Taken from the July 1996 Issue of Table Talk
Published by Tornado Table Soccer, Inc.

Tiffany Billirakis focuses on achievement rather than success. She looks at wins as knowledge of what she has accomplished, rather than in terms of the praise of others. Although this outlook often makes Tiffany appear very humble further conversation with her reflects a more ambiguous and often shockingly self-critical woman. But don't be fooled. Not only is Tiffany quite confident in her ability to supremely challenge any female player, she is also admittedly chasing the number one rank in hopes of seizing it from Liz Hill, who has kept the rank for over 14 months. Confidence seeps from her voice when you ask her if her game improved to a great degree when she began dating her now fiancee, Terry Moore (the number one ranked male player in the sport for the last 42 months). She'll quickly remind you she's played the game longer than he has. Yet, she follows with how he has influenced a change in her attitude. Tiffany credits Terry for helping her believe she is capable of winning every time she plays.

Tiffany often seems to come from the defensive side when talking about foosball. That makes sense when you look at her beginnings in the sport. Defensive is her nature. Tiffany was known for a very strong goalie game before earning her name as a top female forward. She speaks of bricking top players on Dynamo, her first experience with table. soccer, and moving more to the forward rods once she started playing on Tornado. She claims she struggles with her 2-bar these days, but she often plays goal in Women's Doubles, unlike Liz Hill or Cindy Head. Tiffany just wants to win. Wherever she needs to be on the table for that to happen is irrelevant. The struggles she's faced in finding a partner who can switch with her same ease has proven it a rare and unique quality in a female player today. It proves to work for her, she has earned a World Championship title as both forward and goalie in Open Women's Doubles.

I was initially confused by Tiffany's mass of contradicting qualities. She is nearly six feet tall yet truly un-intimidating in character. Her conversation regarding foosball is a mesh of confidence and self-criticism. She is careful to include everyone in her list of good players but equally careful to point out her ability to play against them. I found comfort in her honest and selfless offering of understanding the difficulties of playing a competitive sport among a group of women that inevitably become your friends. But don't let her sweet nature fool you. Tiffany also knows to keep her friends close, but her enemies closer. There is definitely a killer instinct behind that shy and un-offensive personality, and you will meet with it as soon as you foos the ball.

Mary: At what point in your life did foosball capture you?

Tiffany: In a local game room when I was about 18 years old. I was intimidated to play at first, but there were a lot of top players around. I watched them and would write down the winners on the chart, and slowly started to mess around and play. Then I started going out with a guy named Chad Hanson who played, and got into it.

Mary: How long did it take you to start winning?

Tiffany: I started winning right away. It seems like I turned Pro almost immediately. I hardly even had an "Expert" phase. I played with Chad and won Mixed Doubles right off the bat. My first major win was in 1992 when I went to the U.S. Open and quadrupled. I won Women's Open Singles, Women's "B" Singles, Women's Open Doubles and Open Mixed. I had none of this "Rookie Struggle" some are experiencing today.

Mary: so your first win was a Mixed event. You and Terry don't play Mixed together today. At least not at the majors. Both of you being at the top of your ranks, one would think you could manage any "relationship" stresses to just dominate and win the cash together. Yet, with the exception of the Murrays, you don't see that much. why do you think that is?

Tiffany: At first I thought, great, we'll dominate mixed! But it didn't work out that way! It's just hard, at least for us. We play in some 3 and 5 granders. If I made a mistake while playing with Terry, it is suddenly magnified to me. I start to worry about how he's reacting to my mistake and if he's mad. He doesn't get mad, but I just think he is. I do that with other partners sometimes too, but not like I do with him. Terry takes foosball very seriously. Foosball is his life. So, it's just too stressful for us to play together.

Mary: Has he influenced your game at all?

Tiffany: My game? Well, he would try to . show me things, but I guess I'm just stubborn a lot in my ways. I figured I'd been playing longer than him, so how could he teach me how to play? But he has taught me a lot. He has influenced my attitude. I feel like I should win more often. He's taught me that foosball is more mental than physical.

Mary: Do you prefer to play with any other Mixed partners in particular?

Tiffany: I play with Steve Beine.

Mary: Some say goalies in Mixed are "only as good as their partner", do you believe that?

Tiffany: No. I've seen too many goalies hold their partners in a game in mixed to believe that.

Mary: You've been playing or 14 or 15 years now. As you know, you can play at Worlds and win Women's Singles, Doubles and even Open Mixed and not make any money once you pay your expenses for the tour stop. What do you think Tornado can do to help this situation?

Tiffany: Everyone always says if you want to win Open money then play Open. So I say they need to include Open Singles, Doubles and Open Doubles in the Women's packages. I'd pay higher entry fees in Women's events to win more money.

Mary: What do you think about adjusting the current ranking of the top women players by removing players who have not played in a Tornado sponsored tournament for over a year? We have players listed in the top twenty that haven't played in almost two years. This could immediately make the list truly current and complete.

Tiffany: Yeah. That makes sense. I find myself really getting hung up on the ranking thing. I find myself motivated to play just to beat out Liz's number one ranking. I know I can beat her, so I get motivated to have what she has. I guess that's crazy to want that like that but I catch myself being motivated to go out and play just to get that number one ranking from Liz.

Mary: Do you think we'll eventually have more consistently high-ranked players like Cindy and Liz, as opposed to the shuffle we usually see? You know, players that can stay in the top 5 for a good period of time. If so, who do you think can be the best ones to do it?

Tiffany: Right now? I think Stephanie Dean is good on all three rods and I don't know why she's not winning. Caryn Varadinek is also good on all three rods. And myself. I'm sure there are some others too. I think Cindy and Liz have won so much because they have a real strong desire and drive to win. Other players lack that.

Mary: You find there are a lot of strong female players?

Tiffany: I think there are a lot of good female players. Cami Carter, Stephanie Dean, Cindy Head, Liz Hill, Caryn Varadinek, Angela Sine, Lotus Leong...April DeVito...I don't want to forget anybody!

Mary: Who do you consider your toughest competition these days?

Tiffany: Everybody! Especially the unknowns that I am supposed to just be able to beat! I'd also have to say April DeVito. I have not beat her in singles yet. But I know when I'm playing my best on all rods, I can beat anyone. But, I can be beat by anyone too.

Mary: Are you noticing any trends among those "unknowns"?

Tiffany: They're blocking me! Yeah, defenses are getting better. I think more aggression is needed though.

Mary: You are one of the few players in the sport who uses far wall passing as their staple passing series. Why did you choose that series and do you find that people have a difficult time blocking it, as it is not nearly as familiar to most as near wall passing?

Tiffany: I got it from Chad Hanson and Tony Bacon. They were some of my first influences and I just learned it first. It used to be easy to pass through people with it, but the defenses for it are going better now. I have a lost advantage of truly seeing the ball as well! But, it's still easier for me to pass with that series.

Mary: Do you brush or tic-tac?

Tiffany: I brush.

Mary: Do you ever call judges in your women's matches? If not, why are so many called among the men and not the women?

Tiffany: I usually don't call a judge because it makes me nervous! I usually don't consider getting one until an infraction has occurred already and then it's too late. I don't know. It's been my experience that women are honest and will usually give the ball up easily, unlike men who refuse to give in.

Mary: Why do you think it is easier for the men to be able to criticize each other's games without upsetting one another, unlike the women who seem to get uptight if another female player offers any sort of criticism, regardless of what may be true. Wouldn't it be more productive to have everyone be able to open themselves up to peer criticism and frank group discussion so they can learn more from their game? It seems like it could only make all the women that much better.

Tiffany: I think women are just more sensitive. They just take everything personally. You have to just learn to deal with that and try to get past it. I used to let my rivalry with Liz tear me up and I finally figured out the only way to get over it was to try to become friends with her. It's helped.

Mary: What players have influenced you?

Tiffany: Chad Hanson got me into playing, as I mentioned. I grew up playing around Tony Bacon, Don Chalifoux and Don Swan. Charlene Turner was my first female mentor of any kind.

Mary: Now Tiffany, you are a two time World Champion in Open Women's Doubles, once in 1992 playing goal for Lotus Leong and last year at the 1995 World Championships playing forward for Angela Sine. Do you like to play with one partner all year or play your options?

Tiffany: I like to play with one all year but I'd like them to travel to all the tour stops and be able to switch positions. Angela played so awesome at Worlds and carried me through some of those games! Caryn Varadinek and I won at the U.S. Open and she and I can switch too. I'm playing with Angela at Worlds again this year.

Mary: Do you consider yourself a forward or a goalie?

Tiffany: Both, but definitely a forward more these days. My 2 bar is my weakness right now. I like to play both positions and I like to be able to switch with partners, like I said. I started on Dynamo and developed really strong goalie skills on that table. I could brick lots of the top players back then. But I took a three year break in the late 80's and had my kids, so in 1989 I came back and started to work on my forward game on Tornado. I don't play nearly as good goal on Tornado as I did on Dynamo, but Tornado's table is more of a forward table to me.

Mary: You had an emotional moment with Cami Carter at Worlds this past year.

Tiffany: Yeah. We both had beaten Cindy so we unanimously took the pressure off the singles match. When I won Worlds the first time I got to score the winning shot out of goal. It was the slowest, shortest pull you ever saw and I can remember watching it drop in the goal and not even thinking about it...then the RUSH that I had won went through my body and I started to bawl and had to hug my partner! So, I told Cami that sometimes you cry when you win and sometimes you need to cry when you lose and we wouldn't have a partner to cry on! So we were going to hug afterwards, no matter what. she won and forgot about it until I came around the table and put out my arms and we hugged. Then she started to cry and said "don't let go, don't let go." So, it was planned in a way but ended up still being spontaneous.

Mary: Do you have the similar goal of so many female pros right now to win a major playing in Open Doubles?

Tiffany: Yeah. I'd like to play goal for a good male forward. But it's a financial thing. Again, if they had Open Doubles as part of the female Pro Package, I'd play every time.

Mary: Do you have any advice for lower-ranked players?

Tiffany: I hear a lot of girls say they don't want to play in Women's Open events because they hold so little chance of winning anything. But the only way to get better is play people better than you. Play open events, that's my advice.

Mary: Do you have a set practice schedule?

Tiffany: I hardly ever practice. Maybe before Worlds a little. But I can tell that I need to practice to sharpen my game. I wasn't happy with how I played at Masters and I could have used the practice behind me. Practicing with Terry just frustrates me. I can't get a pass or a shot and get frustrated.

Mary: What do you consider your current strengths and weaknesses?

Tiffany: My weakness right now is in my 2-bar, my strength in my shot and in my five-bar when it's working. I have been inconsistent with my five-bar in doubles, especially with my ups. I am also an aggressive player, which is strength I guess.

Mary: The top female players speak well of your shot, one of the best pulls among the women out there.

Tiffany: I have confidence with my shot, but I think I need to work on my take-off. I block well and usually race other girls' shots with a stacked race, taking away the split. I like my game broken down, but when I watch myself on tape and see it all together, a lot of time it just looks weak to me! But yeah, I think my shot is strong.

Mary: Do YOU have a Cindy Head head-trip Tiffany?

Tiffany: I used to have a Cindy Head head-trip. She played so fast and it got to me at first. I was really intimidated by her game. I took her to matchball the first time I ever played her. I always felt that I had the skills to beat her, but I could never do it. I think I was just too nervous. I didn't get nervous at Worlds this past year though, I walked to the table with such confidence that I would beat her and I finally did. I knew I was going to beat her this time.

Mary: Do you think Cindy will come good on her announcement to reclaim her World's titles this year?

Tiffany: She is capable of it. But I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see what happens this year.

Tiffany will walk into Nationals this year as the reigning Women's Singles Champion as well as part of the reigning Women's Doubles Champions. Two months later she will walk into the 1996 World Champion ships as the forward player of the reigning Women's Doubles World Champions and knowing that she came just one ball away from doubling. She has earned another Women's Doubles title at the U.S. Open this year playing with Caryn Varadinek. Needless to say, Tiffany takes the few losses she's dealt hard. But she does not fear her losses. She is not afraid of them. she dared to struggle for years, while today she dares to win.