Huddled with his friends in the Falcon Nest area near the student center, junior Garrick Chau was deeply engaged on a recent day playing foosball.
He seemed to slide a new marker to his side every few seconds as he scored goal after goal. His friends attempted to counter his attacks, yet almost every point ended in favor of Chau, who is a highly competitive player. Having participated in many foosball competitions himself, he felt an urge to spread his passion and created the foosball club, making it a goal to create a community of competitive foosball players at the school.
Since seventh grade, Chau has spent countless days at Redwood Middle School playing foosball and more at SHS; during the beginning of this school year, Chau and his friends played foosball in the student center every day after school. Eventually, they formed the Foosball Club last September, and they now have a steady stream of around 20 members who attend weekly Wednesday meetings in the Falcon Nest.
“I noticed everybody would crowd around the table, but [they] were not equally skilled, so I wanted to make sure they all had an opportunity to improve,” Chau said.
To push his goal of improving everyone’s skills, Chau brought in a professional player named Phil McCarthy, a friend and neighbor of Chen, as a coach. Since his official clearance during the start of the second semester, McCarthy has regularly attended Foosball Club meetings and helped out players by giving advice.
As a professional player with 50 years of experience, McCarthy has played in many national foosball tournaments like the 2024 National Championships in New Orleans and the 2022 Texas state championship. This June, he plans to travel to Zaragoza, Spain, to participate in the 2025 International Foosball World Cup.
Additionally, because McCarthy has an affiliation with Foosball Clubs USA, he was able to sponsor the club and donate two new Tornado T-3000 foosball tables, each costing around $3,000. Both of these tables were essential for the club because the school’s older ones were starting to break.
With the addition of the new tables, the foosball club was now capable of hosting tournaments, a goal that was on Chau’s mind since the club’s creation.
After advertising the tournament across the school with posters, the foosball club eventually gathered over 30 people to participate in a single-elimination bracket on March 11. In the end, sophomores Rishi Kamath and Maxime Sobrier were each awarded $10 gift cards for winning in the tournament finals, sweeping sophomores Connor Burgmeier and Dara Bannon 10-6.
Rishi Kamath and Maxime Sobrier play in the Foosball Club’s tournament on March 11.
Following that tournament, the club has decided to host more smaller scale tournaments during club meetings. The last tournament, held on May 27, used the Kicker Tool Foosball Tournament App to decide the winner of a single elimination bracket.
Six months after the club’s formation, Chau is proud that instead of seeing the same two people dominate the game, the way he often did in September, he has seen a spike in the skills of many members who can now evenly compete with each other.
Chau hopes that, as the club members improve, they can attend tournaments outside of the school in the future. He also plans on working with nearby schools such as Redwood Middle School to improve their programs.
“Before [McCarthy], our club was on the decline; however, [after his addition], his helpful insights and connections with Foosball Clubs USA helped our club host a very successful tournament and gain many new members,” Chen said.
