LEAD STORY: Four Major Tour Events Highlight Early 2007 Tornado Season

The first half of the 2007 Tornado Pro Tour season has been one of the most active tournament periods of recent years, with four major events having already taken place during the early part of the year. Players from across North America and around the world have journeyed to Lexington, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Dallas to compete at these major championships for more than $160,000 in total prize money, as the USTSA and Mary Moore's Independent Foosball Promotions have worked together to once again create a true "traveling tour". With five other early season regional events offering at least $10,000 in prizes,  the early part of 2007 has been the busiest tournament year since the USTSA downsized the tour from five to three major championships after the 1998 season.

 

"This is like the good old days", says one pro tour veteran. "It seems like it's been one tournament after another this year! I think it's awesome!"

 

The revitalized 2007 tour has also seen the sudden emergence of a new crop of great young players, as names like Ryan Moore, Kane Gabriel, and Blake Robertson have earned high marks in the elite open events, while dominating many of the middle divisions. Moore, who is the 17-year-old son of IFP leader Mary, has skyrocketed up the charts using an aggressive, hard-hitting style that has resulted in five top-ten open event finishes. The Canadian Gabriel has displayed a consistent, high quality game that figures to keep him near the winner's circle for many years to come, while Robertson, the talented 16-year-old from Mississippi, has earned four Expert/Semi Pro titles during 2007, and also finished a remarkable third in Open Doubles at the US Open with partner Bill Bell.

 

Talented performers like Terry Rue, Matt Steward, Robert Atha, and Serge Aragones have also been upwardly mobile during 2007, with each of these solid all around players notching career best performances during the first six months of the US table soccer season. Rue's improved all-around play helped earned him the US Open Singles title, while he and partner Steward have also appeared in the last two major Open Doubles finals. Great Britain's Robert Atha broke through with Mixed Doubles victories at both the Lexington Super Bowl of Foosball and US Open in Atlanta with steady partner Jan Ellis, while also finishing second at the Hall of Fame Classic with Jamie Tayrien. No one who was there will forget Aragones' heart-stopping Sunday afternoon run through the loser's bracket at the Vegas event in March, as he defeated some of the game's biggest names in thrilling fashion before succumbing to the great Frederic Collignon in the Open Singles final.

 

The 2007 national tour also featured a tremendous Open Doubles turnaround from two of the sport's true legends at the Kentucky season-opener, and one of the most riveting and entertaining matches of the past decade at the return of the US Open this past April in Georgia. Billy Pappas and Trevor Park have already earned two major titles this year (and a trip to the ITSF Worlds in Italy this October), as they continue to establish themselves as one of the world's top teams.

 

As expected, Tour superstars Cindy Head and Moya Tielens have each earned victories during the year's first half, but it has been Ohio's Dusty Bambenek who has led the way with three major open titles in 2007, while earning two other second place results. 2006 world singles champion Stayce Fowler has played only two 2007 events but both brought her positive results. Stayce teamed with Colorado's Shelly Langley to win doubles honors in Las Vegas, and then qualified to compete for Team USA at the ITSF Table Soccer World Championships in Italy by finishing as the highest American at the Atlanta US Open.

 

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The Tornado major tour season got underway in late January as Mary Moore presented her annual Super Bowl of Foosball in Kentucky, a $35,000 event that annually draws 300 or more players from the USA, Canada, and Europe. The amazing Billy Pappas, who entered the year ranked number one on the Tornado tour (while being rated second internationally), continued to play extraordinary foosball, winning the Open Singles title in Lexington, while also placing second in doubles with Tony Spredeman. Incredibly, Pappas, a "walking" snake-shooter,  won the Super Bowl singles title using exclusively a pull shot, demonstrating once again why this 22-year-old is considered one of the two greatest all-around players in the world.  

Billy and Tony, who won last year's title, were dominant in the Open Doubles winner's bracket at this year's event, and faced the dynamic duo of Terry Moore and Todd Loffredo in the final. With the title on the line, Terry and Todd played nearly perfect foosball, defeating the defending Super Bowl champions in an extraordinary six game sweep to earn the first major doubles title of 2007. Tracy McMillin and Terry Rue finished third, with the red-hot Kane Gabriel and Dusty Bambenek placing a somewhat surprising fourth.

Robert Atha had a career best three top-5 finishes in Kentucky, including a mixed doubles win with North Carolina's Ellis, and a second place result to Pappas in Open Singles. Rob also placed fifth in doubles with another of the sport's great young players, Bryan Jones, while also earning the Pro Doubles crown. Atha, who is one of the world's top multi-table players, has really found his groove on the Tornado table, and has swiftly become one of the elite players on the US tour.

In the Super Bowl women's events, 2006 ITSF multi-table world champions Cindy Head and Dawn Duquette continued their great play, defeating defending champions Dusty Bambenek and Maggie Strong in the doubles final, to win their third major title in the last ten months. However, Bambenek gained a measure of revenge by besting Duquette in the Women's Singles final.

 

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The next stop on the 2007 tour was Las Vegas, home to the two biggest tour events on the annual USTSA schedule. The $50,000 Hall of Fame Classic, which was held this past March 28-April 1 at the Riviera Hotel, not only gave us the usual great performances from the world's number one player, Frederic Collignon, but also featured a thrilling run through the singles event from San Jose, California's Serge Aragones.

"Sergie" lost early Sunday morning in Vegas to Billy Pappas in an Open Singles semifinal, and then fought his way all the way back to the championship final with wins over Tracy McMillin, Terry Rue, and a stunned Pappas, to earn a slot in the finals against the great Collignon. Unfortunately for Aragones his thrillride through the loser's bracket would come to an abrupt end, as Collignon defeated him in the final match to win the Open Singles title for the fourth straight year in Las Vegas.

Frederico also earned Mixed Doubles honors at The Classic, teaming with Joy Steward to come back and defeat Robert Atha and Jamie Tayrien in the deciding match to claim the 2007 title, giving him two wins for the weekend, and a remarkable 29 for his Tornado career. However, Collignon would not earn his 30th Tornado win on this sunny weekend in March, as 2005 National Champions Billy Pappas and Trevor Park roared back from the loser's side to "double-dip" Frederico and partner Todd Loffredo in an amazing Open Doubles final performance. Billy and Trevor seemed to confuse the 8-time world champs with unusual position switches and unpredictable strategies, en route to a riveting final game win.

This exciting major championship in the Nevada desert also saw Hall of Famer Cindy Head narrowly defeat Stephanie Dvorak in the Women's Singles final, in a match that would go right down to the wire before the always-aggressive Ms. Head could finish of the feisty Dvorak. Dusty Bambenek continued her solid 2007 season by finishing second with Lisa Pride to champions Fowler and Langley in the Women's Doubles final.

This annual event also provided us with one of the more unusual and surprising statistics of this or any year: Remarkably, Collignon and Loffredo, who are universally considered the sport's greatest-ever team, have lost in the Open Doubles final at the last four Las Vegas events, dating back to the 2005 major season-opener. They lost to Terry Moore and Robert Mares in the '05 final, Pappas and Tony Spredeman at last year's March event, and then Dave Gummeson and Tracy McMillin at last season's Tornado Worlds, which were held for the first time at the Riviera Hotel last September. Those are also the only four finals losses that this great time has ever suffered during the course of their ten year partnership.

All-time great Tom Spear Became the 29th member of the prestigious USTSA Hall of Fame in a ceremony held in the tournament ballroom in Las Vegas at this year's event. Spear was one of the sport's greatest players in a career that spanned more than two decades and included wins on multiple tables in very different eras. Tom's singles victory at the 1994 World Championships in Dallas is still considered one of the best in the sport's history. "At one time Tom Spear was the best player on the planet", said fellow Hall of Famer Mike Bowers, who accepted the honor for the absent Spear.

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Three weeks later the tour made its way down south to Atlanta, Georgia for the return of one of the sport's great events, the $35,000 United States Open. This competition, which had not been a part of the major tour schedule since 1998, featured a career-best performance from cajun country's Terry Rue, and a match that would instantly be considered a pro tour classic.

Rue, from Crowley, Louisiana, used an exciting, aggressive, and vocal style to defeat Tom Yore in the Open Singles final, and displayed an improved passing game and highly effective 3-rod in winning the event without losing a match. Terry and partner Matt Steward also won the winner's bracket in doubles and faced Billy Pappas and Trevor Park, who were looking for their second straight 2007 win, in a final that will be talked about for years to come.

With almost every game being decided by a 5-4 score and both final sets going down to the final ball, the Open Doubles final in Atlanta was a breathtaking thrillride that had spectators completely involved with every turn of events. After playing for more than ninety minutes, Trevor Park gained control of the ball in his goal area tied at 4-4 in the fifth game of the second set. Park then calmly passed the ball to partner Pappas's 3-rod, and Billy powered home the final point to earn his team their second major title of the 2007 season.

Teenager Blake Robertson of Mississippi and tour veteran Bill Bell fought their way back to finish third in Atlanta, with Robertson demonstrating why many in the sport feel that he is destined to become a tour star in the not too distant future.

Robert Atha and Jan Ellis won their second title of the season in Georgia, defeating Matt and Joy Steward in the Mixed Doubles final. A very excited Dusty Bambenek and Gena Murray overcame the efforts of Cindy Head and Dawn Duquette to win the Women's Doubles title in a tense, hard-fought championship final. With the win, Dusty and Gena earned the right to represent the United States at the Italy World Championships later this year. Stayce Fowler will also be headed to Europe after her second place finish to Canada's Moya Tielens in singles.

 

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The final major event of the first half of 2007 took place in Irving, Texas as Hall of Famer Steve Murray hosted his annual Texas State Championships. This $25,000 tournament, which always features some of the year's best action, continued that trend with some of the top players on the Tornado tour putting on quite a show at this year's event.

Billy Pappas and Tony Spredeman, who would finish third in doubles, gave spectators a brilliant Open Singles final, with both players performing at the tops of their games. Coming from the loser's side, Spredeman won the first set of the final in four entertaning, high energy games, but saw Pappas respond with an outstanding second set effort to win his fourth major title of the young 2007 season. Billy has now won one major title at each of the season's four major events, two in doubles and two in singles.

In the Open Doubles event, Robert Mares teamed with 2006 Tornado world doubles titlist Tracy McMillin to win the Texas State title in a brilliant performance that saw them defeat US Open finalists Terry Rue and Matt Steward in the championship final. Despite their first-time pairing, Rob and Tracy looked extremely comfortable as a team, with the energetic Mares playing his usual aggressive, winning style and McMillin providing offense and outstanding defense from the goalie position.

Oklahomans Tommy Adkisson and Melannee Tosh (who was returning to the pro tour for the first time in seven years) won the Mixed Doubles title, with Dusty Bambenek adding another win to her 2007 resume in Women's Singles, defeating a game Gena Murray. The Women's Doubles title went to Tiffany Moore and Deb Plipsen, who earned their first tour championship as a team.

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After the most active six months in recent history the Tornado tour continues this summer, with regional stops in Colorado for the $20,000 State Championships July 5-8, and Lexington for the $35,000 Kentucky State Championships this August 1-5. There are also regional events in Louisiana (August 24-26), Virginia (August 31-September 2), and Missouri (September 7-9), all leading up to the biggest event in American table soccer, the $100,000 Tornado World Championships this September 26-30.

With big money added to the Amateur and Semi Pro events, and with an exciting new National Team event, the Tornado Worlds is shaping up as one of the most exciting of recent years. We'll see you there.

Jim Stevens
insidefoos.com