Spokane native brings home medals at foosball World Cup

Spokane native Lotus Leong-Chesbrough brought home two bronze medals for team USA in the foosball World Cup this past week in Zaragoza, Spain, in what she calls “one of the biggest foosball tournaments ever.”

Leong-Chesbrough first cultivated her love for foosball at a now-nonexistent Bumpers arcade.

“When I first started, it was crazy. There were tons of foosball players, and it slowly died out because the video games came in and the kids were playing video games at home, right?”

Since then, Leong-Chesbrough has won hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and has even been inducted into the pro foosball hall of fame.

One bronze was in the mixed-seniors division with teammate Tracy McMillan. The other was for senior women with partner Kelly Wyant.

Occurring every three years, the foosball World Cup gives the most talented table football players the chance to compete against one another for money and recognition. “They’re all from around the world,” Leong-Chesbrough said. “There’s Spain, Germany, France, Denmark, China, Japan. There’s over 1,400 competitors right now.”

This isn’t Leong-Chesbrough’s first time at the World Cup, obtaining victories in the 2006 and 2009 World Cups.

“It means a lot. It’s like the Olympics. So I guess it was one thing on my bucket list,” Leong-Chesbrough said. “I played for the World Cup team in 2006, so it’s been like 20 years since then, and I just got back here. So I’m excited. I’m ready to try to get on the next team to play again, it’s in three years.”

Leong-Chesbrough prepares at home for tournaments like the World Cup.

“I have a group of people that come over once a week, and we just practice,” she said. “I have a table in my basement, a little game room, and we just practice once a week.

The foosball tables on which Leong-Chesbrough plays, however, aren’t always standardized, with different events having different types of tables.

“This tournament World Cup has like four or five different tables from the one I play on, so I really didn’t get a chance to practice on any of those tables, but I did well. I was able to adapt.”

Leong-Chesbrough attributes much of her success to her strong relationship with her teammates. “I have the greatest partners. They’re both wonderful.” Leong-Chesbrough said. “It’s almost like, when you win a title with someone, you’re like, bonded forever, yeah? I mean, you’re constantly calling each other, seeing what’s going on, what tournament you’re going to and when you want to play again.”

Leong-Chesbrough also loves foosball because of how many people she has met over her time playing.

“You meet people everywhere, you bond with people,” she said. “I think I could probably go to any state in the U.S. and have a friend there I could stay with.”

She wants to help cultivate those relationships and love for the game of foosball among local youth as well.

“We’re trying to get some tables in the Boys and Girls Club. So hopefully, I can get there and practice with the kids and build that up again so people can compete again,” Leong-Chesbrough said.

“Hopefully, there will be more younger kids wanting to play.”