Topic: Women and foosball

[crazy8]

In CT we have a very limited pool of players.  Most (all but two or three) have never played in a tournament.  When we get together as a group we use a software program that one of the players wrote:

All players are entered as either 'A' or 'B' players.  Round robin matches are generated and called where each 'A' and 'B' player is paired (multiple times) and play all the other potential A/B pairs. 

Besides storing win/loss records, the game-points are also entered into the program after each game (each match is only one game).  After the round robin, the process continues where an only B-player round robin is played and an only A-player round robin is played.

Finally, individual players are ranked by their success.
It is not unusual for a B-player to have the best win/loss/goal-differential, but it can go either way. 

We think it's a great way for everyone to benefit: each B-player gets to play with each of the A-players more than once, each A-player must try to win with varying levels of support. 

Paul

[Buckshot]

This thread has got really interesting and has me remembering the first time I saw tournament style/level play. In 1975 I was a big fish in a small pond when I went to my first Tournament Soccer Tournament in Maryland. The first person I watched practicing when I walked into the tournament room was some guy shooting pushkicks. OMG! Suddenly it was back-to-school, big time! But it brought out the competative spirit in me and I rose to the occasion and won the DYP, first tournament I ever entered! My partner was Randy "Goose" Taylor, probably the best player out of Utah. My point is, Draw Your Partner tournaments are the best and most fun & fair way to elevate beginners to serious play. You can be a rookie but still do well if you get lucky on the draw and get a good partner. After I went back to Dogpatch (haha), I and the small group who went with me brought back some of our new knowledge and skill to Yama's (our foos bar) and everyone started playing better and IT WAS STILL FUN!
      I believe that striving to improving one's game is a big part of the attraction and what keeps people coming back. The way to get  beginners to keep trying and not be intimidated by more experienced & skillful players is DYP tournaments and Novice or Amature events with restricted entry at the larger tournaments. This is how Tournament Soccer did it and it worked.
     I see a similar situation with woman foosball players and women poker players. The reason, in my humble opinion, that there are so many more men than women in tournaments is biology, i.e., male aggression. It's in our male genes and culture to fight and compete. But in both poker tournaments and foosball tournaments there are women who have the desire, skill and, dare I say, aggression, to kick the crap out of their male opponents. And boy, do us males hate losing to a GIRL! More power to you, ladies.