, nor Ivory Coast, knocked out by Algeria, made it past the quarterfinal. Gyan, the third finalist for the 2010 award, led Ghana to the final, where the Black Stars finished second to Egypt.

Eto’o was the model for the 2010 World Cup poster, which was based on the player’s distinct profile. He has won the European Champions League with Barcelona and Inter Milan, and just the other day hoisted the Club World Cup trophy after a goal and an assist in the final in Abu Dhabi.

-NY Times