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Chat Area => General Chat => Topic started by: arch.ale on February 08, 2005, 10:19:57 PM

Title: Women and foosball
Post by: arch.ale on February 08, 2005, 10:19:57 PM
I personally would like to see MORE women in the sport of foosball, especially in Maryland.

I'm putting that on the table for discussion.

dont know how you would do it.... but there must be a way?
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: box33 on February 09, 2005, 07:53:02 PM
Maybe manufacturers should offer female molded players on the game table in addition to male :)
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Britters1421 on February 17, 2005, 01:54:29 AM
 I know like three girls who play and they aren't that bad. I personaly play defence, I suck big time as offence. The other girls I play with don't really know much of what they are doing but they are good at what they do know, Me I was just taught how to defend, I get pretty lucky with shots and stuff go. As far as putting females on the table, I think it should remain just little men... seeing a foosball table with the peoples having boobs would be extremly weird.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: djsend on February 22, 2005, 10:56:42 AM
I used to play almost every night.  Played in a bunch of bars out in Denver and there was always some good competition.  I felt that My partner and I were both fairly solid players, could win in almost every game we played out there.  THEN IT HAPPENED!  I was in Jackson Hole and he and I walked intop a bar that just happened to have a Tornado table.  We started playing and this beautiful girl walked up and asked if she could play... she said her vs. me and my buddy... She whooped up on us like it was her job while she was talking on her cell phone!  I think we need more women by far!!!!
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: JimWaterman on February 22, 2005, 02:14:58 PM
...  Played in a bunch of bars out in Denver...   ... THEN IT HAPPENED!  I was in Jackson Hole... this beautiful girl walked up and asked if she could play...    ...She whooped up on us...

Did you happen to get her name?     There are more than a few amazing players out there!
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Disruptor on February 22, 2005, 06:54:40 PM
LOL that reminds me ... the ol' wandering stranger... one time at my college where I play I was playing 1vs1 and this random guy came in asked if he could be on my team ... older about 30 or so and I was like sure man I could use the help and the other guy got a teammate also so it was doubles.... and this guy played forward of course sense I’m a goalie and he was incredible he'd slide shot once in a wile do a tic-tac and then if that didn’t work slide it for an angled shot - which he hit every time ... i was so amazed ... haha it was incredible and he showed me how to do the angle shot :) it rocked by far one of the cooler things that ever happened with foosball..

oh ya ... more girls .... LOL I guess .....I’ve seen some girls that r0cK at foos and hope to see more... I heard there was a really good one at the tournament some friends went to ... :) that’s cool ill have to go next time…
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: squirrelbOy on March 02, 2005, 07:42:39 PM
i remember seeing one girl(who was #$&# hott i may add  ;)) that played foos at my school. it was a crappy cheap imatation orlando table which sucks, but she had a killer 5 bar. i never played foos at the time, but i did start playing for obvious reasons. i jus wish i met a girl at my local spot that can kill on our tornado table.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: SuzyFoosy on March 09, 2005, 07:20:45 PM
I just want to say,,,,,PLEASE be nice to new girl foosers in your area.   ;)

SuzyFoosy
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: mrseanblake on March 27, 2005, 04:01:18 PM
The number player at our tournament is the best, and we have the 13 ranked player in Iowa there also so that has to tell you something. She is the 2 best in the world so.... come on down to Iowa, Cedar Falls that is.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: plaidhorsie on July 06, 2005, 01:54:58 PM
I got my girlfriend playing f-ball in May.  Two weeks after she started playing, she bought me a Cyclone II for my birthday...my birthday isnt till AUGUST.  I think she actually gets more use out of the table than I do.  After about 6 weeks she started playing in our local tourneys.  She only plays front, and has some trouble scoring, but she has a KILLER 5-man. 
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: alaris on July 01, 2011, 01:53:54 PM
Woman are better goalies than men...  And we need more Bonzini Women players  :)
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Anderson on July 01, 2011, 02:15:45 PM
Personally, I disagree. They should all be banned from the sport. I am sick of losing to alaris ;)

Just kidding. I love losing to alaris ;D
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: alaris on July 01, 2011, 04:26:11 PM
See ya tomorrow Mark! Will anyone have any wraps for sale? Oil?
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Anderson on July 01, 2011, 04:28:53 PM
Bobby usually has a collection of wraps for sale. Don't know about oil. Bring it Rebecca!
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: crazy8 on July 05, 2011, 02:32:22 PM
To quote my wife - Miriam: "...just what I need, an activity where guys stands around giving me advice..."
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: pebbles on November 06, 2011, 07:22:31 AM
Too bad you weren't around in the 70s when women not only played open doubles but sometimes won them women had  then, and still have, more choice of events than men, cuz women were allowed to play open events but men are not allowed to play women's doubles or women's singles, so women could "double dip." Some women placed very high in open singles and even won open doubles events! I believe they allowed women to play in open events to allow them a chance to break even on their expenses because women's events have never been known to pay much. Without this option, it is very hard for a woman to break even even if she does very well. It would be interesting to see how many more women participated if their events such as women's doubles, women's singles and mixed doubles had better payouts.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: alaris on November 06, 2011, 01:36:14 PM
 That is funny Crazy8... and so true!
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: crazy8 on November 16, 2011, 11:41:27 AM
While it is true...I do not believe the problem is insurmountable.  Unfortunately, it probably means women taking the responsibility of introducing other women (I almost wrote 'new' women - lol) to the sport.  Since there are relatively few (or we wouldn't have this thread), it is a steep hill to climb.

One deterent seems to be the perceived need to play 'well', as opposed to playing 'well-enough'.  Miriam (wife) plays well-enough.  Well enough to block, well enough to control and clear the ball, well enough to pass and score from the back.  She doesn't have the desire to work on other aspects of the game - to her, well-enough is enough.  It's good enough for me, too.

However, none of my (male) freinds have spouses/gf's who will touch the rods for fear of not playing well.  Certainly, this is common with male non-players as well, but, generally, men do seem to have a more natural ability to 'see the ball, hit the ball'. 

Truly, the only real option is for women to introduce their female friends to the sport, then nurture them to the point where they play well-enough.  Then they have the option to improfve, or not.

 




 
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: bbtuna on November 18, 2011, 11:09:28 PM
foosball like many other things is primarily a male thing...its not because they can't play, its like high end audio, it is mainly a male "sport"...love to have more women, they can play as well as men for sure, just not as many...the 70's proved women were as good as men

if it was up to me, there would be no womens events, I think it is demeaning to them as if they can't play with the men equally and that is not true

foosball could be one of the first if not the first sport/game that men and women play equally and that I think would make foosball totally unique
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: ronron on November 19, 2011, 10:40:18 AM
Woman are better goalies than men

True, and that's because women get years of practice playing "goalie" long before they ever touch a foosball table.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: alaris on November 19, 2011, 12:47:41 PM
hahahahaha Ron
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: gitablok on November 19, 2011, 09:07:25 PM
The number player at our tournament is the best, and we have the 13 ranked player in Iowa there also so that has to tell you something. She is the 2 best in the world so.... come on down to Iowa, Cedar Falls that is.

Well.... Stayce is good, one of the best women to play the game I might add, a future hall of famer... she is not number two in the world, sorry.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: tonyfromak on November 21, 2011, 04:14:05 AM
way back in 77 or 78 I went to visit my brother in sea-tac area. I went into a bowling alley where they had tournament soccer table and two guys were playing a girl who looked to be about 12. all she did was spin the rods really fast, and move from one rod to the next really fast. I thought it was funny these two guys about 16 couldnt beat her. So i tryed to beat her for about 10 games before I realized she was planning all her spinning real well.   P.S. I never could beat her.   Then in the mid 90s I went to a seattle tournament where i heard a loud shot going in the goal, I assumed it was just some guy practiceing. When I turned around it was moya teilens from canada. She was warming up her pull shot. I also noticed that when her hand and hips whipped at same time she made a hard crisp long pull, but when either hand or hip had very slightly different takeoff times she useally whiffed her shot. Ever since then moya has been my girl fooser hero/idle/something like that.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: crazy8 on November 21, 2011, 12:23:43 PM
"foosball like many other things is primarily a male thing"

Didn't know foosball was popular in the 50's.

Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Foos_Consigliere on December 04, 2011, 05:49:32 AM
The whole sport is shrinking. Tour expenses have climbed. Local locations are drying up.
 
Women are getting this best bang for the buck in foosball on the IFP tour and still numbers are stalling out.

Even if some huge pop culture phenomena occurred tomorrow, foosball  would lack the infrastructure and organization to capitalize.

Foosball needs some big changes. The manufacture doesn't care.  Players are beginning to not care more every tournament.  The current formats are not equating into player growth.  Local promotions are drying up across the nation.  When I started playing in 95 my state and most state had multiple tournament locations. Today, most states are lucky to have one tournament location.

In 95 there were 15+ promoters running multiple regional tournaments. Today there are a handful of remaining promoters and most either don't run a regional or run 1 per year.

 

 




Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Buckshot on December 04, 2011, 08:00:46 PM
I thought foosball was dead when Tournament Soccer died in 1981.  Dynamo filled the vacuum. Tornado has always been there. Striker came and went. Warrior came and may or may not last, time will tell. I thought video games killed foos, wrong again. If foosball can survive the rise of video games, and it has, nothing can stop it.  Foosball is such a great game that it will always be there in both casual and serious tournament play. If Tornado and Fireball stop having tournaments, people like the people who comment on this site will have tournaments in their game room or garage. This game is unique and awesome and isn't going anywhere.  Tournament Soccer came out of nowhere like a Tornado (haha) and something like that could happen again (Fireball?).  After 60 years on this planet one thing I know for sure is life is full of surprises, so never count foosball out.
     Oh yeah, and women will continue to play, too.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Old Meister on December 05, 2011, 11:57:01 PM
I had a younger player(30ish) come over to practice some foos. After playing a while I asked him if he would like to play my wife. After a bit of prodding she reluctantly came in, kicked his ass and then left. He says,"Thanks a lot!" She partnered with me through half the 70's on TS but something about Tornado's just agree with her style. She's got a stingy 5 bar and loves to back cut a close handed push as well as push kicks with all the options. Our state director still talks about her and how good she is but try as I might I can't get her to get back into tournaments.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: crazy8 on December 07, 2011, 03:28:39 PM
Whether we are talking about men or women, there are a lot a foosers that we've never met and who've never been to a tournament.

Recently, my wife mentioned to a co-worker that I had bought a second table - thinking the other women would think it humorous that anyone would have one, never mind two..  Instead, the other women replied that almost everyone on her kid's soccer team had a Tornado at home.  Wow!

Add this to the zillions of SportCraft, etc. tables that are sold each year and you have to wonder what's holding us back.  If you were to look at any Craig's List you'd see enough of the other-brand tables to fill a tounament hall.  Someone must have wanted the table and wanted to play - once.  I think the potential is there, but I'm plumb out of suggestions on how to bring these 'outsiders' in.

Paul

 
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: SilentSam on December 07, 2011, 05:12:13 PM
To bring outsiders in, the tournament scene needs to redefine the term 'Beginner'. This obviously is very difficult to control and regulate from a tournament director's standpoint, but it takes someone with some serious tires on them to show up to a tournament, sign up for beginner, get their ass handed to them by someone brush passing & snaking (in beginner ffs), and still stick with the competitive foos scene. It's been said before, but there needs to be a grassroots approach to build interest at local levels to generate a trickle down effect to the tournament scene, not the other way around.
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: PatRyan on December 07, 2011, 05:40:07 PM
SilentSam is on the right track!  Most foosball "players" (not tournament players, but regular players), play the game to be competitive and to have fun.  Most have no desire (at least initially) to go to a tournament only to have their butt kicked, feel bad, and never show up again.  Then they put thier table up for sale on craigslist, where we see all of those tables for sale.  There needs to be a more nuturing and fun environment for those "newer" players to experience foosball.  Not just the game of foosball, but the friendships, the socializing, the comraderie, and all of the other things that keep the rest of us coming back. 
And these newer players don't need to be called beginners either.  Most of these particular players already have abandoned spinning, but have not yet honed the skills necessary to be fully competitive against a seasoned tour player.  We would have alot more players filtering into the tournament scenes if there was also a night of the week in each foosball town set aside for these newer players.  A time not for tournaments, or for kicking the newer players on the table.  But a time for showing the fun, friendship, comraderie, and yes, also teaching them the skills necessary to improve thier game.  If you keep it fun and social, these new players might just come back the next week to have fun, socialize and learn a little more.  But you also have to accept that only a small percentage of these players will ever be tournament players.  The majority would rather just have a place and time to get together to play a really great game that they enjoy, among friends.  And if uou find the one or two that want to try their hand at tournament foosball, you can point them to the other day and time for the tournaments (but only when they are ready, and they will let you know if and when they are ready). 

Just my 2 cents

PR
Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: crazy8 on December 08, 2011, 10:58:57 AM
In CT we have a very limited pool of players.  Most (all but two or three) have never played in a tournament.  When we get together as a group we use a software program that one of the players wrote:

All players are entered as either 'A' or 'B' players.  Round robin matches are generated and called where each 'A' and 'B' player is paired (multiple times) and play all the other potential A/B pairs. 

Besides storing win/loss records, the game-points are also entered into the program after each game (each match is only one game).  After the round robin, the process continues where an only B-player round robin is played and an only A-player round robin is played.

Finally, individual players are ranked by their success.
It is not unusual for a B-player to have the best win/loss/goal-differential, but it can go either way. 

We think it's a great way for everyone to benefit: each B-player gets to play with each of the A-players more than once, each A-player must try to win with varying levels of support. 

Paul

Title: Re: Women and foosball
Post by: Buckshot on December 08, 2011, 12:01:37 PM
This thread has got really interesting and has me remembering the first time I saw tournament style/level play. In 1975 I was a big fish in a small pond when I went to my first Tournament Soccer Tournament in Maryland. The first person I watched practicing when I walked into the tournament room was some guy shooting pushkicks. OMG! Suddenly it was back-to-school, big time! But it brought out the competative spirit in me and I rose to the occasion and won the DYP, first tournament I ever entered! My partner was Randy "Goose" Taylor, probably the best player out of Utah. My point is, Draw Your Partner tournaments are the best and most fun & fair way to elevate beginners to serious play. You can be a rookie but still do well if you get lucky on the draw and get a good partner. After I went back to Dogpatch (haha), I and the small group who went with me brought back some of our new knowledge and skill to Yama's (our foos bar) and everyone started playing better and IT WAS STILL FUN!
      I believe that striving to improving one's game is a big part of the attraction and what keeps people coming back. The way to get  beginners to keep trying and not be intimidated by more experienced & skillful players is DYP tournaments and Novice or Amature events with restricted entry at the larger tournaments. This is how Tournament Soccer did it and it worked.
     I see a similar situation with woman foosball players and women poker players. The reason, in my humble opinion, that there are so many more men than women in tournaments is biology, i.e., male aggression. It's in our male genes and culture to fight and compete. But in both poker tournaments and foosball tournaments there are women who have the desire, skill and, dare I say, aggression, to kick the crap out of their male opponents. And boy, do us males hate losing to a GIRL! More power to you, ladies.