Live players take to the giant foosball table

Human foosball is coming to Thunder Bay.

A world-wide phenomenon that’s taken YouTube by storm, on June 6 the local Habitat for Humanity chapter plans to use the growing sport as a way to help raise money to help low-income families enjoy and experience the joys of home ownership.

The organization is hoping to raise at least $6,000 in the event, which will involve 10 teams of six players competing for the city’s first human foosball championship.

Resource Development co-ordinator Patricia Poohachoff on Monday said the event promises to be a lot of fun for everyone involved, while raising much needed funds at the same time.

“It’s the first of its kind in Thunder Bay,” she said.

“It’s being played around the world but we’re bringing it here for the first time. It’s actually a huge foosball table, human size, with human players. They act as the players, like in the table-top game, by holding the rod and having to stay in that place.”

The goal is to stay true to the original game.

And it’s not anywhere near as easy as it might sound. In a quick demonstration outside Habitat for Humanity’s Squier Street office, players did their best to follow the rules, but human nature took over.

First and foremost players must keep both hands on the rods traversing the 300 square-foot court, which was put together by Habitat volunteers, including president Diane Mitchell.

The six-on-six games are scheduled for 15 minutes apiece.

“Our mission is to mobilize the community-at-large to work with low-income families to build homes,’ Poohachoff said.

“We find that building homes for these families has helped increase their commitment to go back to school and learn new job skills, because they have to put 500 hours into actually building the homes. We’re actually finding children that receive the homes from us are also more confident in school.”

Registering for the event is simple, she added.

Packages are available online at http://habitattbay.com/. Each team of six must raise a minimum of $600.

Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay has built 29 homes since 1994.