Looking back... 2007 Savannah Subbuteo Club League Championship

Alex started to play Subbuteo with the American Subbuteo Association in Savannah Georgia [ April 2006 ]some 6 hours drive from Tampa after having tried to involve several  area friends unsuccesfully.

The first year he participated in a couple of tournaments only, then he decided that for the love of the game he was going to try on attending every tournament and compete for the Club League Championship.

left to right: Mark Holloway,Alex,Jody Schaaf,Joey Balmer-

The long drive and the travel expenses did not stop him and he really enjoyed every moment spent with Jody Schaaf and his clubmates, sleeping sometimes for just a couple of hours in Jody's trailer before playing  in a tournament.

Sometimes he travelled with his whole family, most of the times by himself, finally in occasion of the Turkey Classic 2007 his wife Isabel joined in, playing her first A.S.A sanctioned tournament.

We could tell a lot of stories about these trips, the traditional pizza break or like the huge Limoncello bottle Alex shared with Diego Sanso [ other Savannah player ] the night before the Fall Open tournament, playing with a big hangover his games or the time he dedicated the Spring Open in memory of his Soccer friend Marco Aiazzi [ they used to call them " i gemelli del goal "] passed away days before, but this is supposed to be a memory of games.

Last Turkey in Savannah Jody great save



Great times and great games, always tight with uncertain out come during which Jody and Alex started a great rivalry and friendship that still goes on as we write.

Alex won the League Championship playing and winning 4 [ Turkey Classic 2006 - Spring Open 2007- Fall Open 2007 - Turkey Classic 2007 ] out of 5 [ Summer Open 2007 - ] tournaments organised by the Club with the following final standings:

                                       P           W         D          L           GS        GA         PTS

• Alex Batacchi      21           21         -           -            106          3           63
• Jody Schaaf        25           16         4           5             55         21          52
• Joey Balmer        21           10         3           8             24         22          33
• Mark Holloway    25             8         6          11             21         34          30

10 players in total participated in the League, but we just reported the ones with more than 20 games.

The trophy

Unfortunately even with Jody great efforts the  Savannah Subbuteo Club is not active anymore since 2008.