posted Sep 19th, 2009 - The scores of the Italian Nationals 2009 have replaced the leaderboard of the ESL Championship 2009 before this weekend's results will make the NSL front page.

There was no doubt that the bronze medalist of the FAI World Cup 2009, Real Lazio Sinapsi, would win the national championship this year. Livio Piccolo, Luca Marchioro, Pete Allum and Steve Hamilton, with Massimo Fiorini on camera, had already posted a 21.4 average at the World Cup, and there is no other team in Italy that could have challenged the defending champions.

Sinapsi is the defending champion, as the same lineup had already won the Italian Nationals 2008, as well. The 2008 championship was the first event that the new Sinapsi lineup attended. Sinapsi finished with a 19.5 starting average last year.

The same lineup has come a long way ever since, despite the limited training resources. The vast collection of training and competition experiences that all four team members bring in allows this Sinapsi lineup to be very efficient with training and competition.

Sinapsi with Arianna de Benedetti in the Center Outside slot had won bronze medals at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Then the team stepped back. The Spin Team won the national championship in 2007 and represented Italy at the World Meet 2008 in France, while Sinapsi was working on the new lineup.

Steve Hamilton, as Pete Allum former Sebastian XL member, took the Center Outside slot, and the new Sinapsi lineup came back quickly to the same scoring and performance level of the earlier Sinapsi years. Result of the progression were the bronze medals for the 21.4 average in Prostejov.

The 22.5 average at the Italian Nationals 2009 is the highest one that an Italian 4-way team has ever posted. This includes Sinapi's own averages of the past years. Two 19-pointers kept Sinapsi outside of the all-20 teams.

However, it is probably only a matter of time when the Italian team will join the club.

This Sinapsi lineup will compete for Italy at the World Meet 2010 in Russia and train for the event. The US national team of 2010 will make it more difficult for all World Cup 2009 medalists to place within the Top 3 next year. Sinapsi will be one of the contenders.