For the Love of Foosball

Hudson Valley has hosted the first two rounds of its Foosball Competition in the last two weeks.

It is an open competition for anyone who would like to participate and the conclusion on Mar. 21 results in an opportunity to play Rhode Island Foosball champion, Kevin Skaltsis.

Two foosball players Tom Andreyo and Ivan Andriianov competed and lost once each against other tandems. “I’ve played for a good ten or fifteen years. I used to have a foosball table at home so I’ve gotten pretty good at it,” said Andreyo.

While Andreyo is not a professional, he does think he can give the nationally ranked player a goal or two. “I’m sure I probably could,” said Andreyo.

Foosball is not the most popular sport created, but none the less for people who play it, there is a world of fun and adventure that can be explored.

“I lived out in Syracuse, New York and there was a guy that worked with me [who] …was ranked in one of the top five in the United States. We went out to a bar and…he was playing the owner and doing a couple trick shots that went up,” said Andreyo.

He said, “He was playing defense with his two back positions, he shot it up with his back player up to his goalie up to the forward, and kicked his leg up and scored with his foot. It was pretty impressive,” Andreyo said.

Playing sports together is a way a family can bond, and foosball is no different. “I played with my brothers or whenever a friend comes over, we’ll have like a little mini tournament,” Andreyo said.

While playing against a nationally ranked foosball player will not exactly be a family environment, it certainly will be a place for friendly competition.

As far as strategy goes when entering this tournament, Andreyo said that “just being quick looking at the lines and different angles of the openings all the way to the goal, or just working on different passes getting it up past their offense” will work playing the likes of students on campus or even when playing a nationally ranked player.

In great competitions, the games are close in terms of score and talent, and the intensity is as high as it can be. “As long as you have a strong offense for their defense and they have a strong defense for your offense it makes for a pretty challenging match,” Andreyo said.

The foosball competition finale is Thursday, Mar. 21, downstairs in the Campus Center, beginning at noon.