The Southern California Subbuteo Club welcomed their first international visitors on Sunday August 9.  Trisha and Thomas Baumeler are members of the Subbuteo Players Aargau Süd, Switzerland.  They had taken time away from their vacation to the south western USA to take on the best in California.  It was an opportunity for the SCSC members to play FISTF ranked players and see how good, or bad, they are.

Thomas drew with Wayne Smith, the best player in California, and beat the rest of the Californians. 

Twelve year old Trisha proved a tough adversary with her accurate flicking, which impressed her opponents.  She opened the day with a single goal victory over Dominic Hutchinson.  The next two games proved tougher as she lost to both Smith and Steve Tucker.  One goal was enough to beat Kevin Nieman.  Trisha conceded an early goal to Simon Hutchinson, and equalized early in the second half.  She snatched victory with a goal with only 50 seconds left for her third win of the day.

Both of the visitors were impressed by the hospitality of their hosts.   "Players were unbelievably nice and very hospitable. We very much enjoyed playing Subbuteo in this this beautiful environment. Cordial thanks to the Southern California Subbuteo Club." was Thomas's comments on the Subbuteo Players Aargau Süd's web site.

You can read a more detailed report and see photographs here»