Blue caps decorated with the number 61, in reference to the Orne department, and large Norman flags printed with two golden felines on a red background on their heads, the cheerful troop does not go unnoticed in the arrivals hall of the Montparnasse station in Paris. Tuesday 3 September. Twenty-seven pupils from CM1 and CM2, accompanied by six members of the teaching staff of the Notre-Dame Saint-Louis school in Briouze, are visiting the capital to attend the Paralympic Games blind football tournament at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
And they are not the only ones. During this back-to-school week, the stands at the competition venues were filled with schoolchildren from all over France. More than 190,000 tickets were distributed by the State to classes from CM1 to 12th grade as part of the My Class at the Games programme.“It is the biggest school trip ever organized”says Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, resigned Sports Minister.
At the Montparnasse station, from the metro entrance, the Norman group is greeted by a wave of RATP officers, dressed in purple vests. During the previous school year, these children worked at the Olympic Games and were made aware of the issue of disability. They also met table tennis player Emeric Martin, who was captain of the French delegation in Beijing in 2008. “It is an important educational message: you can turn your disability into a strength”insists Aline Letertre, director of the establishment that received the Generation 2024 seal. Attend a Paralympic event in the heart of Paris, “it’s a great goal”she believes.
Wake up at 4:30 am
For many students, this excursion also marks their first visit to the capital. In front of the Eiffel Tower, shrouded in fog on this grey and rainy day, one of the students exclaims in amazement: “It touches the clouds, it’s like Mont Saint-Michel.” And the opportunity to play tourist does not end there: after the morning session of blindfold football, the group walks through several emblematic streets of the capital to the Tuileries Gardens, where they have booked tickets to admire the cauldron. Before returning to the station at the end of the day. Although they benefited from reduced fares from SNCF and Ile-de-France Mobilités for the trip, food and accommodation were not covered.
To avoid spending the night in Paris, a group of Corsicans who also attended the football session for the blind even made the return trip by plane during the day. “Economically it was not possible” stay for several days, explains Nathalie Vitali, a physical education and sports teacher at the Baleone school in Sarrola-Carcopino, near Ajaccio, who accompanies the thirty students “the most deserving of the sports association of the establishment”. Get up early – at least at 4:30 am – “it’s worth it”says 12-year-old Elouane. The teenager, who plays volleyball, shares her joy at being at the scene of the competitions she followed on television during the Olympic Games.
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