High School Football America radio show - May 1st

On this edition of High School Football America, host Jeff Fisher talks with new Claude High School football coach Duane Toliver. Claude HS is a small high school in the Texas Panhandle with about 1,100 residents. 

Also on the show is Chris Salvi, a Chicago high school football coach who is currently playing professional football in Italy for the Torino Giaguari.  Salvi, who walked-on at Notre Dame after not being recruited out of high school, is the defensive coordinator for St. Ignatius High School in Chicago.

Football Americano - Game 2

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by Chris Salvi

Torino Giaguari, Free Safety

Follow @CSalvi24

Outside of football I was able to enjoy some of what Torino has to offer this week. I visited Reggia della Venaria Reale with head coach Rico Merola and his family.  It is a very large estate right outside the city limits that was the former property of the Savoy family.

The Savoy family ruled over this region of Italy for a greater part of a century.  It was a beautiful home that has hundreds of rooms full of painting and antiques. Lucky for me everything was in Italian and English, so I was able to learn a little bit about 14-19^th century Northern Italy.  It may sound boring, if it was for a class or from a book, but when you experience it, it makes it more exciting - my advice, don’t take the class go live it!

The week was up and down for the team; we didn’t have our best preparation. However, we came out on top with a 45-14 victory over Naples.

The first half was completely controlled by us. We ran the ball well and kept their offense shut down. We jumped out to a fast 14-0 lead and continued to keep the game at our tempo. We finished the first half with a two-minute drill touchdown to send the other team to the locker room with their heads down.

We came out the second half swinging, Niles went for a 50-yard reception to the end zone – it was 28-0 early in the third quarter. Although we gave up a pair of touchdowns on defense, it was good opportunity for most of the team to get game experience.

The defense played a solid throughout most of the game, with some let up in the fourth.  On offense it usually increases your chances to win when your running back goes for over 300 yards of total offense with a pair of touchdowns – it’s safe to say Niles was the MVP of this game.

This week we face off with the Bologna Warriors, probably not the strongest team we will face all season.  Bologna has a history of winning, so we know they wont lay down for us. It’s first road game, and I always preferred road games. I enjoyed getting yelled at by the opposing fans and experiencing a new atmosphere. Should be another fun challenge for our team.

Football Americano - Week 5

by Chris Salvi

Free Safety, Torino Giaguari

Follow @CSalvi24

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Chris Salvi's photo from Muzeo Egizio

Started my week off with a visit to the Egyptian museum in Torino called Muzeo Egizio.  It's actually considered one of the best in the world. 

Lots of interesting things to look at and read about throughout the museum.  Not only was it a good time, but it only cost 12 Euros ($12.64)...what a deal! Going to one of the museums or attractions in Chicago usually costs upward of 30 dollars. In case any of you find your way to Torino, I suggest the Egyptian museum.

On to football...one aspect of football that I want to be involved with here in Italy is that of a returner on special teams.  Maybe I wasn’t qualified for that position at Notre Dame, but I am excited to step up to that role here.

Football Americano - Week 4

by Chris Salvi

Free Safety, Torino Giaguari

Follow @CSalvi24

The fourth week is in the books and the team is only two short weeks from the home opener against the Rhinos of Milan. This week brought some adventure and a chance to learn something new.

First off, I must thank my roommate Niles Mittasch for giving me his Italian book to learn some more words and phrases. I also have to thank him for being very patient with me while I learned how to use our manual car (stick shift).

Some of you may be thinking to yourselves “it’s not that hard.” - yes, yes it is very hard. I have never done it in my life and on top of that it I’m in a crowded European city.

Have you ever been around the roads of a city in Europe? If you haven’t then you cannot understand the difficulty! That said it has been fun and I am glad that now I am starting to get the hang of it.

Niles is a seasoned vet when it comes to using a manual car; he has only stalled the car out one time in a month. That is impressive, given we just got back from Sunday lunch at a friends house and I stalled the car three times.

Football Americano - Week 3

by Chris Salvi
Free Safety, Torino Giaguari
Follow @CSalvi24
 
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I have to start this week’s recap with a few thank you’s.

Dario, the announcer for the Torino Giaguari, fixed us up with hundreds of TV channels - plenty of them are in English so I am able to keep up with what’s going on.

Second, coming through in the clutch was Frank Cerra our team manager. After reading my complaint about the lack of peanut butter that I mentioned in last week’s blog, he brought me a jar of peanut butter.

Lastly, thanks to Rossana (wife of my head coach), who has not only cooked Niles Mattisch (my only American teammate) and I meals at her home, but made us pasta twice this week! Actually one of those pasta night’s came right when I ran out of food, so it was perfect timing.  It’s hard to beat that Italian hospitality!