Hello Utah!!
Lorraine has asked me to speak a bit about my growing experiences from the perspective of a female fooser. I will start by saying, some of you may not like hearing what I have to say based on the posts I have read in this thread.
First off, foosball, much like the rest of society is male dominated, but I do also propose that woman have sat back and allowed that happen. Obviously, woman have been fighting for equal opportunity for many years now, but I don't see equal opportunity as an overly realistic general reality because males will always believe they are dominant over women... because well.. they physical can dominate women.
The bigger more important issue to me is discrimination and Lorraine, you nailed it in your post about how I am on the table against men. To me, discrimination is a choice where someone will either allow it or disallow it from happening to them. Not in all cases, but in foosball for sure. Now, I know it's not typically as cut and dry as it sounds, but in foosball, and as in all cases.. one is only as weak as one allows themself to be.
Now having said all that..for sure I've experienced discrimination, but the difference between myself and what I've seen in others is that I would never stand for it. But...I also knew my place. I didn't take it as discrimination because I was being put into goal. I just knew I wasn't as good as my forward. However, later on, after I got good...whenever I drew a new guy, I would ask him where he wanted to play and every single time he would say, "front"..without even asking me. I'd be content to let him play..and sit back and do my job, then after we'd lose the first game, I'd ask him to switch and win it back. He'd say after, "how come you didn't tell me you could play front?" I'd say, "would you have listened to me?" Then, of course, came the puzzled..."hmmmm...ya..guess she's right" look.
I do think I was a bit lucky tho, with where I started playing foosball. Now please don't take this as me intending to offend. I'm just stating my opinion, but I do think Canadians are a little more easy going and not quite so male dominating oriented. However, I also worked very hard to be respected as a foosball player. Not a female fooser, just a fooser.
There were a couple of ways I went about doing this. First was practicing by playing pick up games whenever I could. If it was a $5 table then I would put up my $5 and play with someone who was willing to let me get experience. I lost lots and lots of money, but it made me better faster. Then when I felt I had at least some experience, in tournaments I would ask my partner if I could play front for the first few balls or until we were losing beyond their comfortability. I did have pretty supportive guys here, but I also progressed fairly quickly and it didn't take me too long before becoming a dominating player.
Interesting tho that my local scene was pretty different from the Tour scene. Now I don't know if it again was the difference between Americans and Canadians, but wow..is about all I can say. The guys pretty much treated the girls like shit. It's still pretty bad..making all kinds of jokes and insults about female foosball. Of course girls don't wanna get in there and get all rough and tumble with the boys because if we can't hang then we end up getting razzed so badly that we don't wanna do it again. Foosball is bad enough that way already. It takes a very strong person with a strong desire and self belief to withstand the pressures of playing foosball. Now you have to double that for a female and even tripple it for a female that wants to play front over a male. Seriously guys...trust me ..I know. Girls weren't even "allowed" to play pick up games against the PM's back when I was starting to play. They would push their quarters off the table and laugh. If you had quarters up and it was your turn, they would leave the table and go and play on another one with eachother. It was really that bad. So maybe I was hardened a bit and I'm a product of the environment. I dunno..I just wanted to kick their asses so f'n bad I was about to kill myself to do it. That's called desire. When you wanna prove something so badly to someone that you are willing to do whatever it takes to do it. That does have a lot to do with someone's character tho..and that's me. That won't be in everyone..or every female, but I personally had a very strong drive to stick it right up those PM's asses.
As far as tournaments go..a Designated tournament where the lower ranked player plays front can be fun..maybe once a month. Another one is Roto..someone mentioned. And also..a Bring Your Partner is a good way to allow a female to play with someone who she knows will be supportive of her. Someone mentioned that too. A Designated Mixed event might be tough because the female might feel trapped and then put off..as someone also mentioned. That might be better left as a specialty event at a larger tourney, after getting more experience. It's a bit of a hard thing for me to suggest because for many many years I was the only female who was playing foosball in our area. It wasn't possible to cater to any females. We had BYPs, DYPs and Pro-Ams..and that was it.
Anyhow..now that I've written a book here. I think it is important for both male and female, to pay attention to what role they are playing. Is the woman settling and allowing herself to be dominated and discriminated against because she feels she can't or doesn't want to take the heat? And is the male not being supportive of the female, recognizing that she might need a lil encouragement? It really is a choice that we all make.
Sorey for the length. Hope this helps a lil bit.
*hugs*
Moya
. She is just a beginner. One of the reasons she quit before. Is she doesn't want to play front and got thrust into it. She plays to hang out and have a good time. She couldn't care less if she ever wins again. Now she feels like here we go again.
. When they are not going to score at all. Then they become discouraged and quit 
. The matches are going to be so long that you might as well play straight race to 7. And not win by 2. On the winners side also.
and you want to put them under the pressure of a tourney. Bad idea 
in my oppinion. It is just my oppinion, but after seeing how Nat reacted it gave me a perspective on how she felt. It made me think of the other women.
