Club News
2008 Season Cancelled
Due to a late start this season and a general lack of interest by
current members, the 2008 season has been cancelled. We'll try again for a
fresh start next year and hopefully we can get re-energized and start practicing
and competing again.
2007 Club Season Ends
Alex Batacchi won the Savannah Subbuteo Club
Championship with a victory in our final tournament of the year, the Turkey
Classic, on November 17th. Alex's traveling efforts from Tampa for all but
one event paid off with him winning the Championship in the club's fourth
regular season. 2005 - 2006 champ Jody Schaaf finished second, Joey Balmer
took third,
and 2004 inaugural season
champ Mark Holloway finished fourth. Full season results at:
http.//savannahsubbuteo.leaguerepublic.com.
2007 Turkey Classic
Wraps Up Season
The second annual Turkey Classic was held on
November 17th, 2007, culminating the club's fourth full season of play. Alex
Batacchi and his wife Isabel traveled from Tampa to play, and old friend Tom
Shirley drove down from Chattanooga. The top spot was up for grabs and decided
in the last match of the day between Alex and Jody, but Alex was too tough and
won the match 4-1. The order of finish was:
1. Alex Batacchi
2. Jody Schaaf
3. Joey Balmer
4. Mark Holloway
5. Isabel Batacchi
6. Tom Shirley
7. Diego Sanso
ASA Nationals -
July 21-22, 2007 St. Louis, MO
The St. Louis Subbuteo Club put on a great
Nationals tournament weekend. Jody and Joey made the long drive up to compete,
each playing in the individual Open event on Saturday, and the team tournament
on Sunday playing with Zach Walker's Sporting America Club (which was short a
couple of players). Jody also played in the Veteran's event, losing a close
match to Paul Eyes 2-1 in the semi's. All in all a great fun weekend of
Subbuteo. More info and results available at:
http://maplecitysubbuteo.com/asanational/displayRound.cfm?round=27
2007 ASA Nationals group photo
Welcome to newest member Diego Sanso
Diego played in Italy in his youth and has joined the Savannah club,
hosting the Summer Open May 15th.
2007 Summer Open (ASA Open - 07/30/07)
Entries: Mark Holloway, Gregg Hundersmarck, Diego
Sanso (new member), Jody Schaaf, Duncan Whitehead. Jody wins the tounament
going undefeated and takes the lead in the club championship by two points over
Alex Batacchi (Alex was not able to attend). Duncan finished second and a
surprise third place finish by newest club member Diego Sanso.
Gregg, Duncan, Diego, Mark,
Jody
2007 Spring Open (ASA Open - 05/15/07)
Entries: Joey Balmer, Alex Batacchi, Mark Holloway, Gregg
Hundersmarck, Jody Schaaf, Duncan Whitehead. Alex Batacchi takes the title
undefeated (with little sleep, arriving at 5 AM the morning of the tournament).
Jody finished second, with Joey taking third place. We welcome back Clay
Holloway after a long absence. Alex is leading the season club championship.
January 2007
New Season Calendar
We have decided to adopt the traditional
calendar year (Jan-Dec) effective immediately for our club season and will no
longer be using the FISTF calendar (Sep-Aug). We will continue to have six
bi-monthly tournaments each year. To get the year started, we are counting the
November tournament as our first event of the year.
2007 Nationals
The St. Louis Subbuteo Club has announced it
will be hosting the ASA National tournament on July 21 - 22. It should be a huge
tournament with 40 plus entries, maybe more. Since there is a National team
competition held each year, we would like to get enough players on board to make
the road trip and compete. Players who have committed to attend so far from our
area are Joey Balmer, Alex Batacchi, and Jody Schaaf. Plan ahead and put it on
your schedule. Those big tournaments are always a lot a fun.
2006 Turkey
Classic (ASA Open - Nov)
Alex Batacchi (Tampa, Fla.) topped the field
of five with a perfect record of five wins and no losses on the day. Mark
Holloway finished second. The order of finish was:
1st Alex Batacchi
2nd Mark Holloway
3rd Jody Schaaf
4th Joey Balmer
5th Duncan Holloway
September 2006
Savannah
Subbuteo Club Wraps up 2006 Season
Jody Schaaf captured his second consecutive
Club Championship on September 9th with an overall win in the final tournament
of the season. 2004 Club Champion Mark Holloway finished 2nd in the league
standings, followed by Joey Balmer and Alex Battacchi of Tampa, Florida.
Jody dedicated this season's Championship to his wonderful Great Dane, Farley,
who passed away two days earlier.
Jody also captured the inaugural season of the Champions Derby, piloting his LA
Galaxy team over Mark Holloway's DC United. Jody closed out the Derby with a six
point lead with one match to play.
Full standings and results for the League Championship and Derby are available
at:
http://savannahsubbuteo.leaguerepublic.com
ASA Nationals - July
22-23, 2006 Farmington, CT
Three Savannah Club members traveled north
for the ASA Nationals this month - Joey Balmer, Jody Schaaf, and Alex Batacchi.
Joey gets the "Iron Man" award for driving 19 hours to get there on Friday
evening. Connecticut Subbuteo Club members Massimo Conturso, Rick Marques, and
Eddie Davidson were nice enough to let us crash at there places for the weekend.
Saturday play saw Alex advance to the round of 16 in the Open division, losing
to Massimo in that round. Jody failed to advance out of a tough group in the
Open, but went on to win the Mary Jane with three wins over good players. He
also advanced to the semi-finals of the Veterans group, but lost to Eddie
Davidson 1-0 in overtime in that match on Sunday. Joey did not advance out of
his group in the Open division, and lost to CT player Mike Eylward in a shootout
in the Mary Jane.
Sunday's Team event was a disappointment for Team South (Balmer, Batacchi,
Schaaf, and Texan Keith Constable). We won one match against the CT youth team
but failed to get out of the group. We'll do better next year for sure.
Overall results are:
Zach Walker - 2006 National Champion (Open)
Patrick Sheridan - 2006 U19 Champion
CT Team Black (Conturso, L. Silva, R. Marques, and M. Marques) Team Champions
For full results of the Nationals click
here.
Overall it was a great weekend of Subbuteo and everyone had a lot of fun. The
Savannah Club was awarded (by raffle) the use of a huge vintage ASA banner for
two years. We will display the banner at future tournaments. Also, the
announcement was made that the St. Louis Club has been awarded the right to host
the 2007 National Tournament. We already have three players committed to play
and we'd like to get more. The date has not been set yet but it will
happen during the summer.
Club
Championship Update
Jody holds a slim 4 point lead over Mark
going into the last tournament of the season to be held in August. Mark was able
to close the gap within striking distance by a good performance at the June
tournament, coupled with Jody's not-so-good play. Also, in the Champions Derby,
Jody holds a 3 point lead over Mark with 4 matches remaining to be played...too
close to call. For current club and derby standings and results click
here.
June 2006
Batacchi wins again!
Alex Batacchi won his second Savannah club
tournament on Saturday, June 10th. The tournament was held at Southside
Billiards Club. Alex played very well as usual, winning all of his matches.
Joey Balmer finished second, and Mark Holloway third.
April 2006
Batacchi
Requests Membership
Alex Batacchi (Tampa, Florida) has requested
membership to the Savannah Subbuteo Club. The request has been approved. Alex is
a very good player and we welcome the new addition to our club. Although it will
be difficult for him to attend all of our events, we hope to see him much of him
in the future.
ASA South
Region Major & April Club Tournament
The Savannah Club hosted the ASA South Major
(which also doubled as our April club tournament) on Saturday, April 1st. The
venue was at Trustees Garden in downtown Savannah. The field of seven included
John Reed from Atlanta and newcomer Alex Batacchi from Tampa. Alex proved to be
too much for everyone by winning all of his matches and not giving up a single
goal all day. Quite impressive! Mark Holloway finished second and Joey Balmer
third. League results have been updated on the current standings page. The order
of finish was:
1. Alex Batacchi
2. Mark Holloway
3. Joey Balmer
4. Jody Schaaf
5. Duncan Whitehead
6. Micah Wise
7. John Reed
ASA Open
On Sunday we held an ASA Open at the same
venue. Jody managed to just pull out the overall victory with a 1-0 win over
Alex in the deciding match. Although Alex had defeated Jody 2-0 in the first
round, Jody won all his other matches while Joey Balmer managed a hard fought
draw with the high scoring Italian. The final order of finish was:
1. Jody Schaaf
2. Alex Batacchi
3. Joey Balmer
4. Duncan Whitehead
5. Micah Wise
February 2006
February Club Tourney Results
Micah hosted this month's tourney on Sunday
2/26. Newcomer Duncan Whitehead surprised everyone with a second place finish
and some fine play. Micah knocked off Mark for a big upset and had a draw with
Jody to record his first points of the season. Final results:
1. Jody 2. Duncan 3. Mark 4. Micah
New Year Kickoff Tourney Results
Turnout was low as we only drew four players: Joey, Mark, Jody, and
Micah. Mark finished on top with the win. Jody went undefeated and was the only
player with a win over Mark, but finished second due to three draws. Joey
finished third and Micah fourth. Thanks to all who participated.
Next Tournament - late February
Our next club tourney will be in February (date TBA). Hopefully Mark
will have his garage ready in time.
Savannah hosts the South Region ASA Major
Put this one on your calendar. It should be our biggest event of the
year, and counts for double ASA ranking points. We should have some out of
towners for this one. The tentative venue is Shamrock's Irish Pub on Wilmington
Island. More to come...
December 2005
Welcome to new member Micah Wise
Micah has joined the club and is picking it up
very quickly. He participated in the November Turkey Classic, his first ever
tournament.
Turkey Classic Results
It was a very tight tournament with close matches.
At the end, Jody and Joey were tied in points, but Jody narrowly eaked out the
overall win by virtue of a head-to-head victory over Joey. Mark finished third,
Josh fourth, John Reed from Atlanta fifth, and new member Micah Wise sixth.
Thanks to Englishman John Reed for making the trip from Atlanta to play.
Next Tournament
"New Year Kickoff", scheduled for Saturday, January 7th, at Mark's house. Looks
like we will have six or seven players, with possibly another new member joining
the ranks.
October 2005
2006 Season Begins:
Our 2006 season will begin with a tournament
on Saturday, November 26th. Mark Holloway will be the host of this season
opener. The club will be returning to
the tournament format that we used in 2004 rather than the head-to-head format
which was used this season. We will play six tournaments during the season.
The best four finishes will count towards the points race for the championship.
More details to come...
September 2005
2005 Season Ends:
The Savannah Subbuteo Club wrapped up its
2005 league season on Saturday, Sept 17th. The race for the title
went down to a best-of-three match playoff between 2004 champ Mark Holloway and
Jody Schaaf. Jody edged out Mark to take the 2005 title with a win and two
draws. Scores were 0-0, 1-0, and 1-1.
The matches were played out in Mark
Holloway’s newly opened, climate controlled, smartly decorated Subbuteo room. He
still has his garage subbuteo-equipped and heavily loaded with soccer/subbuteo
gear and memorabilia, but the new room is more comfortable during the
earth-scorching heat we are having.
The final standings for the 2005 season
are:
1. Jody Schaaf 2. Mark Holloway 3.
Joey Balmer 4. Sean Holloway
Note:
Clay Holloway was not able to participate in any league matches this season due
to serving a tour of duty with the National Guard in Qatar. He has returned safe
now and should be back in the fray this coming season. Craig Morrison and Josh
Beardsworth chose not to compete in the league race this season but have
committed to the 2006 season.
July 2005
ASA Nationals - Results:
Rick Wilcox of the Washington, DC club WTSL is the new National
Champion. He defeated Connecticut's Rick Marques 2-1 in overtime in the final
match. WTSL (Rick Wilcox, Gregg Deinhart, Marco Silva, Alex Giffen, and Nick
Giffen) also won the team event over the Midwest Premier League team (Zach
Walker, Chris Walker, Tim Boone, and Lenny Foster) in the team final.
Locally, Joey Balmer was not able to attend as planned, but
Jody Schaaf competed, making it through the group stage and losing to Rick
Marques 2-1 in the round of 16. For further tournament results, click
here.
Upcoming ASA Nationals:
The 2005 ASA Nationals, the 2005 ASA Team Nationals, and the 2005 Giffen
Cup will be held July 15-16 in Alexandria, Virginia. Good luck to Joey Balmer
and Jody Schaaf, who will be representing the Savannah Subbuteo Club in these
events. They will be teaming with Eric Walton and Tom Shirley in the team event.
June 2005
New Format:
The club will be re-instating the monthly tournament format beginning with the
2005-2006 season. Unfortunately the 2004-2005 head-to-head monthly match
schedule did not fly as expected.
The new season will run September through August with six tournaments held. A player's
best five results will be counted towards the standings. This will allow
players to miss an event without being penalized. The current ASA ranking points
system will be used for awarding points for tournament participants. This varies
according to the number of players in each tournament. Details will be published
before the first tournament.
Possible Merger with the Chattanooga League:
Talks are under way with Tom Shirley of the
Chattanooga Subbuteo League regarding a possible merger of our two clubs,
forming a club which would encompass the whole state (his league is technically
in North Georgia). His membership has expanded recently with an Atlanta member
and a merger may be a good way to encourage new membership there and from all
areas of the state. It would be logical to form sub-chapters of the club from
different areas. More to come...
Chattanooga Tourney Results:
Joey Balmer and Jody Schaaf traveled to Chattanooga during the weekend
of June 15-16 for the Jim Carr Classic on Saturday and the Chattanooga Open
on Sunday. Unfortunately Mark Holloway was not able to attend to defend his 2004
Jim Carr title. Tom Shirley has just completed a downstairs game room in his home
which is the perfect venue for tournaments. He was a very gracious host and it
was a great weekend of Subbuteo. There were lots of friendlies played on
Friday and some very tight matches on Saturday and Sunday. The final results for
the tournament were:
Jim Carr Classic
1. Jody Schaaf
2. Joey Balmer
3. Tom Shirley
4. Simon Neil
5. John Reed
Chattanooga Open
1. Jody Schaaf
2. Joey Balmer
3. Tom Shirley
4. Simon Neil
5. John Reed
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