I started playing Hattrick in the summer of 2002 when a friend, who I played "Fantasy Wrestling" with online, told me about Hattrick. I made many mistakes in the beginning. At that time there was no such thing as mentors or beginners' guides. So my very first club was bankrupt after only a few weeks. Luckily, I was able to restart with a new club shortly after that and then I did a lot better.
A favourite part of Hattrick is when you have an Eureka-moment, when you realize you understand some part of the game better than others. Or when you win something important, like a Cup, or gain promotion to the first division. My current goal is to reach the top-10 in Belgium again and to win a Cup with more of my own youth players.
When I registered, I liked that Hattrick has fantasy names instead of real players. That got me hooked. I also liked that all opponents were people of flesh and blood… and also that they turned out to be really helpful, showing me the steps you need to take as a new user to improve your team. Today, I am a good mentor myself.
I would say the community is the strongest reason I have stayed in Hattrick for so long. The game too of course. After having trained my players and played in the French Division 2 for a while, I started focusing on training international players to help the Moroccan team. Today 80% of the defense of the Atlas Lions was trained by me!
My best Hattrick memory was when the city where I lived (L'Aquila, Italy) was hit by an earthquake. I received a lot of support, a lot of help, a lot of love. It was a very hard time and Hattrick was there, with its community, with me. I will never forget that.
The first championship I won is one of my best Hattrick memories. I won the title in the 8th division by scoring a 4-3 winner in the 86th minute of the last league game. This put me tied with two other teams and I clinched the title on goal difference: 62-14 versus 61-14 and 54-11. I'll never forget the player who scored that goal, my Norwegian star striker Olav Aamot.