EURO-FOOSIN' June 24, 2008

Busy, busy!!  Lots going on all around wide world of foosball!!  More
tournaments, more people involved, and more attention from the media,
the public and from sponsors!  At home, the United States Table Soccer
Federation (USTSF) has made inroads in all these areas, and further
emphasized introducing the sport to new people at every opportunity.  

Keeping USTSF even more busy has been the consolidation and submission
of the mountain of legal and tax forms required of non-profit/tax-exempt
organizations, the completion of which will allow us to move forward
more aggressively towards tour sponsorship programs and player base
development.  These filings are also required of USTSF by International
Table Soccer Federation (ITSF) and must additionally be documented in
our 5-year status report to the U.S. Olympic Committee.  ITSF itself has
been doing all this and more in its own documentation submissions to
numerous international sports organizations, all which are preliminary
to recognition of table soccer as a sport by the International Olympic
Committee.  

Beyond that, the combination in the USA of local promoters, IFP,
USTSA/VIFA, USTSF and ITSF promotional efforts has seen local and
regional tournament action continue to grow, and has seen the
Valley-Dynamo division President, Dave Tomizuka, author a letter to the
players re-affirming commitment to the sport and the players (and even
innovation in the Tornado product).  

Indeed, USTSF's Equipment Standards Committee successfully provided
product feedback to Valley-Dynamo based on recommendations obtained from
top players, operators and a consolidated list of chief
complaints/concerns expressed on the Foosball "EZ" Board.  Myself, Todd
Loffredo and Terry Moore physically demonstrated these
discrepancies/issues to Mr. Tomizuka, and reminded him that Brunswick is
renowned as a Lean Six-Sigma manufacturer for which the primary
operating principle is "VOC" (voice of the customer).  The result, as
many witnessed at the Hall of Fame Classic last March, was a more
consistent competition table and two prototypes of a new edition table
that incorporated nearly all the most frequent recommendations of both
players on the Foosball Board and those of the USTSF Equipment Standards
Committee.  Valley conducted on-site player surveys of these prototypes,
which provided further input into refining the product, per the voice of
the customer.  

Meanwhile, USTSF took this same approach to ITSF, nominating both Terry
Moore and master mechanical engineer Mark Murrell to the ITSF Equipment
Standards Committee so as to ensure input (and a USA player perspective)
into the development and/or improvement of all other ITSF official and
recognized tables.  

USTSF has also been very busy in developing the foundations for three
new player base and community service oriented programs: Tables for
Kids, Tables to Troops, and Wounded Warriors.  We are excited to be a
part of these projects, and will be providing detailed information on
these both on our website (www.ustsf.org <http://www.ustsf.org/> ) and
via our other new project, the State and Regional Directors team. 

That's right, USTSF already has volunteers in over 30 states who are to
be dedicated to grass-roots local, state and regional player and player
base development and growth, which as we all know is critical to the
future of the sport.  This too, being a new aspect of USTSF, will be
further expanded upon via our website, but also via the State Directors
communications network itself.  

With all the above taken together, the way ahead continues to hold great
promise for our game, our sport and our passion (or should I say,
obsession?).  If you also are interested in contributing to that future,
please feel free to contact myself the USTSF Board of Directors with
your ideas and recommendations, or even with your volunteer commitment
to our staff and/or committees.  We look forward to hearing from you:
ustsf@foosball.com.     

 

Sincerely, 

Larry Davis, for USTSF