See below as we followed former Glendora Tartan CJ Robertson on his Italian Football League head coaching assignment!

Former Tartan Cj Robertson just signed a contract to coach a pro football team in Italy for the next 5 months. Cj will be the head coach and offensive coordinator for the Milano (Milan) Seamen.
Cj is currently a football coach at Pomona-Pitzer and will be taking taking a sabbatical this spring so he can explore this opportunity and teach American football in Italy.
Click here for the link to Milano Seamen Football
For translation from Italian to English use the Google translator.
Glendora wishes Cj good luck over there in Italy!
To follow Coach Robertson's coaching adventure go to the "Tartan Coaching in Italy" page of this website.

See below for Coach Robertson's most recent update

Greetings Tartans. Well, it looks like I will make it home in one piece. My flight for LAX leaves tomorrow morning. Exactly four months after I arrived here in Milan Italy. I will be brief in my update and I hope to write more after reflecting on plane ride home. The A1 one team went 3-6 overall. We did a lot better than expected because we are new team, or expansion as we say. We beat the cross town rival and we beat my friend’s team from Bolzano. We played games in Rome, Catania (Sicily), and Bologna. Yes, I sampled much food from each of the said regions. The Arena team made it too the playoffs and ranked second overall with a 7-2 record. I was sent to the stands during our first playoff game and subsequently disqualified for the next game also (red carded). I was able to warm up the team then I had to go up into the stands for the game. Our organizations president also has a fiery temperament and was sent to join me during our last game. Over all the experience was awesome. Every one seems happy and I made some new life long friends. There is talk of bringing me back next year. I have been stressing the importance of off season training. A lot of the players are already looking forward to next season. You will able to find me at Marias or T Phillips if you want to here some good highlights of my trip.

Ciao, Coach Cj Robertson

Ciao Tartans. So far my A1 guys are 3-1 and the Arena team is 4-1. This Saturday will be a long day for me. We have the flag football kids during the day. The Arena team plays for a playoff bid against The Blue Storm. The Blue Storm has already beaten us once on their field. Now they come to us and we are much more prepared. Our A1 team plays The Hogs from Reggio-Emillia. They are a good team but beatable.

I look forward to mangiare la carne maiale (eating some pork) this weekend and to fermare la tempesta (stopping the Storm). We won our derby (cross town rival) game a few weeks ago. We beat one the oldest professional American football teams here Italia, the Milano Rhinos. All the critics said they we're supposed to beat us by 30 plus points. We won in dramatic style 33-31.

Our next big win was against the Bolzano (Bozen) Giants. They won the super bowl two years ago and were supposed to beat us by 20. We won 44-36. My friend Mike is the Giants coach so it was nice to beat his team. Bragging rights!

Last weekend we went down to Bologna and played The Doves. We beat them 44-12. Bologna has two teams, the Warriors and the Doves. The Warriors are the best team in the league and we played them in our first game of the season. They beat us.

We have 5 more games. We go to Rome in two weeks to play the Marines. Our last travel game will be on June 4th and we fly to Catania Sicily to play The Elephants. If we win 3 more games we will have a bid for the playoffs. The top four teams will go. We have a tough schedule on the horizon but if we stay focused and keep the penalties and turnovers to a minimum we shall prevail.

Last weekend we had no game due to the Easter Holiday. I took the train to Bolzano to meet the American players and coaches. We then drove through the Austrian Alps to Germany to meet the American coaches and players in Kempton. The linebacker for the Kempton Comets is a graduate of Azusa Pacific. Small world!

Here are links to IFL video magazione that shows highlights of our games. Enjoy!

Milano Seamen versus Bologna Doves
Bologna Doves Highlights


Milano Seamen versus Bolzano Giants
Bolzano Giants Highlights

Ciao ciao!

Coach Cj Robertson
Head Coach
Milano Seamen
Milano, Italia

Hello fellow Tartans.

Coach Cj Robertson here reporting on professional American Football here in Italy. I have taken over one of the two pro teams here in Milano. The team is made up of mostly local college students. We also have our share of guys who are between the ages 25 and 45. Our kicker, I believe is 44. our teams website is www.seamen.it If you use Google Chrome it will translate the text for you. I believe Safari will do the same if you use Mac. You can also use this link to follow the Italian Football League (IFL) Italian Football League

The football here is highly competitive and each team is allowed 3 Americans. My Americans are WR Andrew Kell, QB Erik Anderwkavich both from Long Island NY and CW Post and also Tom Korte from Hillsdale College. Tom was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009 and played and started in 4 games as linebacker for them.

We practice four nights a week and we had a double practice on Saturday the 19th of March. Our first game is Saturday the 26th of March and we play a team from Bologna. Ironically the QB on the Bologna team is an American and played at Chapman. I coached against him for two seasons so I am familiar with his style and offense.

My staff is made up of mostly Italians with the exception of Neil Hamilton who is my defensive coordinator. He played at Ball State, Penn State and had a stint in the NFL as well.

Last weekend I had the honor of hosting defensive backs coach John Hoke and special teams coordinator Dave Toub of the Chicago Bears for a coaching clinic at our stadium. Also, I had the privelage of hanging out and picking the brain of former San Fransisco 49's head coach and NFL Network commentator Steve Mariucci.

I do not speak Italian other than the basics but I pick up the language with a little ease if they speak slowly. The same goes for them. We get along great. The food is excellent and pizza is as common as Taco Bell or Del Taco (I could use a red burrito right now, or some Maria's Taquitos).

No, I have not read 'Playing For Pizza.'

I will attach some photos.

Go Tartans!

I will try to update frequently when the season gets going here.

Ciao!

Coach Cj Robertson

Milano Seamen

Posted 2-3-11

I am glad to see a Tartan QB signing with SDSU. That is awesome! I leave on Monday night and after a couple hour in London I will arrive in Milan the next day about 730pm there time. Plenty of time to catch up on my play book. I will return sometime in July and start getting ready for PP football. I will send updates through a possible video blog. Also, this link here Italian Football League will keep people up to date. Thanks again.

Go Tartans!

Coach Cj Robertson