Standard Background Info for Press (last updated 12/22/06):
The USTSF can provide several informative press releases and other attachments, as well as obtaining any other information about our sport you might need -- these are our standard backgrounder documents on our sport and our organization. Examples are "Foos in the News" (zipped file) and "USTSF Sponsorship Kit" (zipped file). You are also free to send an email to the U.S. National Team / Team USA (contact us for email distribution list address) and ask any questions you'd like; you should get a few good responses. A profile page is avaiable for many of the players on the team -- if you want direct contact with any of these let USTSF know (they are all current and/or past U.S., National, and/or World Champions). If you'd like to interview a Hall of Famer, We would recommend veteran player and multi-time World Champion Steve Murray (contact us for email); or current International, World and ITSF World Women's Single and Doubles Champion Cindy Head (contact us for email). Just let any of them know we referred you. Among the U.S. National Team members, Adrian Zamora has an instructional video out on the basics of the game and is also on the International Rules Commission. (Note: a different, flashier instructional video is also available through http://foosballnews.com/Foosball-Training-Videos-Set/foosball-mastery- foosball-video-training-DVDs.htm). Also, there are tons of excellent DVD videos on the sport at www.insidefoos.com, where there is also a gallery and profiles for those selected to the foosball Hall of Fame. Inside Foos owner Jim Stevens, himself a Hall of Famer, can further provide photographs of top players from the 40 countries or so that participated in the ITSF World Cup of Table Soccer in May 2006 in Germany and from last years (2006) ITSF World Championships in Italy. For a pretty complete glossary of terms/popular jargon, see: http://www.foosball.com/content.php?page=106. Any of the U.S. Team can help you pick out some of the key ones you might want to use. Some of the best websites for foosball tournament and/or background information are: www.foosball.com www.ustsf.org www.table-soccer.org www.foosworld.com www.vifa.com www.bonziniusa.com www.insidefoos.com www.foosmovie.com The largest and most popular tournaments in America are listed on this website "ITSF Tournament Schedule link. Of interest to your readers/advertisers, at one time there was a sponsored Million Dollar Table Soccer Tour with tournaments as large as $250,000, while most recently the International Table Soccer Federation oversees a world tour that last year (2006) featured the hugely successful World Cup of Table Soccer held in Hamburg, Germany held in connection with the FIFA World Cup of Soccer. There's also a story to be had on the east coast, where an organization called Bonzini USA does a significant amount of charitable and corporate events featuring Bonzini tables, a rather unique French style of table popular in the southeastern states and the leading table in France. Of interest, Bonzini's North Carolina State Foosball Championships is the longest running state championships in the USA (33 years or so). Contact Alan or Gloria Cribbs at: 336-325-3183, acribbs@triad.rr.com, or take a look at their website: www.bonziniusa.com for more info. Other International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) news/background information: There are now 41 member countries of ITSF, with some 55 points-race tournaments currently scheduled worldwide for the ITSF 2007 World Tour, varying in size from $2,000 to $100,000. This gives more players from more countries many more opportunities and ways to compete, improve their skills against more people, and more chances to become eligible to play in the ITSF World Championships Series Finals next year in Italy. Not only that, but as part of ITSF's player development program (initiated two years ago) the ITSF General Assembly and Executive Commissions have approved the inclusion of a Junior World rankings and Junior World Competition at Italy next year. More details on that to come. In another part of ITSF's development fund initiative, at the end of this year's tour each member federation in good standing will receive a "kickback" -- an opportunity for member federations to receive funding for proposed programs or charitable projects that enhance grass roots player training or player base development. And of course, the remainder of the ITSF development fund will continue to be used as it has for the last two years to assist new federations in putting together their administrative, structural, promotional, training and development programs in compliance with the Olympic model. Last, ITSF is scheduled for a meeting with the International Olympic Committee's credentials commission this coming March, at which the IOC will validate ITSF's progress in conforming with the required standards for IOC recognition as a sport. (Again, please keep in mind that there is a difference between official recognition by the IOC and actual Olympic participation -- recognition is a key preliminary step and in many countries it results in government funding of player development and training programs and further allows actual participation in Olympic affiliated events such as the Pan-American games, the Asian Games, and more.) While such recognition won't be forthcoming until after another couple of years of validated compliance/performance, it's nice to see that ITSF continues to stay focused on and committed to its original mission. Finally, foosball has seen a huge upsurge in public and media recognition over the last two years or so. Here are a couple of the television ads with a foosball theme that mostly occurred over the last two years, and I've thrown in one or two slightly older ones as well. Have a look: 2004 -- Pepsi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zehJzZUqdXY 2005 -- MTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYSC91XO2_o 2005 -- Right Guard: http://www.minnesotafoosball.com/rightguard.mpg 2002 -- ESPN: http://www.minnesotafoosball.com/commercial.mpeg 2000 -- Nike: http://www.foosballheaven.com/mov/nikebrandigarnett.mov 2006 -- Premier: (European Sports Network that aired the 2006 Soccer World Championships) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2WpqPD-cQU Very respectfully, Larry Davis, Executive Director United States Table Soccer Federation larry.davis@ustsf.foosball.com