Friday, 31 May, 2019
A big weekend of American Flag football was on tap as our U17 team was headed to the city of Grosetto in Tuscany to take part in the 2019 Italian National Championship Tournament.
There are 19 clubs in Italy playing Flag football at the U17 level, only the top eight made it to Grosetto.
Our U17s enter the weekend with a record of 6-0 and the tournaments #2 seed. The also undefeated Milano Seamen earned the #1 seed.
I wanted to look sharp for the festivities so I headed to my personal hair stylist in Venegono Inferiore to have her quaff my dome.
She recommended this product
line for my use
How much better looking could this possibly make me?
Now it was on to the seven hour road trip to Grosetto, including two stops at world famous Italian Autogrills along the highway, via a fine Pullman bus.
We were headed to Grosetto
in the far south of Tuscany
Of course Prosecco was part
of the journey
The Prosecco in the Autogrill
parking lot was equally delicious
Giovanni our Pullman driver
Sorry Giovanni, NO PROSECCO FOR YOU!
President Mangano of the Skorpions
tries a scratch-off to fund the
Skorpion Field Fieldturf Project
Natural grass in 2020 it is then for Skorpion Field!
Italian Fashion Model
D.J. had his Summer Vibe going . . .
. . . down to his shoes
Finally, we arrived at our hotel in Grosetto.
A perfect spot for the weekend
Six manicured game fields within easy walking distance of our rooms, swimming pools and great dining facilities made this a wonderful place logistically to hold a tournament of this magnitude!
The Hotel's entryway
Should I change clothes in there?
The path from the main hotel
to our team's set of rooms nearer
to the game fields
The hotel's massive grounds
were once a huge farm I believe
Our Team Rooms are just
to the right
Our stay here includes three meals a day and it was time for dinner.
A surprise 2018 Europe Warriors
Re-union at dinner
Francesco Borromeo of the Lazio Fighting Ducks was here as a coach of his team. Francesco is a great young man who was an Offensive Tackle for us in our victory over the University of Chihuahua in Mexico last August.
Francesco is seen here with me and our outstanding Varese Skorpions WR Martino Piazzi who was also a Europe Warrior last Summer.
You meet so many wonderful people coaching this sport.
The hotel's excellent buffet dinner
was being attacked by all 24 flag teams
here for the U13, U15 and U17 tournaments
Throw in the large support staff, parents and well wishers and you have yourself quite a crowd of American football enthusiasts.
Skorpion Supporters
WR Filippo Petrillo lost a bet
at the team table
You had to be there, it involved potatoes somehow.
It was getting late but our kids were
full of energy
The line-ups for the three
tournaments that start on Saturday
Our U17s will be involved solely in Pool B play tomorrow.
In order, they will play the Palermo Cardinals, Roma Gladiatori and the Bologna Warriors.
At the end of Pool play, the top two teams from each Pool will advance to the Final Four on Sunday with Pool A #1 playing Pool B #2 and Pool A #2 going head to head with Pool B #1.
The Championship Game will be held on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. between the two semi-final winners.
After that, it will be another seven hour Pullman ride back to Varese, hopefully with a big trophy.
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