Now, before I begin I have to say that this post is not about any of the problems of the U

The role of the United States Table Soccer Federation (USTSF) is to act as the United States' liaison between the International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) and the various USA based Foosball organizations (e.g., the United States Table Soccer Association (USTSA), Bonzini USA, Independent Foosball Promotions (IFP), etc., as well as all table manufacturers), and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The ITSF and USTSF's objective is not so much being to put table soccer into the Olympics (a total process that takes about 15 years), but of gaining recognition by newsmedia and U.S. and international sports authorities as a professional sport (USOC recognition is actually a helpful part of that). Yes, its sounds like a pretty distant, trivial and/or obscure goal, but in doing so we have to accomplish a tremendous amount of public relations and get through quite a few other coordination efforts with ITSF. All of these efforts are designed to: "enhance the image, recognition, and salability of the sport to the public at large, and to potential sponsors throughout the world, which in the end will benefit everyone -- players, promoters, operators and manufacturers alike."

Okay, what does all this really mean? To begin, both USTSF and ITSF began about 2002 as non-profit organizations, with France's Farid Lounas taking the ITSF lead. By virtue of his status as past President of the French Table Soccer Federation, he was at that time able to gain recognition from the government to establish an international agency to organize the sport of table soccer worldwide. Although he is not even paid for his work, he has since been in business full time as an independent advocate/promoter of foosball seven days a week, 365 days a year and by all accounts has made tremendous progress. He has gained the willing support (equal membership) of all six of the top manufacturers in the world (Brunswick’s Tornado Table Soccer, Garlando, Jupiter’s EuroSoccer, Bonzini, Roberto Sport, and Lehmacher) and players associations/federations in some 35 countries (even helping some countries to build their player's associations from the ground up) (current member countries). In both 2005 and 2006 ITSF incorporated 12 and 20 respectively, of the largest tournaments throughout the world into an ITSF World Series Tour.

USTSF & ITSF: Who are they & What do they do?

Posted by Larry Davis, USTSF Executive Director:

Now, before I begin I have to say that this post is not about any problems with the U.S. pro tour, or the USTSA or about VIFA or any manufacturers or any specific tournament. Nor is this post intended to invite argument, criticism, dissertations, or even questions. As such, this may not be interesting for many. And, it's going to be a little long, because I want to finally communicate in some detail what has been going on with the small independent entity that is the United States Table Soccer Federation (USTSF) in its support of the International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) that is contributing to the sport of foosball in a lot of long-term ways. Most of what USTSF and ITSF are accomplishing revolves around the effort to expand to enhance the image, recognition, and salability of the sport to the public at large, and to potential sponsors throughout the world, which in the end will benefit everyone -- players, promoters, operators and manufacturers alike.

First, I have to review what USTSF and ITSF are, and what are their generalized objectives. USTSF is at this point an organization presently composed of myself, Kathy Brainard, Jim Waterman and Bruce Nardoci, with most excellent consultation/advice provided by Alan Cribbs, Brad Laurine, Brad Anderson, and a variety of other dedicated player-promoters. We are NOT specifically linked to the noted/infamous "braintrusts" of either the USTSA or Brunswick-Valley-Dynamo-Tornado (BVDT), but rather act as the United States' independent liaison between the ITSF and all manufacturers, the USTSA, and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). We seek to serve the players and the public, at all levels, as “America’s Global Foosball Voice.” Thus, USTSF’s objective is not so much being to put table soccer into the Olympics (a total process that takes about 15 years), but of gaining recognition of table soccer by news media and U.S. and international sports authorities as a professional sport (USOC recognition is actually a helpful part of that). And, unlike previous/other organizations, our goal is to remain outside the auspices of any manufacturers. Yes, its sounds like a pretty distant, trivial and/or obscure goal, but in doing so we have to accomplish a tremendous amount of public relations and get through quite a few other coordination efforts with ITSF. All of these efforts are designed to: "enhance the image, recognition, and salability of the sport to the public at large, and to potential sponsors throughout the world, which in the end will benefit everyone -- players, promoters, operators and manufacturers alike."

Okay, what does all this really mean? Well, if you've had a chance to read any of my last few "Euro-Foosin" Table Talk articles you have a little idea. If not, here goes: both USTSF and ITSF began about 2002 as non-profit organizations, with France's Farid Lounas taking the ITSF lead. By virtue of his status as past President of the French Table Soccer Federation, he was at that time able to gain recognition from the government to establish an international agency to organize the sport of table soccer worldwide, independent/not an affiliate of manufacturers, towards the ultimate goal of International Olympic Committee recognition for the sport and ultimately, Olympic participation. Although he is not even paid for his work, he has since been in business full time as an independent advocate/promoter of the sport of foosball seven days a week, 365 days a year and by all accounts has made tremendous progress. He has gained the willing support (membership) of all six of the top manufacturers in the world (Brunswick’s Tornado Table Soccer, Garlando, Jupiter’s EuroSoccer, Bonzini, Roberto Sport, and Lehmacher) and players associations/federations in some 35 countries (even helping some countries to build their player's associations from the ground up) (current member countries). In both 2005 and 2006 ITSF incorporated 12 and 20 respectively, of the largest tournaments throughout the world into an ITSF World Series Tour.

How does the ITSF World Series Tour benefit American players and promoters? The answer is that in 2004 it increased the value of the top three prizes in Open Singles at the World Championships by about $2,500 each. In 2005 it similarly increased the value of the top three prizes in Open Singles and the top place in Women's Singles. In 2006, it increased those values, plus first in Open Singles, Open Doubles, and Womens Doubles at the Las Vegas Tour Kickoff/International Series Championships this year. How so? By placing in the top places, those players automatically qualify for the ITSF World Series Finals, meaning: expense-paid trips to compete in St. Vincent, Italy in the ITSF World Masters Playoff Championships in November. (U.S. players who have won trips include Rob Mares, Tony Spredeman, Billy Pappas, Stayce Fowler, and Dusty Bambenek, and they absolutely had a blast!) In addition, points towards the overall ITSF Rankings list are earned by all players participating in the main mens and womens singles events at the eight different U.S. regional and national tournaments this year (varying in size from $2,000 to $100,000), adding an additional value to those prizes in that the top 16 overall men and top eight overall women on the season-ending ITSF Rankings list will also qualify for the trips to Italy. (With Billy Pappas, Tony Spredeman, Cindy Head and Dawn Duquette already qualified, the lists also show Terry Moore, Rob Mares, and Brandon Moreland in or very near the qualifying range, with Tom Yore, Todd Loffredo and Steve Mohs extremely close in the running, as are Stayce Fowler, Dusty Bambenek, Tiffany Moore, Maggie Strong, Christina Fuchs, Lotus Chesbrough and Gena Murray on the Women’s side.) By the time the points-race season is over (mid-October), we could have other qualified players, as qualifying points are earned by virtually everyone who participates in the main Singles events.

Now, why do so few in the United States know about USTSF and ITSF, or what tournaments are the qualifiers? Sorry, total lack of communication. The USTSF was originally formed by a lot of highly qualified promoters (original staff also included Phil Kennedy and Stacey Myers), but all of them are workaholics with a ton of other stuff going on in their lives. We've been doing USTSF as time permits. Kathy Brainard took the lead for the first couple of years, and accomplished a huge first step with the massive package submission to the USOC. (This package required a tremendous amount of USOC compliance documentation, forms, enclosures, etc.) Also, not wanting to follow immediately on the heels of NATSA's troubles, we've been doing this out of our own pockets and an occasional donation from interested promoters. We have not charged a membership fee, though we tried to figure out a way we could. Unfortunately, there is no inherent benefit, added value or palpable return on investment that the majority of players can physically see (such as a newsletter, entry fee discounts, etc), and being immediately after NATSA's difficulties who wanted to risk shelling out money to yet another lofty-goaled organization that in this case wasn't even going to run tournaments? We did however, arrange that all USTSA members would automatically become USTSF members, but at the time we could not convince USTSA to provide even a dollar per member kickback to our operating budget, so there went that idea. But that's okay, we'll improvise and adapt I guess.

Another setback to USTSF progress has been the various transitions that have been going on in the U.S. tour and at BVDT. Just when both USTSF and ITSF were starting to effectively coordinate things with Valley-Dynamo L.P. and the awesome Link Pendley (then VDLP's International Sales Rep), Brunswick takes charge, the tour makes a major shift in structure/leadership and formats, and Link Pendley resigns. The whole thing goes into a state of flux. Kathy steps down as Executive Director of USTSF, so I step in. But I was in the middle of moving cross-country, significant job training, and finishing a second Masters Degree at night, so the time/effort needed to let everybody in on USTSF/ITSF has been few and far between (thanks go out to the tournament promoters who let us set up informational booths at their events, and thanks to the Foosball EZBoard for allowing us to occasionally communicate updates on our progress!). Back to the point, absent an actual newletter, both myself and Boris Atha (the ITSF General Secretary) have occasionally been providing tidbits of information about both USTSF and ITSF to the American players via Table Talk and the EZBoard where we've been able, but USTSF promises to do much better in the future years.

Which brings me to the future: among the goals of the ITSF from its inception was to conform to International Olympic Committee (IOC) requirements for recognition and membership. As previously noted, this is a long and involved process, but it includes several mandates. One is to have enough actively organized and participating countries, which ITSF has been successfully driving towards developing by providing templates for non-profit and sports organization structures to those countries that have expressed an interest/desire to participate, and then (if necessary) helping those organizations build grass-roots development programs such as youth leagues, tournaments, and both charity/sponsorship integration. ITSF has put together a development fund specifically to donate to the federations of these countries. Next, they are required to document a certain number of regional and national competitive events in member countries, known as “sanctioned events” which serve as qualification leading to further international events. ITSF has met these requirements for each of the last three years. They are further required to act as a governing body, developing international commission representation from member nations to work on a variety of programs, including development of a single set of standardized rules, equipment standards, commonly accepted competitive structures/formats, ranking systems, member nation and athlete development, anti-doping rules, mass communications/public&media relations, and more. Again, ITSF has been hard at work on these projects, and seeks active participation on its committees and commissions (as does USTSF for its related committees). Some of these will take time; a few are in process, a few need to work out/fine tune details, but all need more participation!!

Yes, the efforts of Farid, ITSF, and its member federations have already been increasingly effective at gaining larger sponsorships. As a result, all 250 players, coaches, federation reps and event staff for this year’s ITSF World Cup of Table Soccer (Hamburg, Germany; May 24-27, 2006) will be there on expense-paid trips, courtesy of ITSF, the German Federation (DTFB) and their sponsors!! The total cost to do this is estimated at well over US$300,000, and yet it costs the players, promoters, and sport nothing. Moreover, it’s expected that due to the timing in connection with the “real” FIFA World Cup of Soccer, that media attention will be phenomenal. This can only be good for the sport, its image, its future sponsorship potential (for players and tournaments alike) and public awareness worldwide.

And yes, that means that the value of participation in all major ITSF-sanctioned doubles and singles events is in fact much greater than just the immediate cash payouts. As such (more good news), Phil Schlaefer & USTSA, and over a dozen other promoters volunteered to support USTSF and ITSF by increasing their involvement/visibility by holding USTSF/ITSF points-qualifying events for their tournaments. (I will also be available to talk to other interested promoters both at USTSF booths and at promoters meetings at as many of these tournaments as I can get to.) But don’t forget, USTSF is “America’s Foosball Voice.” It does come down to us, to represent the interests of the majority of the players and promoters as best as we can, so please volunteer to be a part of our staff or to head up some of our committees. This way, we can bring our experience and ideas together, and ensure that we have input into the process. Without USTSF, we will be left behind in the biggest way. In this vein, I have managed to get myself elected onto the ITSF Executive Commission, which is a good thing (I’ve already been able to bring Farid down to earth with some of his ideas -- at least he’s constantly motivated!). And we have also managed to get Tom Yore onto a post as President of the ITSF Rules Commission. This is also great news, in that the USTSA Rules book is to serve as the baseline for standardized rules worldwide, from which some adjustments will be made. (I would expect this to be an evolving process not initially set in stone but tested via international tournament play on all ITSF official tables).

This year I'll make sure everyone knows as much as possible via every communication channel I can come up with. I will try to petition with Farid for as many points-qualifying tournaments in the U.S. as he will allow, so as to give U.S. and Canadian players as much opportunity to qualify as the Europeans have (which means that even if you're not one of the top ten in the USTSA points book, by playing every USTSF/ITSF sanctioned event you may easily accumulate enough ITSF points to go to Italy!). In addition, as a public relations professional, I have offered all U.S. promoters whose tournaments are selected for sanctioning by ITSF a comprehensive, targeted press release, that will cover everything from local news media and college newspapers, to national and international media, wire services, coin-industry trade magazines, all the way back down to local pool-halls, sports bars and soccer clubs as a means to publicize their events, gain sponsors, and attract the public, new players and of course, existing players to their events. Most professional Public Relations firms charge in the thousands for detailed service like this, but USTSF is providing it free. Everyone’s a winner.

In the end, as long as everyone participates in the process (hint, hint), nobody in the United States loses on USTSF or ITSF. It's good for the sport, good for the players, and so far has cost nothing for anybody but me, the USTSF staff, a couple of visionary promoter/donors, and the tournament organizers who have to pay minimal ITSF sanctioning fees. Of course, we could definitely use more donations to help pay our minimal operating expenses, the budget which we will soon post on our website for public scrutiny/transparency: www.foosball.com/ustsf, and to help pay for U.S. National Team athletic attire, now required to be worn at both the World Cup and at the ITSF World Masters Finals in Italy.

On a related note, In an attempt to raise a little operating capital, I have spent about $1,500 of my own money on some very basic USTSF/ITSF promotional items (pens, keychains, stadium cups, bumper stickers) that will be available for purchase at the USTSF/ITSF table at Dallas. Everything will have a very modest markup, so please buy up as much as you can! Hopefully, shirts and such will come later in the year and/or will be available on our website. Also, USTSF will be auctioning off “Foos-Dudes” courtesy of Ron Greenwald at both Vegas tournaments and probably at a couple of regionals. For those who are foos memorabilia collectors, these are some really cool items.

For any other ???? see me, Jim Waterman or Kathy Brainard in Vegas!

Who else but...

Larry "Euro-Foosin" Davis

"Ask not what the sport of foosball can do for you, ask what you can do for the sport of foosball."

Additional notes

6/5/2006: With media promotions tied directly into FIFA’s World Cup of Soccer, also hosted in Germany, over 60 television and other news media covered the tournament throughout the weekend. In all, over a thousand spectators and millions of TV viewers witnessed a weekend full of twists, surprises and upsets as each of the world’s top-ranked teams fell to highly charged and aggressive challengers. There's a related website set up:
www.tischfussball-wm-2006.de/

Sponsors of the event included Carlsberg Brewery, Argo Personal, Sportstadt Hamburg, Fabula-Film and the DEHOGA Hamburg hotel and restaurant association, while sponsors of the U.S. National Foosball Team, among others, included Nike™, Brunswick’s Tornado Table Soccer™, Bonzini™ USA, Tornello Enterprises, Foosball.com, Rod-lock.com and TTR MasterWraps.

More of ITSF’s sanctioned World Tour events are scheduled to take place in Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, United States (including Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas), the UK and more. Having already finished the World Cup in Germany and “World Series” events in Belgium and France, the 2006 tour will culminate this summer and fall with additional World Series events in Austria, Italy, and the $100,000 Tornado World Championships Series tournament at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas (September 20-24). The traditional season-end finale will then be the ITSF World Championships Masters Playoff in St. Vincent, Italy (November 4-8), a “best of the best” playoff of all the year’s top male and female tour champions in singles and doubles.

The first World Series Finals playoff was splashed all over Italian television and newsprint, with some syndicated distribution throughout the rest of Europe. In addition, the event's Opening Ceremonies (a big deal in the large European tournaments for most every sport) featured a number of Italy's top music, comedy and other stage acts, and was attended by many VIPs, including Italian Olympic Committee officials. All of this was thanks to Farid's ITSF efforts with help from the Italian Table Soccer Federation's President Massimo Ragona.

Update 2/28/2007:

ITSF continues to grow, expanding both its federation membership worldwide, its number of sanctioned tournaments, the number of competitive categories at its annual ITSF World Finals playoff in Italy, and in the ways it is giving back to the players with both grass roots development and international competition. Of note, each year ITSF has added events to its World Finals in Italy, and so this year it will also include events for 17&Under Singles and Doubles and for 50&Over Singles & Doubles! (USTSF is working up ways to provide the opportunity for USA players to compete in those added events, with 17&Under Singles qualifications already scheduled for the U.S. Open and Tornado Worlds.) Of additional note, ITSF continues to strive towards recognition as an "official" sport by the International Olympic Committee, with a compliance review meeting scheduled with the IOC this coming month (March).

To date, USTSF continues to provide all our services to players, promoters, tournament directors and manufacturers at no cost and without having charged either membership fees or our own tournament sanctioning fees. Fortunately, we have received wonderful sponsorships/donations support from a great deal of sources, most of whom receive recognition and/or are listed on the USTSF website's main page. USTSF could not exist without that support, or without the vote of confidence that so many have given us that what we've been trying to do is good for the players, the sport, and everyone involved. Your continued support -- be it through your participation in running ITSF sanctioned events, through your own verbal support among the players and operators, through your active volunteer participation in our many new committees, or through continued sponsorships/donations -- is extremely appreciated!!!!!