Every Wednesday during lunch in the Falcon Nest, cheers and thwacks of small figures hitting the soccer ball can be heard as junior Garrick Chau and members of his Foosball Club engage in their weekly meetings. With roughly 20 members crowded around one foosball table, the energy is electric.
Foosball is a tabletop game that simulates soccer but is controlled by rods with sets of figures for the various positions in a real soccer match, including a goalkeeper. Players must spin the rods to pass, block or shoot the ball into the opponent’s net, trying to outscore the opponent before a set time or goal.
Chau started playing the game in elementary school. Since then, he has joined numerous tournaments, where people play the sport competitively in a bracket style, and has gained over 3,000 hours of playing experience.
In a typical meeting, each member rotates and plays for about five minutes, then finishes with the officers giving a lecture at the end with strategies and tips on how to improve their playing.
One of the challenges the club has faced was simply getting an adequate foosball table. In the end, Chau bought one for the Falcon Nest area just outside the front doors of the student center. While the school did have a foosball table in the Student Center, it was not up to par with Chau’s standards and preferences. It was stored in club adviser Meg Battey’s room last year, but Chau decided to move it to the Falcon Nest this year for a more open space.
The club hopes to expand membership and host future foosball tournaments in the future.
“I was in the student center playing foosball with some of my friends, and the way that we were all able to bond together made me realize that foosball allowed me and my friends to become closer, and I wanted to give that opportunity to other people,” Chau said.
