Table soccer champ heads to World Cup of foosball
Team Canada foosball player Zoe LaBelle is off to Hamburg, Germany, to play table soccer at the international level.
The 24-year-old started playing four years ago when she got a job in the bar — Time Out Pub — that serves as the headquarters for the Edmonton Foosball League.
“I really thought it was weird seeing all those people playing foosball together like that, so serious,” she recalled.
When she went with her boyfriend, Will Stranks, to the world tournament in 2012, she was intrigued and thought about one day joining the team. So she started practising.
She now plays on Tornado, Fireball and Bonzini tables.
Bonzini “men” are made of metal with no weight in their head, which makes it tougher to keep the men upright, whereas Tornado men can stay upside down easier, LaBelle said.
“It’s a real mind game to me,” she said. “If you show somebody that you’re stressed out about it, or that they’re getting into your head, they’ll start to win.”
The tournament will involve games of doubles and singles, best three of five — each country has its own table and teams switch between home and away tables.
Canada has a reputation for having the nicest jerseys, LaBelle said.
There are teammates she will be meeting for the first time at the International Table Soccer Federation World Cup in Germany.
“I think it’s really exciting, we get to see new stuff coming from different people,” she said. “Everybody is different.”
She describes her style of playing as “fast.” Players have a limit of 15 seconds with the ball on the bar, but she likes to get rid of it in seven seconds or less.
LaBelle said she was never competitive at other sports, but she has a drive to win with foosball. Her first major win was in a tournament with Stranks.
“It was an incredible feeling,” she said.
“I’ve never felt anything like that before. You work so hard for something and it finally pays off. It was a big goal we had together, so it felt super good.”