About the Author
I started playing foosball at the age of
sixteen back in Houston Texas where I grew up. I was fortunate that the tables I learned on were
Tornadoes and Dynamos. At first, I only played front and the push-kick was my only weapon until I
learned how to do pin shots. In the early 80s, my passing knowledge was not that great
then, so I was forced to play goalie more often than I wanted to. Soon, I became fairly
good at blocking most of the popularly used shots. I developed numerous kinds of defenses
which I proudly named. For instance, there is the "flex" defense, the "sucker dee", and the "doom's
day" defense. Please, see the section on defense. Then, I realized that if I was going to
play front and dominate, I was going to have to learn how to pass. For the years that
followed, passing was where most of my attention went to. Even to this day, passing is the
main area I still practice the most. Please, see the section on passing.
I have never won any kind of a tournament, usually getting second at most, but I have played against some who are well renowned in the sport of foosball. For many years, I played against John Smith back in Pasadena, TX. He had one of the best pull shots I have ever seen. He was a very quite fellow when he played. He was very methodical and disciplined as well. His passing game was crisp and accurate and his pull shot penetrated most defenses. I learned a lot about how to defense the pull playing against John; however, he still won more games than I did when we played. Then there is Jim Stevens, with his wicket push-kick. I have played against some who can do it better, but his shot is still pretty awesome. Jim Stevens travels with a rough crowd (competition wise) who makes their home at the Sports Harbor Bar in Santa Monica CA. The competition there is very very good. It's no places for the weak. However, I played Jim, when I lived in LA, at a place called the Pitcher House in Redondo Beach. There were scores of other outstanding players in the southern California area whom I can not name that I had the privilege to play against. They are as dedicate to the game as much as I am, if not more. Some of the them travel all over the nation and the world to compete and to prove their dedication and love for the spirit of competition and the game of foosball. I graduated from Cal Poly which is located in central California in the spring of 96. I majored in Graphic Communications. Stephen Gonzales
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