Here we go again. Tournament season 2008 still continues. Stefano, the guy from Italy, never sleeps and plays and manages almost all kayakpolo events in Italy. He also made a CanoaPoloPrecampionato Tour for all his young players in Academy club. When I have asked him to come and play he always said the tournament is for under 16 players. I’ve asked him not because I was bored in Prague and didn’t know where to spend money on but because I was going to make a trip around the Italy as holidays that time and a stop for playing would have been nice. When whole the itinerary of all the stops by kayakpolo friends and fans in various cities around Italy was made, Enrico, the Sicilian guy from SNAP team I play with, said me over the skype the team is going there. Well, I was a bit surprised because the average age of the team is almost twice 16 but the decision to change all the actual plans was quite easy. Playing a tournament in December is always nice for me as a poor guy from country where is it possible only during summer time. So I’ve started to manage boat and paddle delivering to the Ancona. I wrote to Ferni, the chief of SNAP. But he was totally confused perhaps due to his hard work or heavy night before, because he was able to cancel and confirm the tournament twice in thirty minutes of conversation over Emails. Finally I haven’t been completely sure of validity of the tournament but I took the helmet and spraydeck with and went to airport last Friday. The tournament was supposed to be on Sunday, lot of time to change many times the plans. After landing in Milano I was surprised at the weather of for me always sunny Italy. Ok, perhaps due to December and global warming phenomena, there was snow. It would be ok if I had not broken shoe sole. All next five days I enjoyed a personal fresh bath for my left feet. We’ve met Claudia, sister of Valerio, at Parma. Parma is the town generally known for Parma’s ham. Anyway I remember the town for a future more because of Claudia and her friends always laughing and smoking cannabis and making the big really precise crèche instead of the ham. Then the next stops were in Bologna, Rimini and Ancona. I can say just normal sightseeing stops in Italian cities. There was the sea in Rimini. I like sea. Drinking a wine on the beach, philosophing about life, hearing the waves, picking the shells, showing nose to the sun, palms and so on. An also a lady speaking at the station the numbers of trains and their directions, she was a bit broken, perhaps because she’s seen two foreign people asking her for information. She was broken because after our ask she started to say “Rimini” to the speaker on the platforms and repeated it till we board to the train and if she hasn’t gone she is still saying “Rimini, Rimini, Rim, Rimini, Rim, Rimi, Rimini, …” OK, when we come to the Ancona, all the guys from SNAP team were awaiting us already. They took us to the pool. Nice pool covered by air-inflanted hall on a really nice and high cliff in quite quiet part of the town. Seagulls flying and seagulling around. Stefano and his young players and me and my skilled players were staying and concentrating for the tournament. Finally the tournament was divided into two parts, one for young and the other one for us, the skilled players. We played as tigers. Except one first ball I won all of them. Stefano, the Italian personality and kayakpolo guru, ejected from the kayak because he is not still too sure in Eskimo roll and the hall reward him by big applause. Finally the SNAP team played for third place and also because of the game system for the first. We were on both places, second and third. Marcela, the girl I was there with, she looked the strange sport from a tribune. After two or three games realized that the pool is full of crazy people and went for a walk. The tournament was really nice and I felt early I didn’t play for two months. I got blisters on both thumbs, and also I scraped my back bottom by the seat. When it was over, guys went back to Rome enjoying perfect food in the far-famed restaurants and we continued in turisting. Well, one of us really enjoyed the local rat meat in kebab “restaurant” almost vomiting the whole night. Afterwards just traveling to direction Rome, some coffees and wines on the beaches. Sleeping in the Erico’s house in Rome, sightseeing coliseum and other ruins. Perfect timing to the airport and back to the reality of week’s days.