28 April, 2006

EURO-FOOSIN'

As I write this, the U.S. National Foosball Team is in the final stages of preparing to compete in the International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) World Cup of Table Soccer. The tournament, to be held Memorial Day weekend in Hamburg, Germany, will feature teams from 20 different countries around the world. Each team, having selected eight to ten of their nation’s best players, will be competing in a combination of doubles and singles events, on five different styles of tables: Tornado, EuroSoccer, Bonzini, Garlando, and Roberto-Sport (making it a true test of all-around foosball skills). And all 20 teams are competing in Germany courtesy of expense-paid trips from ITSF!!

With the tournament’s promotions tied directly into the FIFA World Cup of ("real") Soccer, also taking place in Hamburg, this tournament is specifically timed to leverage a huge opportunity for media exposure (the World Cup of Soccer is actually the world’s largest sports event). Because an estimated 20 thousand news-sports journalists will already be in Hamburg during the ITSF tournament, news coverage could be huge and a big plus for the sport of table soccer especially in terms of exposure, recognition as a sport, and future sponsorships. (Also of interest: both Inside Foos Productions and TableSportsRadio.com will be covering the event live!)

The U.S. Team certainly has a good news story angle, something that most of the journalists will be actively searching for: while the U.S. National Soccer Team has made tremendous strides in international competition over the last 15 years (even achieving a world ranking as high as fifth), no serious soccer enthusiast genuinely believes the U.S. team has any real chance of winning the FIFA World Cup. However, the U.S. National Table Soccer Team, with a combined total of well over 20 World and 100 Major tour titles, is expected to dominate the ITSF World Cup!

In fact, those of you who attended the VIFA International/USTSA Kickoff tournament in Las Vegas this last March may have noticed the large number of international players competing there. This is probably no accident, as almost all of them were there preparing for the ITSF World Cup. They were also watching the U.S. Team members very closely, even taking notes. So, while not every foosball player in the United States is even aware of the World Cup in Hamburg, the rest of the world is very serious about getting ready to take us on. (I’ve actually heard of other teams buying Inside Foos videos to study our players, even to the point of doing statistical analysis on passing and shot percentages...)

Who is the 2006 U.S. National Foosball Team that the rest of the world is so worried about? It is: Robert Mares (Team Captain) of Aurora, CO; Terry Moore, Chicago, IL; Billy Pappas, Lowell, MA; Dave Gummeson, Coon Rapids, MN; Louis Cartwright, Las Vegas, NV; Adrian Zamora, Newark, CA; Tom Yore, Tampa, FL; Stayce Fowler, Cedar Rapids, IA; Lotus Leong-Chesborough, Colbert, WA; and Dusty Bambenek, Canal Fulton, OH. Stand-by players are Cindy Head and Bruce Nardoci, and the team’s Coach-Manager is Alan Cribbs. No wonder we’re “the team to beat”!!

Next, I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to, contributed to and/or sponsored the U.S. National Team. In Las Vegas, the United States Table Soccer Federation (USTSF) organized U.S. team fundraisers (including a silent auction for collectable foos photos and a raffle for wall-mounted “FoosDudes”). Special thanks go to Ron Greenwald of Foosdude.com and to both Dave Courington and Becky Cherry for their generous personal donations, and to Kathy Brainard for the auction photos! The combined fundraising gathered over $1,150! And, an extra special thanks also goes out to Brunswick and the Valley-Dynamo division, who donated a further $1,000! 100% of these funds will be used to help pay for required team uniforms at the World Cup, and to help pay travel expenses for our “alternate” player(s).

Las Vegas also saw a number of players automatically qualify for trips to the ITSF World Championships in November in St. Vincent, Italy. Among them: first in Women’s Doubles, Cindy Head and Dawn Duquette; first in Open Doubles, Billy Pappas and Tony Spredeman, and first in Open Singles, Frederico Collignon!

Having said all that, the ITSF World Tour continues, with more sanctioned tournaments throughout the year. Among those coming up: the IFP Kentucky State, the Minnesota State Championships, the Tornado World Series tournament in Las Vegas; the Bart O’Hearn in Austin, the Canadian Multi-Table, the Costa Rica Championship, the Monterrey Mexico Multi-Table, and more!! Lots of opportunity for ITSF “points-chasers” to win trips to Italy in November!! (Don’t forget that 1st thru 3rd in Open Singles and 1st in Women’s Singles at Tornado Worlds automatically win trips to Italy too!)

The very active efforts of the ITSF and USTSF to promote our sport to the public and to sponsors are vital to the future of the sport worldwide. Please see these websites for more information: www.foosball.com/ustsf, and www.table-soccer.org, or contact the USTSF to see how you too can help: ustsf@foosball.com.

Good luck to the U.S. National Foosball Team! Go USA!!

Very respectfully,

Larry "Euro-Foosin" Davis

Executive Director, USTSF

"Ask not what the sport of Foosball can do for you;

ask what you can do for the sport of Foosball."