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Jesse Rhode Administrator Posts: 307
9/30/2017
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For the most part, I have been pretty quite about Stinger's events since I took over 2 weeks ago. I made some initial changes, but mostly just easing myself into Saturday foosball again. In essence, I want to find that sweet spot between late night Duke's and an afternoon at The Loft. However, there were even greater issues going on that left everything in doubt.
In other words, the largest concern for Bill and I, was the viability of Stinger's as a foosball venue in the first place. Look, it is no state secret that the joint has been experiencing some massive problems due to life changing events that greatly impacted the ownership. Those issues, however, are truly beginning to work themselves out. Long story short, both Billy and I have stuck with Stinger's since Stinger's stuck by us for so long.
At the same time, we are both keenly aware that the troubles with service and product availability has severally hurt player turn out. But, change is coming. Change is coming to the location, and change is coming to the tournaments. There is still some unknowns concerning Stinger's, but Bill and I have been led to believe that there is a future for foosball at the location. And, as far as changes to the tournaments, the change is to bring about consistency and uniformity to both venues, Stinger's and Duke's.
Now, on to the first change of significance, and the last time I will make this sort of change, as it is far too important...the start time. I don't know about you, but for me, the Stinger's Saturday 6 pm start time was a horse shit idea! Since I need to be at the venue about an hour prior to the event, it ended up messing with family dinner time. That is not acceptable for me. With this in mind, I need to move it to 7 pm. Any time you mess with start times, you are asking for problems. However, this is simply one of them things that I have to do. My apologies.
Next, I have change number two. As I alluded to, I wish to bring consistency and a touch of uniformity to Duke's and Stinger's. This is largely due to my desire to simplify as much as possible and the knowledge that upkeep costs are the same at both locations. The new format is also meant to recognize League players. The value that League has provided to our foos community can not be overstated. I wish to reflect this importance in how I run my events by introducing Active League Player status. It is just what it states it is, while league is running, Active League Players will pay less! When league is not active, you pay the normal entry fee. Thus, the shared entry fee format will be:
Open Doubles format:
$10.00 Pro/Ex - $7.00 Am/Beg (-$2.00 for Active League Players)
Draw Your Partner format:
$10.00 All Players (-$2.00 for Active League Players)
Roto Events (to clarify which format applies):
$10.00 Pro/Ex - $7.00 Am/Beg (-$2.00 for Active League Players)
I hope that all this change will not upset our community of foosers. Personally, I see it more as a return to how Stinger's used to be. And, I feel strongly about reflecting the time and commitment it takes to play League and weekend tourney's. Truly, we have a great thing going here and I am just experimenting with the methods to its madness in order to promote its insanity! Nothing is set in stone, but I made some changes to all the "Coming Events" for October meant to reflect this (did this about 4 days ago actually) for both venues. You may wish to look into them. And, feel free to provide feedback.
edited by JRhode on 9/30/2017
edited by JRhode on 9/30/2017
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Jesse Rhode Administrator Posts: 307
9/30/2017
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These forums are not working properly for me. Says I am editing when not, doesn't post sometimes, clicking preview the first time deletes the message. Took forever to even figure out how to reply, since quick reply kept deleting whatever the fuck I wrote. Funky town!
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Slam Duncan Posts: 45
9/30/2017
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Great info Jesse. Glad that you take the time to put all of this out there so people have a better understanding of what's happening in our happy little family of foosers. Personally, I'd like to see more people on this site, whether it's for ideas, congratulations, talking smack or whatever. Facebook sucks up a lot of the foosball communication bandwidth and that's only going to increase. This venue is uniquely ours and the more people using it, the better (read bigger) our group is going to get. There are a lot of players out there and they are involved with different facets of our sport here in the Valley....leagues, tourneys, pick up games, etc. There are some damn good players that I've never even met because I don't participate in leagues. Some people go to the Loft and never go to Dukes. And vice versa. This forum allows us to get to know each other, to share ideas (ideas to help promote and grow foosball are always a good thing), to ask for and provide advice on various aspects of the game. We could become better as individual players and also collectively if we communicated more. For instance, as we watch each other play the game, we learn "tells, weaknesses, strengths, and areas of improvement that would greatly help if the information were shared. Right now, that usually happens, if at all, if the player is on your team and it would help you win a match or a tourney and it's usually a veteran trying to help a rookie. I need help. My game sucks. If anyone has any ideas to help me with my game, I'm all ears. Likewise, I'll be more than willing to help anyone that's receptive to the offer. My two cents worth and I expect some change back.....lol
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Slam Duncan Posts: 45
9/30/2017
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A couple of words of advice, might or might not help. Practice. It's important. The more, the better, both alone, playing pick-up games, playing tourneys and leagues, any and all table time helps your game. That being said, the bare basics for practicing alone should include practicing the things you will be doing in a game, focus on passing the ball (easily the most important aspect of the forward game), catching the ball, dribbling the ball and ball control in general, and shooting the ball. Your passes and shots should be executed the same way you would in a game...set the ball up without using your hands, SIT on the ball (15 seconds is a long time, 2 seconds...mot so much), and visualize being in a match, match point, you make the shot you win...Practice doesn't make perfect....perfect practice makes perfect. Work on your weak points. Most people are right handed and don't spend nearly enough time practicing with their left. That's a weakness. The more times you have the ball, the better your odds are of scoring. This is all old news for most of the veterans in the group.
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Jesse Rhode Administrator Posts: 307
9/30/2017
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Slam Duncan wrote:
A couple of words of advice, might or might not help. Practice. It's important. The more, the better, both alone, playing pick-up games, playing tourneys and leagues, any and all table time helps your game. That being said, the bare basics for practicing alone should include practicing the things you will be doing in a game, focus on passing the ball (easily the most important aspect of the forward game), catching the ball, dribbling the ball and ball control in general, and shooting the ball. Your passes and shots should be executed the same way you would in a game...set the ball up without using your hands, SIT on the ball (15 seconds is a long time, 2 seconds...mot so much), and visualize being in a match, match point, you make the shot you win...Practice doesn't make perfect....perfect practice makes perfect. Work on your weak points. Most people are right handed and don't spend nearly enough time practicing with their left. That's a weakness. The more times you have the ball, the better your odds are of scoring. This is all old news for most of the veterans in the group.
I agree very much. In fact, one of the things I have planned for the future of the Stinger's venue will be organized entirely around this concept. At Duke's, there are evenings with Singles, followed by a draw. I am of the opinion, that Singles is suffering due to the cost of quarters (though, I find that to be a limited viewpoint upon the value of singles play). In any case, I have decided to go with "free play" mode with a table fee for that specific "two events in one" evening. At the same time, I was hoping to institute something similar at Stinger's in the near future...with a major difference! There will be no tourney, yet the tables will be on "free play" mode with the same table fees, but as a series of events meant to improve how we play the game. Basically, an extended outing of Expert "lessons" designed to draw forth questions about one's game and find the best path towards improvement.
I have quite a few systems that I utilize to improve my game. There are others in our community that do as well. They can be shared. Thus, I hope to incorporate this belief into an "event", without an actual tourney! Open tables for open discussions and lessons upon how to improve ball control, how to do this or that shot, or just have a general good time playing a bunch of pick up games prior to the "main" event. Obviously, I need to work on the format of this aspiration a bit, prior to implementing it...yet, it is the direction I am trying to design around for 2 events a month at the Stinger's location.
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jimking Posts: 8
10/1/2017
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WOW...lots of good changes, great recommendations and tips. I'm certain all these will have a positive impact to our foosball community with respect to turn-out and overall skill level.
I also agree with Bob in getting more players responding within this forum would improve our community also. We can always use constructive criticism and new ideas to improve upon what we already have. Thanks to Jesse and Bob, and everyone else behind the scenes, for these posts...great stuff!
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