Joe Heslinga

<a class="spreaker-player" href="https://www.spreaker.com/episode/23246319" data-resource="episode_id=23246319" data-width="100%" data-height="200px" data-theme="light" data-playlist="false" data-playlist-continuous="false" data-autoplay="false" data-live-autoplay="false" data-chapters-image="true" data-episode-image-position="right" data-hide-logo="false" data-hide-likes="false" data-hide-comments="false" data-hide-sharing="false" data-hide-download="true">Listen to "Joe Heslinga From The Film Foosballers" on Spreaker.</a><script async src="https://widget.spreaker.com/widgets.js"></script>



For some die-hard fans, foosball isn't just a game... it's a way of life.  While professional foosball is a sport that's been around for more than 40 years, few know it exists.  Not only will audiences learn how to play the game (and finally put the ‘can you spin the rods?’ question to rest), they will get to meet some of the game's quirky, passionate, and best players as they prepare for the sport’s world championships.  Some of the competitors include a retired cop from Alabama, a former backup dancer for Marky Mark, and a Cannabis Cup winning marijuana grower!  "Foosballers" not only uncovers a forgotten piece of sports history, it puts a human face to those tiny pieces of plastic.

As its popularity soared, the game blossomed into a professional sport.  By the mid-70s, players could win sports cars and big purses as they traveled around the country as part of Tournament Soccer’s MILLION DOLLAR PRO TOUR.  But in the early 80s, the foosball market crashed, and the professional foosball scene has never been the same; though the game is still played recreationally by millions of people every day around the globe.  For the compulsively obsessed who play foosball at a professional level, it is nothing short of a high-speed chess match set inside a boxing ring.  Players are put to the test as they dial in highly mathematical moves in a battle of strength, endurance, and wit.  

Foosball, the game that most people know from their parents’ basements and bars around the country, is one of the world’s most popular pastimes.  Some know it as “table soccer” others as “baby foot” and still others as simply “foosball.”  Whatever you call it, it’s the decades-old, soccer inspired tabletop game where plastic men have been fashioned to metal poles and players must score the ball in the opposing team’s goal.