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Sunday, January 13, 2013

2013 World Cup Results and commentary.

      The 2013 International Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) Multi-table World Cup concluded Sunday January 6th in Nantes , France .  Ben Mason and Jim Stevens of Kozoom.com did an amazing job covering the event. More than 40 countries were represented by around 500 competitors with more than 15,000 spectators! More than 100 Foosball tables were on hand for the tournament. The table soccer manufacturers part of this event were Fireball, Bonzini, Roberto Sport, Garlando, and Leonhart. For more information on the ITSF World Cup event and other ITSF tournaments go to http://www.table-soccer.org/ . 

    One brand noticeably missing from the ITSF line up is the American made Tornado table. The Tornado is the premier American tournament Foosball Table. 95% of all tournaments in America are played on Tornado. In all honesty, giving 5% of the tournaments to other tables is being generous. 


There is a strong Bonzini following on the east cost (http://www.bonziniusa.com/) with President Alan Cribbs keeping things going for more than 30 years. I do not know of a single fireball weekly tournament in the US or a Warrior event. There have been regional fireball events in 2012 and things are coming in 2013 from Warrior. But outside of these few instances all organized public events are on Tornado foosball tables.  Organized Roberto Sport, Garlando, and Leonhart tables and tournaments are nearly non-existent in the United States due to cost and the dominance of  Tornado in the United States. In the  ITSF Multitable format, USA players are often forced to compete on tables they have not practiced with or had tournament exposure on.  In California, Colorado, Florida and Texas Team USA players gathered any locally owned foreign tables they could find for practice sessions.

     Tornado withdrew from the ITSF a couple years ago. This has caused the once dominate World Cup Champion Americans to fall in the results. Every one of the American players was born and bred on the Tornado table. The IFP tour, 90% of all regional events and 99% of all local public tournaments are on Tornado. So really the Americans played without a true home table. The Fireball is the best remaining option for the Americans but is not the same table by any means. Maybe the American designed and Chinese manufactured Warrior table will become the table of choice. Will be interesting to see what the American players decide.
    
     The exciting National Men's Team event final coverage aired on ESPN3 and many other media outlets. Check www.espn.com for replay information and schedules. The Team event began with multiple groups, round robin style qualifications. Teams were seeded depending on their finish into a single elimination bracket. After heated match play, the finals boiled down to the French against the United States of America. Matches consist of 3 singles and two doubles event.

     In the World Cup Multitable format, each team designates a "home" table. The French choice was the Bonzini. Bonzini has been manufactured in France for over 60 years. This table as a playing style is more finesse and is on the opposite end of the playing spectrum from the American style of power. As previously stated, the Americans are not given a chance to play on the nearly 40 year old American made Tornado table. The Americans are forced to play on the Chinese built Fireball table that has been manufactured for about 5 years. The American losses on the Bonzini table would have been unchanged if the Tornado had been available for play. The French were more experienced and better Bonzini players. This would still have been a tough match up for the Americans even with the Tornado in play. The French team played superb and came out on top but The American team did not lie down.

     The French came out on fire winning the first two matches. Shutting out World Champion Ryan Moore and current Fireball singles World Champion Tom Yore along with partner Evan Stachelek. Tony Spredeman fired up things for the Americans giving team USA their first victory. Despite a tornado upbringing, Tony is the spokesman for the fireball and played lights out on the table. Tony then stole a couple key points in the third game on the French Bonzini table to clinch the points for America . Rob Mares and Ezekiel Moore continued with the momentum. World Champion Mares is known for having one of the fastest rollovers in the world was forced to shoot a pull shot on the Bonzini. Rob did not let this daunt him and was fired up the entire match. Winning in extraordinary Mares fashion with an incredible and unexpected 5 bar shot. The weight of the teams rested on the singles match of the two remaining teammates for each opposing side. Senior Champion and IFP Pro Master David Vick seemed at home on the Bonzini table but could not overcome the experienced Bonzini Master Meckes. Vick had his first scored goal called back by the judge. It appeared on the coverage to be a perfectly legal shot. Meckes won the game 5-4, sealing the victory for the French, and securing the first ITSF World Cup victory for France .

    The USA Senior Team represented our country well finishing second. Our young Junior Team did an incredible job traveling internationally and adapting to Multi-table format finishing in 3rd place finish! Devoid of Tornado Pros, The Women's team fought hard in qualifications but did not make it to the elimination bracket. The United States was not represented in Disabled division. 

 Congratulations to the players and coaches of Team USA! You represented us well and made us  proud!!!


USA Mens Team
Coach: Jerry Todd
Tom Yore
Tony Spredeman
Robert Mares
Ryan Moore
Jeffrey Pipkin
David Vick
Ezekiel Moore
Evan Stachelek
Dan Barber

USA Juniors Team
Coach: Brendan Flaherty
Devin Flaherty
Mike Bridgeman
Robbie Cook
Clint Hill Jr.
Michael Stahl Jr.
Tommy Yore

USA Womens Team
Coach: Michael Donaldson
Kathy Brainard
Chris Brazel
Julie O’Halloran
Jeanette Morris
Nancy Hiromoto

USA Seniors Team
 Coach: Pat Ryan
Ed Geer
Charles MacKintosh
Bruce Nardoci
Jack Lenty
Louis Barcelona Jr.
Brendan Flaherty
Spirit Mollice


World Cup results :

USA Versus France Men's Team Final Breakdown

Migual Dos Santos Vs. Ryan Moore
Final Game score France 2    USA       0

I.Agrange & Lebecq Vs Tom Yore & Evan Stachelek
Final Game score France 2   USA        0

Adel  Yousfi  Vs Tony Spredeman
Final Game Score France   1  USA       2

Sebastian Zapater & Dos Santos Vs Robert Mares & Ezekiel "Ice Man" Moore
Final Game Score France 1   USA        2

Sebastian Meckes Vs David Vick
Final Game Score France 2   USA       0


Winners: France


Men D1
1st - France
2nd - USA
3rd - Belgium

Men D2
1st - Slovakia
2nd - Italy
3rd - Kuwait

Women
1st - Germany
2nd - Austria
3rd - France

Juniors
1st - Portugal
2nd - Netherlands
3rd - USA

Seniors
1st - Belgium
2nd - USA
3rd - Austria

Disabled
1st - Italy
2nd - Belgium
3rd - Germany

World Championships results :
Men Singles
1st - Kevin Hundstorfer (Austria)
2nd - Giuliano Bentivoglio (Belgium)

Women Singles
1st - Ekaterina Atanasova (Bulgaria)
2nd - Lilly Andres (Germany)

Juniors Singles
1sr - Marcel Schröter (Switzerland)
2nd - Antonio Smario (Italy)

Seniors Singles
1st - David Vick (USA)
2nd - Ulrich Stoepel (Germany)

Disabled Singles
1st - Francesco Bonanno (Italy)
2nd - Simon Fabrega (Germany)

Men Doubles
1st - Carlos Da Silva - Yannick Correia (Luxembourg)
2nd - Kevin Hundstorfer - Andreas Esterbauer (Austria)

Women Doubles
1st - Sophie Jobstmann - Verena Rohrer (Austria)
2nd - Amalie Bremer - Camilla Lohmann (Denmark)

Juniors Doubles
1st - Thomas Schmidt - Felix Droese (Germany)
2nd - Marcel Schröter - Jonas Messerli (Switzerland)

Seniors Doubles
1st - Ismaël Saban - Pascal Gressier (Belgium)
2nd - Martin Landwehr - Robert Mulch (Germany)

Disabled Doubles
1st - Francesco Bonanno - Fabio Cassanelli (Italy)
2nd - Vicente Luis San Martin - Simon Fabrega (Germany)


UPDATE: The Warrior Tournament slated for February 2013 at the Runaway Bay Golf Course that was mentioned in the previous blog post has been cancelled. The reason given is so more money can be added to the event; odd reason to not have anything at all. Hopefully this is just a false start and not a sign of things to come. Warrior has had some great promotions in the past and Flahrety and company are sure to have some big things coming in the future.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2012 Foosball Wrap Up. 2013 Outlook.



      As I write this blog, table soccer enthusiasts from around the world are converging on Nantes, France for the January 3rd- 6th, 2013 International Table Soccer Federation Multitable World Cup tournament.  Go to http://www.kozoom.com to for coverage and video streaming. Go to http://www.table-soccer.org/ for more information on the ITSF and the World Cup Multitable format.  America's own #1 fooscaster Jim Stevens is part of the production crew (www.insidefoos.com). Go Team USA!!! As 2013 heats up across the pond, let us look back and put 2012 to bed.

     Three regional events rounded out the final quarter of the 2012. The 4th quarter of the year is typically slower for foosball. The biggest U.S. event of the year is at the end of August, the Tornado World Championship, closing out the major tournament events of the year until the Tour Kick Off the following year (http://www.ifptour.com/tournaments/2013/tour-kickoff.html).

     Back to school, Fall sports, holiday preparation and events have a sociological effect on attendance as well. These factors contribute to a slow down that can be felt all the way down to attendance at the local tournament level, though you would not have known it if you play local tournaments in the Denver area (www.cofoosball.com)! The Turkey draw hosted by Tim Walters at Ecks Saloon in Lakewood, Co had 26 teams! Way to keep things rocking in the off season!!

     Two regional tournaments have established themselves this time of the year with one newcomer looking to make a mark. In October there was the 13th annual Bart O'Hearn Foosball Celebration tournament held in Austin, Texas at Buffalo Billiards on Sixth street. Thanksgiving weekend brings the 30 year old North Carolina Foosball Championships ran by Charles Macintosh and Tornadofoosball.com. IFP added an extra end of the year event this year, the Southern Classic, hosted at Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.

2012 Bart-O Hearn Celebration Results
http://foosballboard.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11833&highlight=bart+o+results

2012 North Carolina State Foosball Championships Results
http://foosballboard.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12051&highlight=north+carolina

2012 IFP Southern Classic Results
http://foosballboard.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12156&highlight=bart+o+results

   

     2013 looks to be an interesting year for foosball. IFP and TornadoFoosball.com partner events will continue to make up a majority of the foosball calendar. Warrior has officially returned to foosball manufacturing and promotions.  My first blog post spoke of this return when the rumblings first began. Since this initial blog post, the Warrior table has gone on sale to the public and has become one of the tables recognized by the International Table Soccer Federation. The table comes in home model only with a price point just under $600. Early player reports of this new design are favorable. I am looking forward to my first opportunity to play on the table. I really enjoyed myself at the $250,000 tournament Warrior hosted nearly a decade ago at the Rio Casino and Suites in Las Vegas. That first Warrior model was fresh from the manufacturer and played well considering. This table appears to be light years above that first alpha run.


     Two  tournaments are currently listed on the Warrior Foosball company website (http://www.warriortablesoccer.com/). Both are to be held at golf courses owned by Warrior Golf.  The first tournament is listed for February 2013 at the Runaway Bay Golf Course , about an hour north west of Dallas. The second tournament is slated for April 2013 at the Cimarron Golf course in the Palm Springs area of California. No concrete dates or flyers have been released.

    Keep up with schedule changes and dates for 2013 by following www.foosballboard.com discussion board or keeping an eye on http://schedule.foosball.com/.  In addition to the IFP events, here is what I know about 2013 so far.

 Texas State Championships  May 24th- 27th, 2013
 Bart O'Hearn Celebration tournament October 18th -20th, 2013
 North Carolina Championships Thanksgiving weekend 2013.


     The 2013 Independent Foosball Promotions Tour Poster (http://ifptour.com/publications/2013_IFP_Tour_Poster.pdf or scroll to the bottom for a jpg version) is filled with 6 majors and 14 total events. Beginning with the Tour Kick off Kick Off  January 25th in Atlanta, GA. The next Major event is the Hall of Fame Classic held at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. A new move this year by IFP has Mary Moore and company running a major event in Europe. The IFP Tornado European Open is slated for April.The third domestic Major tournament is the 4th of July weekend National Championships and North American Cup event. The largest and most prestigious event of the year, the Tornado World Championships is again slated for the traditional Labor day Weekend. The host hotel is will be the Hilton D/FW Lakes just north of the D/FW Airport in Grapevine, Texas. The final major of the year is the U.S. Open to be held at the Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Joliet, Illinois. One thing to note is that the dates conflict for the Bart O'Hearn and U.S. Open. The tournaments are 1100 miles apart so there should be plenty of foosers to fuel each event. It will be interesting to watch where the top player's migrate on this weekend if the schedule stands as is.

  One big news item that dropped at the end of 2012 was the new IFP points rating system and adjustments that will go in effect for 2013. IFP added an Elite rank below master and above Pro. Many inactive players that were formerly expert were also dropped to Amateur rank. Player reaction has been mixed so far. It will be interesting to see how the new system works in action over the 2013 foosball year. Go to www.ifptour.com for flyers, points, and the latest IFP information. 

     Upcoming articles this year will include a few interviews, tournament updates, and I am going to talk about more about the business side of foosball. A successful foosball vendor has to learn how to run a proper business. Foosball was my fourth business to run. I learned invaluable lessons being paid good money to run other people's businesses before I struck out on my own.

Make sure to go to www.kozoom.com to follow the coverage from the ITSF World Cup! Safe travels to all my friends on the team. God speed and GO USA! FOOS ON!!