ATLANTA HOSTS 2002 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Collignon Triples at in First Nationals Appearance

by Jim Stevens

In what must be regarded as one of the sport’s greatest performances ever, Belgian superstar Frederic Collignon won three of the four major titles at the recent $55,000 U.S.T.S.A. National Championships, held over Independence Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. “Frederico” earned victories in Open Singles and Open Doubles, while also becoming only the twelfthth Masters Singles champion ever (see accompanying article). Remarkably, Collignon also came out on top in the Forward Shootout and Pro/Pro Master DYP events, and might have won all four available open titles if not for the exploits of a ninth grade math teacher from Minneapolis.

Held for the second year in a row at the luxurious Atlanta Airport Hilton, the 2002 National Championships featured several other noteworthy efforts as well, including terrific breakthrough performances from three of the sport’s brightest young rising stars.

Frederic Collignon’s weekend began with victories in Forward Shootout (over Damon Phillips of Georgia) and the Pro/Pro Master Draw Your Partner with partner Ezekiel “Iceman” Moore. Collignon then moved to the weekend’s first major event, Mixed Doubles, an event which saw him win the world title in 2000 with veteran Liz Hill.

Playing with long time girlfriend Ingrid Hauben, Collignon found himself having to come from the loser’s side after an early round loss, but reached yet another open final by defeating Bob Diaz and 2001 National Mixed Doubles titlist Cara Richardville for the loser’s bracket.

On the winner’s side, the world’s top rated player (and defending national doubles and Masters Singles champ) Rob Mares teamed with rookie fooser Debra Pflipsen, a schoolteacher from Minnesota, to overcome all opposition and reach the Mixed Doubles final. For the remarkably-consistent Mares, who entered the Nationals with nine career pro tour titles, it marked his first ever appearance in a mixed final.

In the championship match, Hauben, who had earlier upset the great Todd Loffredo to win the Goalie War title, was playing in her first major open final of any kind. However, Ingrid displayed no apparent nervousness, scoring two in the first game of the first set to get her team off to a fast start on the way to a 5-2 victory. Game two saw Mares and Pflipsen respond, with Pflipsen blocking Collignon and scoring two herself to even the match at one game apiece, 5-1.

The third game saw Collignon and Hauben answer back, as they jumped on top 4-0 and then won the first set with a 5-1 victory, with goalie war champ Hauben notching another point from goal.

The second set was a grueling defensive affair with both lady goalies doing exceptional defensive duty against two of the sport’s greatest players. At 4-4 in the first game, Mares moved to goalie, made a huge block against Collignon and then executed a solid pass along the far wall to his partner Pflipsen. Debra called a timeout. Mares then moved back to forward and drilled home a blazing front pin shot to win 5-4, giving his team a one game to nothing lead.

In the second game both forwards continued to struggle offensively, with Pflipsen and Hauben continuing to hold their own against the opposing forwards. But finally at 4-3, Collignon scored a dancing, faking front pin to the near corner, evening the match and sending the National Mixed Doubles final down to one final deciding game.

In the final game, Rob Mares continued to have difficulties scoring on Hauben, going 3 for 9 from the three-row. But his partner Pflipsen held Collignon to 33% shooting and scored a clutch pull shot to make it 4-2. Her final game performance allowed Mares the opportunity to finally put the match away with a powerful snake to the corner, giving him his first ever mixed title and making it nine years in a row that he has one at least one title on the pro tour. Only Terry Moore has a longer string (eleven years) than Rob Mares for consecutive seasons with a win.

For the match, rookie player Debra Pflipsen, a ninth grade mathematics teacher, blocked the great Collignon on 14 of his 24 shot attempts and scored a huge final game point allowing Mares to find his groove and close the deal.

With a clean sweep of all the major titles now out of the question for Collignon, the talented Belgian turned his attention to the Open Singles competition and a chance at a possible “triple” at the 2002 Nationals. As the singles competition unfolded, Frederic began to display the vast array of skills and tactics that make him one of the greatest one-on-one performers that the sport has ever seen. in an awesome series of performances, Frederic used his amazingly-versatile “euro-pin” to baffle every opponent, on his way to a thirteenth career final on the american foosball tour since first turning pro in 1998.

In the winner’s bracket final, Collignon faced-off against 21 year old rising star Brandon Moreland of Dallas who had defeated, among others, two time defending national champ Terry Moore during his run through the bracket. Unfortunately for Moreland (and for everyoine else during this weekend) Collignon used his unparalleled abilities and remarkable table savvy to defeat him in four games.

In the loser’s bracket, Terry Moore responded to his early round loss to young Brandon by dispatching of everyone he faced during his drive back to the finals, and gained a measure of revenge by defeating Moreland to once again reach the National Open Singles final.

In a match featuring arguably the two best foosball players in the world, Terry Moore opened up the first game by scoring four times from the goalie two-rod in an impressive 5-4 victory.

Collignon scored first in game two, but Moore again converted from the goalie position to tie it at one. At 2-2, Moore scored a snake shot to the near side to take the lead and regain the momentum. But Frederic tied it at three, took the lead 4-3 and then held off Moore to even the match at one game apiece, winning 5-4.

The third game belonged to the great Belgian. At 2-2 he caught fire, scoring three straight to surge in front and gain control of the match, now leading two games to one.

Proving once again that there may not be a better singles player to be found anywhere in the world, Collignon quickly fell behind 2-0 in game four, but came back with two straight european-style front pins to tie it at two. Frederic then clamped-down defensively, blocking six straight Moore three-row scoring efforts before once again converting to take the lead at 3-2. Moore finally found a hole in the Collignon defense to even it at three. But Collignon, smelling victory, used his unbelievable offensive skills and amazing hand speed to win the fourth game 5-4, earning his first National open title by a score of 4-5, 5-4, 5-2 and 5-4.

In the Open Doubles competition at this year’s Nationals, Collignon and his four time world championship partner Todd Loffredo found themselves uncharacteristically having to come back from the loser’s bracket after a semifinal loss to Matt Steward and Eddy Gartman.

Steward and Gartman, playing together for the first time at a major, followed-up their surprising result over the world champs with an impressive victory over Minnesotans Scott Wydman and Steve Mohs to win the winner’s bracket and reach the doubles final. The 2002 Nationals would prove to be a breakthrough weekend for the congenial Steward, whose career up until the Atlanta event had included just one top five finish at a U.S.T.S.A. major championship. For Gartman, his finals appearance would be his first since the Open Doubles event (with John Smith) at the 1994 World Championships.

Beginning their comeback from the loser’s side, Frederic Collignon and Todd Loffredo notched wins against defending doubles champ (with Scott Wydman) Rob Mares and his partner, hall of famer Mike Bowers, and two-time national champs Terry Moore and Bob Diaz to reach the loser’s bracket final. Todd and Frederic then squared-off against Wydman and Mohs to see who would face upstarts Matt Steward and Eddy Gartman for the national title.

In the first game of the loser’s side final, Wydman and Mohs used Scotty’s seemingly-unstoppable five-row and some strategic switching to win 5-3 and secure the early match momentum. In game two, Todd and Frederic turned things around, quickly jumping ahead 3-0 on the way to an eventual 5-0 victory, evening the match at one apiece.

In the pivotal third game, Wydman and Mohs moved out to an early lead, with Scotty’s five row and excellent shot selection propelling them to a 4-2 lead. But Collignon converted to pull his team within one, and after Loffredo moved to forward and scored it was suddenly 4-4. Collignon then completed his team’s comeback, drilling a pin shot to the far corner to take a two games to one lead.

The fourth game of the loser’s bracket final belonged to the four time world champs as they held off Wydman and Mohs 5-3 to advance to yet another doubles final, giving Collignon a shot at winning his second major title of the weekend.

With the national title on the line, Collignon and Loffredo opened up the finals against Matt Steward and Eddy Gartman with a grueling first game victory, 5-4. Steward and Gartman responded by sprinting out to 4-2 lead in game two and held on for a 5-3 win to tie the match at one game each.

At 3-3 in game three, Matt Steward had two shots to take the lead and give his team the momentum, but Loffredo blocked him twice and Collignon scored on two straight possessions to take firm control of the first set with a 5-3 victory. Game four belonged entirely to the world champs as they won 5-0 to take the first set of the Open Doubles final, 5-4, 3-5, 5-3 and 5-0.

The two teams alternated points throughout the first part of the opening game of the second set, with Collignon giving his team the lead at 4-3 with a near-side euro-pin. After stealing the ball from Steward, he then put the game away with another solid front pin effort.

Todd and Frederic quickly surged ahead 3-1 in game two, and things were looking bleak for Matt and Eddy. But Steward hammered a snake to the goal’s near side and Gartman drilled one of his signature pull shots and it was tied 3-3. Collignon and Steward then traded shots to make it 4-4. Looking at a must-win situation Matt Steward made a nice pickup of a loose ball and then converted to the far side to give his team a badly-needed second game win.

Collignon and Loffredo answered the challenge in game three, dominating play and winning big by a score of 5-1 to regain control of the match. But just as before, Steward and Gartman showed that they weren’t finished playing just yet, responding with an overwhelming 5-1 victory of their own, to take it to one final game to decide the National Open Doubles title.

Collignon scored first in game five, blocking a Gartman shot back into the goal. Steward then drilled a far side snake, and it was 1-1, with the partisan crowd yelling wildly for their favorites, Steward and Gartman.

With the tension building, Collignon scored to take the lead, and watched as his partner blocked Steward on three straight scoring efforts, before Matt finally found the open hole and scored to tie it at two. Loffredo blocked two more scoring attempts and then gave his team the lead and all the momentum with a characteristic clutch shot from goal. Frederic Collignon then took advantage of the momentum boost by scoring to make it 4-2. Steward responded to pull within one, But Collignon drove home the final stake, a solid pin shot to the far side to win the Open Doubles championship and earn his second major title of the weekend by a score of 5-3, 4-5, 5-0, 1-5 and 5-3.

Next, Collignon would go for a record tying third major tilte at the 2002 Nationals in the Masters Singles final, where he was hoping to become the first european player ever to win the prestigious green jacket while also joining his partner Todd Loffredo as the only players to win both the Open and Masters Singles championships on the same weekend (see Masters article).

For the third straight year, the women’s events at the National Championships were dominated by one talented lady player who won both the singles and doubles titles. In 2000 and 2001 it was Cindy Head who took home all the hardware in these two highly competitive events. But this year, it was Vancouver, Canada’s Moya Tielens who earned both titles and established herself as perhaps the top lady player in the world.

n doubles Moya teamed with Washington state’s Stephanie Ohashi, who added a first major title to a trophy case which included several Las Vegas VIFA league titles but never a major title. In winning the national doubles title, Moya and Steph had to come from the loser’s side to avenge an earlier loss and defeat the tough, experienced duo of Mary Moore and Genia Blakeman.

In singles, Moya defeated her doubles partner Ohashi in a spirited final to win the title and double for the first time in her career.

But it was incomparable Frederic Collignon who stole all the thunder from the american teams at their own national championships, winning all but one of the major events while also adding two other lesser titles in one of the most dominating performances that we have ever seen. With the World championships just weeks away, I believe it’s safe to say that the amazing performer from Liege, Belgium is primed and ready to make yet another run at history in Dallas over Labor Day weekend