![\"4ca6cd97](\"https:\/\/static.the562.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4ca6cd97-256c-4859-80ad-90086728f8e1-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis year, the French team won the entire tournament and were crowned back-to-back champions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s usually Americans that go to Europe to play, so it\u2019s a big deal for both a tournament to have an international team, but for a European team to come over here is pretty special,\u201d Beebe said.<\/p>\n
The rest of the time is spent exploring the Southern California area. While the team takes a few days themselves to go to Universal Studios and Knott\u2019s Berry Farm, the Long Beach families step up for the downtime: showing the French players beach bonfires, barbecues, and American grocery stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all just new to them, it\u2019s not what they do in France,\u201d Patten said. \u201cYou see their eyes widen, just wow, and they always say, \u2018Everything in California is big.\u2019 It\u2019s just pure joy to watch them. I love seeing people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennifer Paz is a Long Beach resident who has hosted players for the last ten years. She said the wonder that Patten described is one of her favorite parts of hosting the French team.<\/p>\n
\u201cExposing them to a different culture made them so curious about what was happening in another country,\u201d Paz said. \u201cYou really keep your relationship alive because they want to come back and visit. It goes both ways too \u2014 you get to know more about their culture and also form that friendship to go visit them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beebe said his participation in the program goes back to his childhood. Beebe\u2019s parents were consistently hosting exchange students \u2014 a valuable experience for Beebe growing up. One of the students even moved to the United States and has stayed Beebe\u2019s best friend throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took people from all over the place, and it was nothing but good experiences,\u201d Beebe said. \u201cKnowing that you\u2019re helping out and making these dreams come true for these kids \u2014 they come out for the soccer tournament but that\u2019s just a side note to them seeing what the United States and California lifestyles are \u2014 so when you expose them to all the other things California has to offer, it really opens up their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The connection between French teams and Long Beach families goes back 30 years. But as the decades have passed, less families have volunteered to host, building more obstacles in the road for the program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like to get back to where it was,\u201d Patten said. \u201cIn the last few years, it\u2019s been mostly empty nesters or our friends who have been hosting, but the purpose of this was to have families with kids so they could see how these kids lived their life and you could get that connection as a whole family, not just as two older adults. That\u2019s our goal \u2014 to pass this down to a younger group.\u201d<\/p>\n Paz was convinced to host the French players a decade ago and hasn\u2019t regretted it since. She said she started hosting when all four of her children were young, emphasizing that youthful connection.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been nothing but a great experience,\u201d Paz said. \u201cIt changed my kids\u2019 lives, changed our lives, and we do not regret one day doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the best parts of the program is staying connected to the players as they continue growing up. Patten said some of the kids she has hosted have gone on to become professional soccer players and doctors.<\/p>\n Paz also emphasized this on-going connection. She said after years of hosting, Paz went to visit France with two of her daughters and reconnected with some of her former players and their families \u2014 and that wasn\u2019t even where the connection stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cMy oldest daughter went to college at UC San Diego, minored in French, moved to France for three years, and it literally was because of this program,\u201d Paz said.<\/p>\n Beebe said the declining numbers are making it harder to keep the program running. Although ten days can seem like a long time, in reality, the players are gone most of the day training, so on a basic level, they need a meal and a place to sleep.<\/p>\n Paz said the biggest thing potential host families can have is an open mind. Not only do they get to interact with the French culture, but they also get to outreach within the Long Beach community and form a tight camaraderie amongst one another.<\/p>\n For those who may be hesitant about volunteering as a host family, Patten encourages participation, saying the commitment is not as scary as it sounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not as daunting as you think because they\u2019re gone all day with the coaches,\u201d Patten said. \u201cIt\u2019s a whirlwind, it goes by so fast. When they leave, most of us host families, we\u2019re crying. They leave, and you just get such a good connection with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Beebe also said the entire reason for why he continues to host every year presents itself at the end of the French players\u2019 stay. Even through broken English, the families find ways to express their gratitude and love to each other.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the days they\u2019re here, they always come back and, in their accent, they say, \u2018I come back again,\u2019\u201d Beebe said. \u201cThat\u2019s when we know we\u2019ve made an impact. They realize that this is a little different, it\u2019s kind of neat, they want to see more.\u201d<\/p>\n Patten and Paz both said the program is one of the most rewarding experiences they\u2019ve had in their lives. Not only do they get to meet the foreign players, but they\u2019re able to connect with other Long Beach families through the social events as well.<\/p>\n These connections end up being lifelong. Even after the French players leave, the host families stay in touch with them via text messages, phone calls or photos.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say at least 50% [of host families] have kept in contact with or have actually gone to France and spent time with the families of the host that they had,\u201d Beebe said. \u201cThat\u2019s the connection you make and the international friends you make \u2014 they last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n For Patten, finding new families is about more than just fostering those strong connections overseas \u2013 it\u2019s about keeping a program around that has made impacts throughout the city over multiple decades and generations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping we can convince some new blood and some excited blood to come in and keep this going,\u201d Patten said. \u201cI\u2019d hate to see it die off after 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Beebe said if anyone is interested in the program, they can reach out to himself or Patten via email through Jason on jhillbb@gmail.com<\/a> or Anita on pattenclan@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a worthy cause. It\u2019s an amazing thing to do,\u201d Beebe said. \u201cThe host families benefit from it. Obviously, the kids get a lot out of it. Memories are made and wishes come true for the 18 boys that come out every year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From football to family. Le football est plus qu\u2019un jeu \u2013 soccer is more than just a game.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-709013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Jason Beebe said In-N-Out is the first stop once the French players arrive in Southern California. The families see this as a good encapsulation of the local lifestyle, they said.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The French soccer players pose on the beach. Beebe said one of the program\u2019s traditions is hosting a beach bonfire to roast hot dogs, s\u2019mores, play beach volleyball and more.<\/p>\n