Commentary on my Pro Singles Final at the US Open

At the Warrior US Open Foosball tournament, in Atanta, GA (some time back in April i think), i made it to the finals of Pro Singles.   With the permission of InsideFoos, i've been able to take their video and add my own commentary to the match.

My opponent is Chris Harrington, one of the players interviewed in the ESPN article i mentioned last blog entry.   Scary player.

Final was best 2 out of 3 - so first to win 2 games wins the match.

Here's Games 1 and 2

Game 3 - Part 1

Game 3 - Part 2

Again big thanks to inside foos for shipping me out the dvd as soon as it was possible, and as bad luck would have it, I was sent away on business and was not able to do my voice over / editing until i returned, a couple of weeks later.    Hopefully you enjoyed it.

When i get the full set of DVDs from the US Open, there should be a match or two of me and Jeep in Open Doubles, where i'll be able to provide another voice over version, and post it here.  It's been a while, but hopefully i'll be able to remember some of the interesting bits.

The Foosball Master Tour aired today on the Versus Network but i'm so pissed that i can't see it, cause we don't get Versus here in Canada.  So far reports have been good.

Oh, also i'm on twitter.  Follow foosghost 

random stuff

Here's one of my favourite foosball articles of all time:  ESPN
Todd shows once again, why he's the master.

Article also involves Chris Harrington, whom i played in the finals of Pro Singles, at the US Open in Atlanta a few weeks ago.
About the match, i've received permission from InsideFoos to be able to re-post a few of my matches they recorded to this video blog, but i'll be adding one additional feature. I'll be commentating over top the video, so I think it'll be one of the first times that the players that are actually playing in the match are able to comment on what they thought was going on in the match.

As far as i understand i'll be able to do this for at least 2 matches, and maybe 3.

1. Pro Singles Final - Me vs Chris Harrington
   
2. Open Doubles for 4th or better - Jeep and Me vs Billy Pappas and Terry Rue
   
3. (maybe) Open Doubles - Jeep and Me vs BILL HAYDON & DELANO CASEY

should be fun, hopefully i'l get the vids soon while the matches are semi-fresh in my mind.

Another thing to mention, is that the FoosballMasterTour is going to be on US National TV on Versus Networks. 

It's airing June 3rd, 5th, 10th, and 11th at 5:30pm EST. Nice time-slot! Check here for latest airtimes. Can't wait to see it! Judging by the promo real on the site, Darren Carter and I should be getting some good air time. Can't wait to see Darren's 'Big D' face on tv, the man is so intense! I swear he's scares the ball away from the goal sometimes.

Hopefully i don't come across as a pompass ass - i have a feeling i might look like a bit of a elite-ish jerk in some of the interviews.  Not sure - but we'll see.  

$50,000 Warrior - US Open

I recently traveled to Atlanta, GA to attend the $50,000 US Open.  This tournament was on Warrior tables.  Warrior tables are very similar to Tornado tables, but they seem to be designed to fill every gap or limitation that Tornado tables currently have.  

Warrior tables have awesome controlability, where pretty much anyone can catch a loose ball.  Now depending on who you talk to, this could be a good thing or a bad thing - it kind of lowers the bar on the required amount of consistency / skill required to win agaisnt the best players.   

You can also bank consistently on this table - which is something that Torando tables took away from the arsenal of old TS or Dynamo players.  My partner is Open Doubles for this event shot awesome banks from the back - which I would say had a large impact on our good showing.

The rods are solid and heavier, which is harder on the body than players are used to, so you see lots of players wearing out later in the tournament - especially pull shooters.  Even though i shoot a rollover, the muscles in my right forearm where close to cramping a couple of times.  This could attributed to me simply being out of shape, or the climate or lack of eating good, but i ate lots of bananas, and drank lots of water - so i'm not thinking it was a lack of potasium or anything.

The table is not quite built as solid as a tornado table, they're still working out the kinks, but overall the table plays awesome, and can't wait till they get a commercial level table built - where right now they have home models just available - which are a bit light.

The one major thing that Warrior has going on that Tornado doesn't is that Mary Moore is running her tour (IFP) on Warrior tables, and not Tornado.

Warrior:  http://www.warriortablesoccer.com/

IFP: http://www.ifptour.com/

Another thing that IFP is doing, is running a very nice points race, where the more you attend IFP tournaments, the greater chance you have to win trips to play at their year end foosball tournament in Hawii.

enough background.   I wasnt able to make as many video entries as i hoped, but here's what i was able to do while I was in Atlanta:

Day 2: Saturday morning - before Open Doubles thoughts:

Day 3: Sunday - quick tournament room walk through

Day 3: Mid day match result, I've just won the kings seat in Pro Singles, and find a nice hiding place to share my thoughts

Day 3: After winning Pro Singles, i share my thoughts on the match, and show off my new hardware - i love trophies.

Day 3: Finishing kind of a funny story - not really foos related, but me babbling along on the kong show it was when i purchased my tickets to fly to atlanta..

The Duplicity of Defense

Its a wacky title, but like i said before, i like alliterations.   So yea.  defense. foosball.  what's up with that.  

Well here's a bunch of videos of me talking to myself and my cat about defense and foosball.

I might have the order of things mixed up, but i know i talked about this stuff at some point or another...

Overall Strategies

blocking 5 bar

blocking 3 bar

blocking 2 bar

and wrap up, with a bit more on gameplanning opponents - and why that is sometimes a good idea.

5 Fundamentals of Foosball: Execute

Here's the 5th fundamental: execute.  You've got the ball, you've setup, read the d, decided on a option, and now it comes down to how well you execute the shot/pass.  Here's some tips to help you execute at a higher rate of consistency.

Practice Pressure:

Practice like you play:

Well that's the 5 fundamentals.   Hopefully they were useful to you.   If you have any additional ideas, comments, whatever, please share.

Next up: The duplicity of defense (yes i think alliterations are cool).

5 Fundaments of Foosball: Decide

If you've made it this far, you've got control of the ball, you've setup, you've read the defense, and now its time to decide what to do with all that information you've gathered.

Here I talk about basic 'Decide' based on what you've read, plus i touch a bit on the best case scenario, where one reads to decide how to shoot/pass, then reads more with that reading method in mind, and then decides what hole to shoot/pass and when.  

Here i go into what i call playbooks - and deciding ahead of time - allowing a coach to dictate how one can read and how one can adjust if blocked.  Scripted? yes.  hard to do? no, effective? very much so.

Here i talk more about coming up with game plans, and how i discovered the importance of seperating the coach within from the player within, and when to let each out.

continued...

5 Fundamentals of Foosball: Read

Here's the next installment of the 5 Fundamentals of Foosball:  Read.   So you've contolled the ball, set it up, and now you should read the defense, to be able to decide what to do next.

Here's the first video:

and another where i start to touch on various different ways one can read:

and some practie tips to help bring reading into your normal practice routine:

5 Fundamentals of Foosball - Setup

In this entry I touch on fundamental #2 (Setup) which really means setting up the ball in order to work a series of options from the same starting point.

In this video i start to describe the concept of on-timing and off-timing shots/passes

Here i go into other types of ways to pass / shoot where i breifly touch on live-reads and pre-reads

Day 4 at the 2009 HOFC in Las Vegas

Its Saturday at the 2009 Hall of Fame Classic Foosball Tournament in Las Vegas, and here's a few video log entries from my day.

Here's me getting ready for Open Singles - and some steps i took to better prepare for my matches.   Plus a responses to some comments i've seen on message boards about the "DYP mentality":

Here's a quick walk through of the tournament room, and a quick update of my first two matches in Open Singles.

Here's an entry just after they shut down the tournament room for a few hours where i share my thoughts on my match with Billy Pappas:

and here's my final entry of the day (and probably the tournament).

Thanks for following, and hopefully some of you found these semi interesting.

Day 3 at the HOFC in Las Vegas

A very dissapointing day was day 3 - (wasnt 3 supposed to be the magic number - I guess it was for others)

and here's some afterthough / reflection, on what NOT to do at foosball tournaments (more of a reminder for myself, but a good lesson for any foosball player going on tour).

Day 2 Final Report at the HOFC in Las Vegas

Here's a very tired me, reporting on the happenings at the end of day 2 at the 2009 Hall of Fame Classic in Las Vegas.

Day 2 at the HOFC in Las Vegas

It's only 1/2 way through the day (it's about 5pm), but i have a few videos to share, and thought i would before my 1 day internet access expires.  

Here's a video showing some of the behind the scenes stuff that is going on at this Foosball Master Tour event.   Major production, so many cameras, some over the tables, some beside the tables, and even some inside the tables.

Here's my reaction after my first match in the Foosball Master Tour where Darren Carter and I had to play Mario Ariganello and Kane Gabriel (a couple of awesome players from Toronto).  It sucks that we had to play another Canadian team first round, but them's the breaks.

Here's my reaction after my 2nd match in the FMT - not so happy. B-)

Day 1 at the HOFC in Las Vegas

After seeing the move Watchmen, and listening to Roarchac (sp?) journal log entries, i thought "yea, lets take daily video log entries of my experiences at this years HOFC (Hall of Fame Foosball Classic in Las Vegas.  Mar 11-15.)

Here's the first entry  I reference a link in the video, here it is:  http://www.foosballmastertour.com

I'm off to vegas for the Hall of Fame Classic, so likely won't be posting the 3rd episode for another week. 

I'm really looking forward to this event.  I've never been so motivated to freeking kick ass.  I might take some video while i'm there, and possibly do some post match comments or something.  we'll see how it goes.

5 Fundamentals of Foosball - Episode 2: Control

Here's the second installment.  Here i've gone into detail on the first fundamental: Control.

Control comes in many forms, loose ball, what can you do when you have the ball, and what can you do when your opponent has the ball - and what things can one practice to improve in those areas.

It's a little all over the place, but hey - i'm new at this.  B-)

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Demonstration

Part 3: Demonstration - continued

5 Fundamentals of Foosball Video Blog

I've been playing the game of foosball / table soccer for many more years than i care to share (yet) - maybe a few more blog posts and/or beer later, and i'll tell ya.  anyways. 

I play table soccer at a professionsal level, attend many national and international level tournmanets each year.

I'm very soft spoken, and don't stand out much, so even though you might be into the game, you probably never heard of me, so here's a few things about me that might lend some credibility to what i'm going to be stuffing into these blog posts.

I was the first Canadian to make it to a Pro-Master ranking on the USTSA Foosball Tour.

I've played for the Canadian National team in both World Cups, and have represented Canada as Canada's National Champion many times.  Even taking silver at the 2006 ITSF World Championships of Table Soccer in Italy with fellow Canadian suppah-star Mario Ariganello.

At major tournaments, i've beaten many of the best players in Open Singles like Terry Moore, Robert Mares, Fredrico Collignon, and in Doubles beaten many pro-master level teams.  

Highest finishes includes 5th in Open Doubles, and 5th in Championship Singles - again these are major tournaments worth $100,000 or more.

So enough about me, and why i might know what i'm talking about. 

I'm a golfer as well, and after reading, "Steve Elkington's Five Fundamentals of Golf ".  I thought a similar thing could be done for foosball as well.  Combine that with the fact that I got a video camera (with a nice 1 touch upload to youtube button) for my birthday, i thought it might be a good idea to combine the two, and create this Video Blog, called "5 Fundamentals of Foosball"

So here's the first entry - which is a Introduction to the 5 fundamentals, where I quickly touch on each fundamental,and later on, in videos soon to come, I will go into further detail.

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Demonstration

Hope you enjoy it, and come back for more.