2002 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF FOOSBALL:

COLLIGNON, TIELENS LEAD FOREIGN INVASION

by jim stevens

The 2002 World Championships of Foosball, held this past Labor Day at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel offered foosball fans a taste of the old, the new, the familiar and the unexpected in a new and improved championship setting that was second to none.

This year's tournament turned into a truly global event, with new world titles being awarded to players from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Great Britain. There were foosers in town from Malaysia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Switzerland and Hungary. For the first time in United States foosball history, the winners of the five major open events all featured a non-american born player, while the prestigious International Cup competion was won by a european team (Belgium) for the first time ever. In the non-open events, "euro-foosers" were victorious in six other events, including Rookie Doubles and Singles, and Semi Pro Doubles.

Enjoying the newly-designed stadium-style championship arena (which featured superb spectator viewing and four big screen T.V. monitors), legendary foosers Frederic Collignon, Cindy Head, and Todd Loffredo all added to their record career totals. While a charismatic 17 year old foos-phenom from Wisconsin stole the show with his amazing talent and aggressive, unique style.

There was also a changing of the guard in the women's competition at this years big event, with a colorful player from Canada's pacific northwest moving aggressively to the head of the ladies class.

The following is a record of how I saw it from my comfortable seat in the Inside Foos video booth, as I once again documented the events and stories behind the $135,000 World Championships of Foosball...

MIXED DOUBLES: A NARROW WIN FOR TWO LEGENDS

With defending champions Terry Moore and Stephanie Dean, possibly the best team ever, finishing a dissapointing fifth in this year's world mixed doubles competition, the title was up for grabs as this fiercely contested championship event drew to a conclusion.

Minnesota's Scotty Wydman made a run for the title with former world champion Cara Richardville but came up short, finishing fourth.
Texas foosball legend John Smith and his partner, four-time world champ Gena Murray, also made things interesting, playing great foosball on their way to third place result.

But throughout the early competition in the 2002 event it was 1994 World Mixed Doubles titlist (with Caryn Matassa) Adrian Zamora and 1993 national champion Shelly Langley from Colorado who seemed to playing the highest quality mixed pairs foosball.

'AZ' successfully utilized his nearly-unreadable brush pass and
lightning-quick pull shot to provide the offensive firepower, while Langley added her steady defensive play and big play capabilities to the mix, allowing them to go undefeated on the winner's side and earn a slot in the Open Mixed Doubles final.

Their opponents in the final would be two other former mixed champs, Frederic Collignon and Cindy Head, who had amassed an unbelievable combined total of 39 world titles between them.
Frederico earned mixed honors in 2000 with Liz Helstern while Cindy's only Tornado mixed doubles world title came
back in 1999 with Tracy McMillin.

As the final got underway it quickly became apparent that both forwards had brought their 'A' games to the table.
Game one was a back-and-forth affair that saw Zamora and Collignon taking turns converting on the offensive end, with Frederico, as he so often does, firing home the final shot to win, 5-4.

Game two was nearly identical to the first, with the two all-pro forwards battling on the five-row and scoring well at the offensive end.

With the contest even at four apiece, 'Mr. Clutch' Frederic Collignon served it, passed it, and scored it, to give his team most of the early momentum, and a 2-0 lead in games.

Looking to take the final match to a second and deciding set, Collignon, who would shoot nearly 70% for the two sets, jumped on top and never looked back on the way to a 5-3 win and a first set victory.

Now dead even, with one three-out-of-five match left to decide the 2002 titlists, Collignon and Head stormed from the gate, leading 2-0 and 3-1 on the way to a 5-2 win in the final set's opening game.

In game two, Adrian Zamora, experiencing his best world championships in nearly a decade, caught fire, surging ahead 4-3. But Collignon drilled a "euro-pin" to the far side of the goal, then stole Zamora's pass and converted again deep to that same far corner to give his team a two games to nothing lead, and move them within one of yet another world title.

Finding a deep reserve tank, Zamora and Langley fought back, coming from behind to win game.
Trailing by a score of 4-3 and staring a match point in the face, Adrian hit a beautifully timed straight, then switched to goalie and blocked two potential championship- winning shots by the talented Collignon to barely keep his team alive.

Zamora then moved back to forward and again converted a straight pull shot to steal the momentum and get his side back in the match, now trailing just two games to one.

Tied at 3-3 in the fourth game, Shelly Langley, caught in the forward position with no time outs remaining, passed the ball and scored a huge pull shot to give her team the lead.
Collignon answered to even it, but Zamora answered back, drilling home a long pull shot on his fourth game-point opportunity to even the 2002 Mixed Doubles final at two games apiece.
The 2002 World Mixed Doubles final would go down to one final game to five.

But unfortunately for the hard-working team of Zamora and Langley their comeback efforts would come up short, as Collignon and Head seized control in the final game leading 2-0, 3-1, and 4-1 en route to a 5-3 victory and a hard-earned world championship victory.

The win was the 33rd career world title for the amazing Ms. Head, while Collignon moved into second place all time among the men with his eighth career victory at the world championships.
But neither of these now legendary players were finished yet.
Both of these all time greats would have two more chances for championship honors on this competitive final day at the 2002 worlds, with the singles and doubles titles still to be awarded.

WOMEN'S EVENTS: LONG LIVE THE NEW QUEEN

For nearly two decades Birmingham, Alabama's Cindy Head has dominated the field in the women's categories, winning 33 times at the Dallas super-event.

Cindy has set career records that will never be broken and has also set a standard for women's play that has seldom been equaled.

But at the 2002 event, and throughout the just-completed major tournament season, a different name has moved firmly to the forefront of women's foosball.
With her season-long excellence, Vancouver, Canada's ultra-talented Moya Tielens has moved steadily into postion to become the next great lady fooser.

Moya began the 2002 season by combining with partner Laurette Gunther to earn Hall of Fame Classic Women's Doubles honors which included a decisive win over Head and Gena Murray in the final.
She then followed that up by 'doubling' at the National Championships over July 4th weekend, winning both the singles title, and doubles, paired with Stephanie Ohashi.

At this year's worlds Moya used her dominant five-row and powerful pull shot to dominate the women's competition, going undefeated for the weekend in a truly outstanding performance.
She Began things by facing-off against her
long time nemesis Cindy Head in what appeared to be a great matchup for the Women's Singles championship.
Representing the winner's bracket, Moya never gave the legendary Ms. Head a
chance.
She was a perfect 4 for 4 from her three-rod and jumped on top 3-0 and 4-1 on the way to very impressive 5-3 opening game victory.
Game two was a closer contest, but Moya again played nearly flawless offensive foosball, missing only once on her shooting rod (7 of 8 for the match) in a 5-4 second game win, giving Moya a first-ever world singles title.

In the doubles competiton, Moya paired with her solid regular partner and fellow 1997 World Women's Doubles titlist Laurette Gunther of Spokane, Washington to reach yet another open final.
Once again Cindy Head would be one of the opponents standing in the way of Moya's chance to double at a second straight 2002 tour event.
Cindy's partner in the doubles final would be 1992 women's doubles world champ Lotus Chesborough, also of Washington state.

Having not lost a match all weekend in the women's competition, Moya began her quest for a worlds double by once again shooting the ball extremely well from her three-rod.
She shot 4 for 7 in game one, while Gunther held Head to just 2 out of 7 on her shooting rod, as the Œ97 champs won game one 5-3.

In the second game Chesborough scored two quick pulls from goalie to give her team the early advantage, 2-0.
But showing great patience, Tielens took her time and drilled a long pull shot to pull within one, but Head hit a straight pull and the momentum was again on the side of the loser's bracket finalists.
But that would be the last succesful scoring effort for Head and
Chesborough.
Tielens and Gunther dominated play, scoring the next four points to win the match and earn a second career world title as a team.

With the victory, Moya Tielens put the exclamation point on a magnificent year.
Her overwhelming Cindy Head-like 2002 U.S.T.S.A. season included five open titles in the six available singles and Doubles competitions.
She also finished a remarkable ninth in Open Doubles (with Gunther) at the National
Championships in Atlanta. She 'doubled' twice, at both the National and World Championships, and was named the Female Forward of the Year in a nearly-unanimous balloying of her peers.
I think we can confidently say that there has been a change at the top, and with her performance at this year's
world championships Moya Tielens has now become the finest lady foosball player on the planet.

OPEN SINGLES: FREDERICO AND THE KID

With a second career world mixed title under his belt, Frederic Collignon now turned his focus to Open Singles, an event which he had won in two of the last three years at the World Championships. A great all around player, Collignon has elevated the art of singles play to new levels of excellence
during his relatively short career, utilizing his amazing ball control, superior passing and nearly unstoppable front pin shot to become one of the greatest one-on-one performers the sport has ever seen.

In addition to the two world titles back in 1999 and 2000, Collignon displayed his considerable singles abilities by winning both the National and Masters Singles titles in Atlanta this past July, becoming only the second player to earn both of those titles on the same weekend (his doubles partner Loffredo was the other in 1999).

Playing with tremendous confidence and unparalleled skill, Collignon overwhelmed the competition in the winner's bracket at this year's worlds. He defeated the talented Nathan Winter, having his best tournament ever, in a quarterfinal, and then bested 1995 world singles champ Dave Gummeson to reach the winner's side final. Meanwhile, in the other half of the bracket
an amazing story was being written by a young man barely out of high school.

Just one calendar year ago, 17 year old Tony Spredeman of Cudahy, Wisconsin was playing in, and winning, the Rookie Singles final at the World Championships. Tony also claimed 2001 Rookie Doubles honors, along with the Semi Pro Singles and Doubles titles. We knew he was going to eventually become a great player, and when he reached the semifinals in this Masters Singles competition we knew we'd be seeing big things from him soon. But we didn't realize it was going to be as soon as this year's World
Championships.

Spredeman (pronounced spray-di-mun) used his unusual,hard-hitting far-wall passing series and aggressive, roving snake shot to defeat everyone he faced in the winner's bracket, including former world champ Terry Moore in four games to unexpectedly reach the winner's final.

Showing no fear, Spredeman jumped on top early in the winner's bracket decider, scoring two quick shots to lead 2-0 on the way to an impressive 5-4 win in the opening game. But Collignon, who would prove to be unbeatable on this world championship weekend, quickly grabbed control of the match midway through game two and never let go, winning the next three games 5-4, 5-3 and 5-1 to advance to his fourth World Open Singles final in the last five
years.

On the loser's side, three time world singles finalist Rob Mares worked his way back through the elimination bracket to reach a Sunday night showdown with Crowley, Louisiana's super-talented Terry Rue for third place or better. Looking back, Mares probably wishes he had just stayed in his room and gone to bed early.

Rue exploded from the gate, playing the game at a pace seldom, if ever, seen at the world championships. Terry moved from rod to rod as if he were his own doubles team. He displayed an extraordinary hyper-speed transition game and lightning-fast pull shot and won the opening game in about five minutes, 5-2. The onslaught continued in game two, with Rue completely dominating the beleaguered Mares in a 5-0 victory. Terry scored the first two points of game three, making it 12 to 2 in total points scored, and then held-off the late-charging Mares 5-4 to win the match in three straight overwhelming games.

Rue then moved to a loser's bracket showdown with Spredeman in a match that was held early in the morning on finals day. Showing foosball savvy well beyond his years, Spredeman slowed the pace down against the energetic Rue, winning game one 5-2. Rue answered the challenge, winning the second game 5-1. But the rest of the match belonged to young Spredeman who advanced to the Open Singles final by winning the last two games 5-1 and 5-2.

In one of the most highly anticipated singles finals of recent years Tony Spredeman again confidently took control of the match's first game. Putting on an amazing display of foosball skill, Spredeman went 4 for 4 from his three-rod and slam-dunked a rebound home for the final point to win game one 5-0.

Spredeman made his first three shots of the second game (making him 7 for 7 in the match) but Collignon weathered the storm and quickly began to turn the momentum back in his direction.

Playing the game in his usual rod-to-rod style while continuing to shoot the ball at a very high percentage, Frederico methodically regained control of the championship match. At 3-3 Frederic drilled a pin shot to the far corner to take the lead and then intentionally banked the ball into the goal using his five-rod to win game two and even the match at a game apiece.

Despite the continued excellence of Spredeman on the three-row, Collignon came back from a 3-2 deficit in the pifvotal third game by scoring three in a row to the far corner, to win the game and move in front 2 games to 1.

Spredeman had to be asking himself, 'What more can I do?'. Tony was passing well from both his two and five rods and was shooting the ball at well over 60%, but still he was only one game away from suffering another loss to the incomparable belgian.

In the fourth game, Spredeman opened up the scoring with his now famous five-rod pass to pull-kick combination, a shot that was on this occasion too quick even for the great Collignon to stop. Collignon then used his left hand to execute a rare shot from goal, scoring it to tie it at one. Collignon then sent a pin shot down the middle for the lead, only to have Spredeman respond with a successful '2-hole' effort of his own. Using his incomparable ball-handling ability, Frederico then passed from his two-rod
to his five-rod, and from his five-rod to his three. A quick, dancing front pin shot later it was 3-2. Spredeman pounded one to the far side to again even the game, but Collignon, as he always seems to do, answered and it was match point, 4-3.

Refusing to quit, Tony hammered a shot home to tie it at 4-4. Spredeman then made a game-saving block and worked the ball rod-to-rod up the table to his three-row. But with a chance to score and take the match to a fifth game, Tony's shot was blocked by Collignon, it then rebounded off the inside wall, off a man and into the goal, giving the great Collignon his third World Open Singles title in the past four years.

With the impressive victory over the tough young superstar Spredeman, Frederic Collignon now had a chance to become the first man to 'triple' two different times at the world championships as he turned his attention to the Open Doubles event...

OPEN DOUBLES: FIVE OF A KIND

Four years ago at the Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas legendary Colorado fooser Todd Loffredo teamed with a talented but inexperienced (on the Tornado table) belgian player named Frederic Collignon to win the world Open Doubles championship in a two set thriller against pro tour superteam
Terry Moore and Bob Diaz. Little did anyone realize at the time that Todd and his young partner would take that accomplishment and duplicate it at each of the next three world championship events.

In 1999 this terrific twosome won again, defeating Rob Mares and Scotty Wydman to become only the second ever back-to-back world doubles champs. Two years ago at the Dallas championships, Todd and 'Frederico' earned their unprecedented third in a row by withstanding the challenge of Trevor Park and Louis Cartwright to come from the loser's side and win in four second-set games. In last year's world final, Collignon scored a clutch near-side front pin shot at 4-4 in the final game to again win a
tension-filled final match against Park and Cartwright, giving this 'greatest team ever' a remarkable four straight World Open Doubles titles.

Coming off a win in the doubles event at this year's National
Championships, this now legendary pair of foosers came to Dallas with one thing on their minds: A fifth straight world championship title.

Looking every bit like history's greatest foosball team, 'Rico' and Todd successfully navigated their way through the winner's bracket at this year's championships, and reached the winner's final by defeating 2002 Hall of Fame Classic champions Terry Moore and Bob Diaz in three very impressive games.

On the top side of the tournament bracket, two time national champions and 1999 world finalists Scotty Wydman and Rob Mares were playing equally well, parlaying their brand of aggressive, position-switching foosball into awinner's bracket matchup with Collignon and Loffredo to see who would be the first team to reach the 2002 Open Doubles final.

In the winner's final, the four-time champs struck first, riding
Collignon's seemingly-unstoppable three-rod to a 5-3 first game victory, and appeared headed to yet another Open Doubles final. But Mares and Wydman responded to the challenge by winning game two 5-2, with Mares moving from goalie to score twice from the three-row.

Rob and Scotty maintained their hard-earned momentum in game three as Wydman successfully utilized his high percentage five-rod to win the possession battle, while Rob Mares stonewalled Collignon's three-rod and again switched to the forward position to score two key points.

The fourth game was much of the same: Solid passing from Wydman and some clutch shooting and great defense by Mares, all leading to a solid four game victory over the four time world champs and a slot in the Open Doubles final for the second time in four years.

On the elimination side of the Open Doubles bracket, two former world finalists were on a roll of their own. After losing in the winner's bracket semifinal to Mares and Wydman, Newark, California's 1992 doubles finalist Adrian Zamora and his partner, Eddy Gartman of Pasadena, Texas, a Œ94 finalist, reeled-off impressive victories over Don Swan and Steve Beine, and Trevor Park and Steve Mohs, to reach the loser's final and a showdown with Collignon and Loffredo, with an invitation to the finals at stake.

Zamora and Gartman continued their solid play in game one of the loser's bracket's final match, winning 5-3, with Gartman clamping-down defensively against Collignon while Zamora executed his explosive pull shot with great effectiveness.

The four time defending world champs had now unexpectedly lost four straight games in the Open Doubles competition and found themselves with their backs on the ropes, just two games away from elimination and the end of their amazing string of titles.

Game two was a long, drawn out, defense-oriented game that went right down to the final ball. At 4-4, as he so often does, Frederic Collignon finally converted his famous european-style front-pin shot to win the 25-minute-long game and even the match at a game each.

Zamora and Gartman regained some of their early momentum in game three, falling behind 3-2 before Adrian Zamora caught fire and hit three in a row to steal the game away, 5-3.

Slowly but surely, Frederic Collignon began to find the antidote to the defensive excellence of Eddy Gartman. In spite of the continued offensive success of Zamora against Loffredo, Frederico was suddenly unstoppable in game four, going 5 for 6 from his three-rod on the way to a badly-needed 5-2 victory to tie the match at two games apiece.

Zamora again scored a smooth and fast long pull shot to sprint ahead 1-0 in game five, but Collignon remained red hot as well, going shot for shot with the talented Californian. Following-up on his tremendous game four shooting display, and performing best when his team needed him most, Collignon went 4 for 5 (an amazing 9 for 11 down the stretch) from his three-row, leading his team to victory and another chance to win a world title.

As great a player as Frederic Collignon has become, much of the credit for his team's success must also go to his veteran goalie Todd Loffredo. Todd, who spent much of his career as the world's top forward, won a record nine world doubles titles playing that demanding position since he first exploded on the scene back in 1977. But with his extraordinary skills, unmatched experience and tremendous understanding of the game, Loffredo easily made the switch to the goalie position when he paired-up with the talented forward Collignon back in 1998. And the rest is history.

Going for his second straight 'triple' and looking for a fifth straight doubles title with Loffredo, Frederic Collignon wasted no time in getting started in the Open Doubles final. After two early blocks by Rob Mares, Frederic and Todd settled in, winning the first game 5-3, with Loffredo holding Wydman and Mares to just 25% shooting.

In the second game, Collignon went 4 for 7 from his three-rod and again the four time champs won 5-3 and now led two games to nothing. The third game also belonged to Collignon and Loffredo, who were now hitting on all cylanders, and as quick as you could say 'five-peat', the 2002 Open Doubles final was headed to a second set.

Needing a win to somehow slow down the steamrolling defending champs, Mares and Wydman instead fell quickly behind as the second and final set got underway. Mares' pull-kick effort from goal banked back in his own goal, Collignon went down the middle with a front pin shot, Loffredo scored a pull shot from his two-rod, and suddenly it was 3-0. Two euro-pins later and it
was one game to nothing in favor of the now red hot four-time defenders.

The second game was more of a defensive affair, with both teams getting eleven possessions on their three-rods. Collignon opened the scoring with a far side pin shot. Mares, now playing predominantly in the forward position, answered with a snake to the near corner and it was 1-1. Frederico and Rob again alternated shots, but at 2-2 Collignon stole the ball from Wydman and converted to give his team the lead, and then passed and scored again to surge ahead 4-2. Wydman, now permanently back at forward, scored a middle pull shot to pull within one, but Collignon closed the deal with another tight far side pin to win the game 5-3 and bring his team to within one gameof a fifth straight world title.

In game three, Scott Wydman caught fire. Scotty sprinted from the gate, drilling-home four straight pull shots and in just over two minutes Mares and Wydman had pulled ahead 4-2. But it takes five points to win a game of foosball and the two-time former national champs were never able to score that fifth goal. Loffredo scored to pull within one, and Collignon stole the ball from Wydman's five-row and converted to the far side to bring his team even. Suddenly it was championship point for the sport's most decorated
team.

At 4-4 Frederic Collignon, looking to once again make foosball history,made the pass from his five to his three-row and fired it home to the near side to complete the six game double-dipping and propel his team to an unbelievable fifth straight world Open Doubles title in dominating fashion.

Frederico's list of accomplishments on this momentus weekend in Dallas are staggering. He became the first man to ever triple at the Nationals and World Championships in the same season and was also the first to triple twice at the worlds. With his singles victory, he became the first male player to ever win three world championships on the Tornado table and, of course, the fifth straight win in doubles is an accomplishment that will probably never be duplicated. His ten open world titles (all in the last 5
years) now rank him second all time among men to his partner Loffredo's seventeen.

Collignon also won the Pro/Pro Master DYP title (with partner Daniel Lueras) along with the Winner Take All Draw Your Partner (with Trevor Park) at this year's worlds. He and his partner Ingrid Hauben became the first non-american team to win the prestigious International Cup event, defeating the Texas duo of Matt Steward and Eddy Gartman for the title.

During the 2002 season, Collignon played in an amazing eight of a possible ten open finals, winning six titles in what must be considered perhaps the greatest individual season in the history of the sport.

THE REST OF THE STORY...

There were many other notable performances during this memorable week in The Lone Star State.
Continuing a trend of foreign success, young Rob Atha of Great Britain teamed with Austrian Wolfgang Ressler to win Semi Pro Doubles. It was Rob's second semi pro victory of the season (he also won singles at the Hall of Fame Classic) making him a player to keep a close eye on in the upcoming years.

The men's rookie events at this year's worlds were dominated by German players, with Michael Strauss winning singles and Stefan Hartmann and Ronni Ohlig claiming doubles honors.

American Steve Schaaf of Louisiana helped avoid a erman sweep by defeating Michael Strauss to win the Semi Pro Singles title.

Other champions crowned on this world championship weekend included Scott Stewart in Forward Shootout, Terry Moore in Goalie War, and Keith Maurer and Michael Smith in 35 and Over Doubles.

Future star Joe Rumbolo won twice in Dallas, winning both the 17 and Under title with Kara Colligan, and 35 and 17 Doubles with veteran Gregg 'Jeep' Perrie.

Coloradoans Tracy Brubaker and Scott Jensen earned the Semi Pro Mixed trophies while Junior Enriquez and Vanessa Sanchez of Texas won the rookie version of that event.

Texan Eddie Lueras Jr. and Wolfgang Ressler won the No Pro DYP while Nicolas Rodriguez, also from Texas, and Kelly Day of Kentucky claimed the VIFA Draw Your Partner title.

But it was the incredible Frederic Collignon, who again stole the show in Dallas, completing a remarkable season of success on the U.S.T.S.A. pro tour that we may never again see duplicated. Well...at least until next year.