Sziasztok, Jánó vagyok. Közép-Európa első világra szóló podcast csatornáját hallgatjátok Magyarországról. Ez a Budapest.fm. Hi, my name is Ray, and you're listening to the number one podcast station in Central Europe, Budapest.fm, podcasting to the world from Hungary. Welcome back to another episode of Talking with Willie. We are at the Techball World Headquarters, and if you don't know what that is, neither did I until I moved to Hungary and saw these wonderful orange and gray curved tables—excuse me, curved tables—in pretty much every park. And as I just cough up a frog there, I will now pass it over to my buddy Attila, who works at Techball, don't you? Yes, I do. Thank you. Welcome, everyone. Yeah, welcome here as well at headquarters. Yeah. And tell me, Techball, how did it start? Who came up with the idea of Techball? Yeah, there are two inventors. One of them is Gábor Borsányi. He came up with the idea because they used to play this game on the concrete table tennis table, and there was an issue with it because the ball literally stood a stop at the net in the middle, so they curved the table. So now the ball bounces every time outwards to the players. Oh, cool. So I'm here with Tom also, Bob Tomáš. How you doing, Tom? Doing great. Happy to be here, as always. Techball, amazing, amazing game. And Tom is one of my best foot tennis partners, I would say, because to me, Techball is very similar to football tennis, which we play all the time after practice, before practice, sometimes even during practice. And it's essentially the same rules. I mean, you get three sort of hits on either side. The ball can only bounce once in foot tennis on the floor, whereas in Techball it's on a curved ping pong table. Tom, do you remember, like, the first time you saw Techball? Was it when you studied in Hungary, or— Yeah, maybe when I was studying hungry. Like you said, it's actually, it's in most of the parks, and it's kind of like, what kind of trippy shit am I looking at right now? They messed up this ping pong table seriously. It’s like something was left too long in the sun and it just warped downwards. Exactly. But then, yeah, I think you and I maybe tried to play for the first time, and it was like a very difficult experience, and I thought that everyone who played was a superhero. Yeah, I mean, it seems just like an impossible game when you watch the highlights on TV, because I think along with you, I probably saw it on the side of one of our practices, either at the Városliget or maybe when we used to play up in Kereleten, Tizenhárom with Budapest Celtic. Either way, we saw these courts there and we tried to play with a normal soccer ball usually, and the ball would just bounce like crazy, because I guess the name of the game in teqball is angles and bounces, no? Yes, and also the ball pressure is a little bit lower, so that’s why the ball doesn’t bounce too far when you hit it. Cool, because we’re actually recording this right now from the teqball headquarters, as I mentioned, and we tried playing before on the table that’s behind Tom. Which you cannot see, but it's a curved table, and we were playing with a slightly deflated ball bouncing all over the place. And slowly but surely, we kind of got the hang of it. I mean, not as good as the professionals that we're watching play behind us right now, but it's cool. You sort of feel yourself getting better, more confident, trying a few more things. Tom, how did you like that experience of properly playing teqball for the first time? It was amazing because, like I said, the first time we tried, I didn't really understand, and I was saying, so it was Willie versus me, and we each had a professional teqball partner, and it was great to have them there because they could keep the ball alive and keep the game going, and that was so much fun. Yeah, it was really a great time, back and forth, back and forth, like some sort of futuristic curved ping pong soccer game of the future. And we're actually here with one of the preeminent teqball players on the women's side in all of Budapest. Do you prefer Nora or Nori? Nora. Nora, that's right, Nora. And what is your last name? Vicsek. Nora Vicsek. Hol kerületben laksz? Which district do you live in? Eighth district. Eighth district. Józsefváros. Józsefváros, yes. Nagyon jó. Nekem legérdekesebb kerület Pesten, mert nagyon, nem tudom, autentikus és érdekes, és igen, és autentikusabb és autentikusabb hol és hol, nem tudom, mondtam, de most angolul azt hiszem mindig hittek csináltam a viccet. Igen. Exactly. Yeah, nodding. Over my head, over my head. And where is your favorite place to play teqball, Nora? Probably here because I... Never visited other countries to play teqball, but— Oh, in Hungary, in the country of Magyarország. Yeah. Well, that's cool. But what about within Budapest itself? Do you have a favorite court, a favorite stadium? We just usually play here, or it's under construction. It's a bigger place. I don't know if—did you see when you come? It's like a big bubble. It looks like a big bubble. Oh, cool. And there is more space for bigger spikes, so probably that's a better place to play this sport. By the way, where are we right now? Because I just took a taxi over here and I just looked at the map, didn't even, like, notice what district I am. Can you tell me? I'm not sure. I'm very bad with districts. This is the 10th. Yeah, right next to the 10th. Yeah, this is the 10th district, next to Expo Hotel. Oh, cool. So Kőbánya. Yes. Oh, cool. Második kerület, another good district. Nora and I were talking earlier, and you were saying that there's, like, some teqball players are more defensive, some are more offensive. Which box would you put yourself? I'm still figuring out, because I'm pretty new to this sport. The other guys are here for around two years, and I'm starting my second month full time, so I haven't figured out if I'm an attacking or a defensive player. What about in normal footsie, do you play— I'm a forward. You're a forward. I like to attack, score goals, so I think I would prefer to be an attacking player in teqball too. Cool. That's what I thought when I saw you, like the Leo Messi of women's teqball. And she also always smashes, so— Always smashes. What is a smash? For people that don't play teqball, what is a smash? I mean, pretty self-explanatory, but how does it work in teqball? So you prepare the ball, or you get the ball prepared right next to the—or top of the net, the plexi we can say, and then you smash it with the instep, or the top of your foot. You smash it on the board, and it goes outward, so in best case scenario, it's unsaveable. And what situation do you want to do a smash in, Nora? Is it like the ball, it comes back as in a volleyball game, right? And then is it smart to do a smash if the ball comes to you all the time, or do you want to sometimes do a drop shot, or— Yeah, you should definitely switch it. Because you cannot touch the ball twice with the same body part, or you cannot give the ball back with the right foot. So you cannot smash twice in a row. So you should be good in other, maybe smash with the head or just a drop shot, what you said. Okay, maybe you don't want to say this out loud. You could whisper it if you want, but who is the best teqball player here that's not named Nora? Okay, I would say Martin, because he won the last competition. Was that my partner? Yeah, that was. Yeah, that's what I thought. So, all right, get Martin over here. Thank you so much, Nora, for joining us. It was lovely talking to you. Thank you. Köszönjük szépen. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, let me catch Martin just one second. Would you mind telling him? Thank you. I was actually, you mentioned that Martin was the winner of the last competition, and while he comes over here, I actually have no idea what kind of teqball competitions are there. So we have, we already had three world championships. And we have Grand Prix as well, and we have several others. We have Challenger Cups, we have series. So there are many, many competitions we do have. But Martin won the last Hungarian Championship round, Challenger Cup round, so that's what he won. What is a Grand Prix? Grand Prix is when all the best players in the world ranking, top eight or top ten or whatever, goes to one competition. So that's the best of the best playing. Where was the last Grand Prix? It was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Oh wow, interesting. And you were telling us before that you're traveling to Madagascar. Yeah, hopefully next week. Hopefully next week. That's super cool. So the influence of teqball has clearly made it outside of the small boundaries of Hungary. Yeah, definitely. We have over 100 national federations. We have 103 right now. So, and we also have many, many other countries which we already touched, 160 out of 190, if I'm not lying. I don't want to. But yeah, national federation-wise, we have 103, which is pretty cool. So that made us also the fastest-growing sport officially. And how does a country become recognized as part of the teqball federation? Yeah, there are many, many things that they have to deal with. So they have to have enough—the numbers of players has to be reached, a certain number of referees has to be reached, and then they have to also have clubs prepared as well. So there's like a league, I guess. So inside Hungary, is there a league of regular teqball kind of matches? Yes, exactly. Exactly, all the time. So we started, obviously, COVID hit it, but yeah, now we're working out how we should touch that. So we're going to have a round one as well next week. And how many clubs are there in Hungary right now? In Hungary? Oh, I can tell you exactly. We have over 30. Oh wow. Yeah. Because, because, because we are working on it. And it's a must that they should be doing it. And what do you think? Do you think Willie and I have a shot at opening a little playing with Willie tech ball team, or are we below the bar? No. I mean, not in that. Let's focus on different ventures. It sounds like you're telling us over there. No, no, no. I mean, yeah, you can start one, obviously. There's no boundaries. That's cool. Relegated first. But I prefer you, or I suggest you to join one other club, and then you can start up everything. You know the rules and you know how the training methods work and everything else. Very cool. This is not Martin, who's walking over. It's Lia. Lia. Cool. Welcome. She is, taglalni, she is, I would say she's one of the best female players in the world right now. Igen? Yeah, exactly. Legjobb nő. Yes. Világon. Exactly. One of the best female tech players in the— tech players or tech ball players? Tech ball players. Tech ball players or tech ballers. Exactly. On the entire planet Earth. That's pretty cool. And tell me your full name. Lea Vasas. Lea Vasas. Lea. Yes. Lea Vasas. Cool. Oh, igen. Ja. Persze beszélünk magyarul. És hol… nem hol, de honnan jöttél? Where do you come from? From Budapest. Budapest. És milyen kerületben laksz? Tizennegyedik kerület. Tizennegyedik. Igen. Tizennegyedik, nem tudom. Tizennegyedik. Zugló. Persze, Nagyon, Nagyon szép, Nagyon szép kerület. Igazából imádom Zuglót. És játszol tech ballt? Játszol tech ballt a városligetben? Városligetben. Városligetben. Városligetben. Városligetben. Igen. Köszönöm szépen. Igen. Kedvenc techball pitch? Külföldön szeretek többet járni leginkább, hogyha van rá lehetőség. Hol? Hol? Riyadh, Saudi Arabia? Maradjunk Európában inkább. Ja. És kedvenc ország Európa mentén? Franciaország. Franciaország. Ja. Dél-Franciaország vagy? Az is. Az is. Igen. Nizza, Monaco. Nice és Monaco. Nagyon luxus. Szép tengerpart, szép színes. Igen, igen, igen. És a foci, focistam? Igen. Techball előtt? Igen, az MTK-ban. MTK? Igen, körülbelül tíz-tizenegy évig, és két éve váltottam a techballra. Nagyon jó. És hol játszol foci, például forward, defender, midfield? Igen, középpályás voltam. Közép. És ismered Steven Gerrard? Persze. Igen. Mert kedvenc foci csoport, csapat, Arsenal? Nem nekem. Nem nekem. De nekem Liverpool. Liverpool. You'll Never Walk Alone. Mi szeret... És te kedvenc foci csapat? Barcelona. Barcelona. És Akars Meshalni, Tamnak, Magyar... Canada? Canada? Do you want to say something to Tom in Hungarian? Ah, okay. Nem tudom, mit szeretnél hallani, vagy… Csak kicsit beszélek magyarul, és kedvenc, so I have a question. So, milyen tech ball games, how many, milyen tech ball championship éves? Like how many games of tech ball do you play every year? Van országos bajnokság, ez most fog indulni következő hónapban. Ott fogok indulni női, illetve vegyes párosban, mixed doubles, illetve van egy National Series versenysorozat is, és ott vegyes párosban indulok az egyik fiúval. Vegyes páros? Vegyes, yes. Vegyes, mixed, like vegyes pálinka. Yes, mixed doubles, exactly. Köszönöm szépen. Nem tudom, és ki gondolsz, nem kedvenc, de legjobb férfi itt, teqball? A páromat kell mondanom, akivel játszok. Páromat? Mit jelent? Her partner in doubles game. Ah, ki? Ő sajnos most nincs itt. Nincs, nincs, nincs. De itt, itt legjobb. Nem, nem szeretnék. Ugyanis… Oké, well, köszönjük szépen, és nagyon-nagyon örülök, and it was an honor beszélni legjobb női teqball-világon. Thank you. And how do you say good luck? Sok szerencsét. Sok szerencsét. Thank you. Thank you. You too, guys. All right, who's the next victim? Who should be? Sorry if I put you on the spot there, speaking Hungarian. We can have someone who's sitting, maybe Adam. Okay. Adam looks like a cool guy. Yeah. Hey, Adam. Ádám! All right, we're getting Adam over here. Just one second. Appeared to be having some hesitations. So, Tom, what do you think of our first two guests? Pretty cool girls, huh? Super cool. Super cool ladies. I was talking to Nora before. I've learned a ton about techball. She actually studied in America. And, yeah, I mean, I'm still getting used to this whole techball world, trying to wrap my head around, you know, how the organization works, how the kind of leagues work. I guess it's not every day that you see a new sport forming in front of your eyes, and it's pretty cool. Yes, obviously, being part of it is also very cool. Yeah. So right now, based on how— so every country has their own rule how they pick one player or doubles player or mixed doubles players to go to the World Championship. So every country can pick one or two or six players they can prepare for that. And other than that, we don't regulate anything, actually. And so is techball the company? Do you have a team? Yes, we have several teams. We have a sport team, and part of the sport team, they are sport instructors, obviously. They are traveling abroad and teaching everyone about the rules and about the games. And we have a sport development team. Their obligatory is to have the national federations prepared and everything as well. And we have club development team as well. We have marketing team, so we have everything. But do you have a competitive teqball team of players that compete in the Hungarian league? Yeah, sure. Really? Sure, sure, yeah. Cool. Because there are many other teams, clubs as well prepared. So, as I said, there are roughly 30 teams here in Hungary. So, yeah, many competitors here. Cool. I'm very impressed by the global reach that teqball seems to have, and you guys are in obviously enough countries that is there anything you do in terms of helping people out in lower-income communities and things like that? We have several CSR programs. CSR programs. What does CSR stand for? Corporate social responsibility. Exactly. I knew I would get it. Why would you ask? He needed time. I just needed to build up my own confidence after I started off the podcast by coughing up whatever I did. So anyway, that's what it was. The corporate social responsibility. Tell me about that in a teqball context. In the teqball context, we go to several places, refugee camps. We go and donate tables to places, or let's say forest places, children in need, so they can have a new refresh or restart where they can start a new game. They can try it themselves, and it also helps them develop their confidence part of the life as well. That's amazing. That's actually—I'm wearing right now a shirt that I have, Camps Bay Football Club, which was my club team in South Africa, but I was over there working for a company called Grassroots Soccer, and they did a very similar nonprofit outreach to HIV vulnerable communities in South Africa, all over the African continent. But it was through that experience—and here teqball comes into my hands. Here you go, guys—that I really learned about the power that sport can have to change the world. And so I'm very interested to hear, is that why you're going down to Madagascar, or that is nothing? Yes, we are going to have several CSR programs as well. But our main aim is to teach coaches and referees as well over there. Oh, great. So building up the infrastructure of the sporting culture in the country. Yeah, it's already started, so they developed everything, but right now we just need a little push to reach their goals, and then, yeah, it's going to be good. That's interesting. I also am interested by the fact that techball takes a little bit less of a necessary resource strain in order to get a game going, let's say. I mean, obviously you need the table and you need the technical know-how, but outside of that, you don't necessarily need to have two teams full of 11 or coaches. I mean, it's just an extension of the sort of evolution of football in different directions: five-a-side, three-a-side, four-a-side, and now techball. And we're also here with Adam, correct? Nope, it's Shoma. No, my name is Shoma. Shoma. Yes. Oh, cool. Bocsánat, bocsánat, bocsánat. No worries. Tell me, what is your full name? Shoma Fördős. Shoma Fördős. Fördős Shoma. It's an easy Hungarian name. Cool. And how did you get into techball? Oh, I started two and a half years ago. I was a professional football, tennis player. You mentioned you play football tennis. Oh, yeah, yeah. And they just found me, and that's the story. That was actually going to be one of my questions. So they do some of the—is it, were you found by a techball company or by a techball club? No, I just have a friend here, and he invited me to try this, if I like it or not, and I stuck here. And how did that look like? So you came to techball and was some kind of interview process, or you just played a game and they liked your skills? Yeah, it was two years ago in January, and we were selected from more than a hundred people. For who applied for the job. Oh wow, congrats. Thank you. Yeah. Were you confident that you were gonna get picked? Did you know going in, like, yeah, they're gonna pick me. I'm amazing at football tennis. Or were you a little bit nervous? I wasn't nervous. I tried to do my best, and obviously it was enough to. That's the right mentality. That's the right mentality. Wasn't nervous. And so is there— so I guess you've been to teqball competitions now, and you used to be going to soccer тенnis competitions. Is there a big difference? Like, is there crowds at these kind of competitions, and how's the vibe different? I think now the crowd is bigger at teqball competitions. Football tennis is not really professional here in Hungary, but I think we can say that teqball is trying to be, or in a good way to be, very professional. That's cool. Well, it seems also as if part of the beauty of it in the Hungarian context is that it's a successful export that Hungary has, which I know Hungarians are always very proud of. So just the fact that you can say that teqball, it's a Hungarian thing. And to be honest, it's a very Hungarian thing because it's just like making things a little bit more complex and with sophisticated rules. But that doesn't stand because, like, just look at the 바이로 plan. It makes life easier, isn't it? The 바이로 plan? Yeah, the pen. Oh. Using every day, that's Hungarian as well. Oh, that makes life easier. Yeah. A lot of things are Hungarian. Yeah. The microwave as well, just to mention a few. Yeah, I mean, the nuclear fission was also created— like, I mean, that doesn't make life easier. Yeah. Sustainable energy. I like that Tom clarified he was about to say nuclear bomb, but then he shifted over to nuclear fission. No, no, good branding for fission, like the way that nuclear reactors work was founded by a Hungarian physicist. That is very cool. Was that Szilárd? Yeah, Szilárd, yeah. Super genius, dude. So many Hungarian geniuses out there. Nagyon jó. Tell me, what is it like being in, like, the techball community? Do you have a lot of techball friends? Yeah, we can say that they are my family, so we must spend a lot of time together. We go to competitions at weekends, or we work here together. We spend our free time together, so it's like really, really a family. And where do you talk? WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook? What's the preferred group chat for the techball group? Mainly all of them, all of them. Exactly, just like any other group of friends. Yeah. If you spend your time with your friends or with your family, just post it anywhere. Does anyone call you techies? No. Techies? No. No one's ever called you a techie. Let's not get that started then. Maybe taxi. Taxi. Taxi, taxi. Yeah, cool. And is there some sort of, like, strategy in techball just to play for the audience? Like, just play beautiful techball rather than actually win? Is there any players like that? Of course. We have demonstrations here where this is the most important thing, to sell the sport itself. And so we have to play as beautiful as we can. So... Legseb. Legseb. Legseb. Legseb. Or Legyőnyurub? Legyőnyurub. Yeah, that will stand as well. That will stand. All right, cool. And what about the World Cup, the Grand Prix? We were talking before with Attila, last year was in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh. It was the Techball Masters in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Okay, and what is the Techball Masters? The Masters, we had in Saudi Arabia as well. Techball Masters. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's the same as the Grand Prix. Oh, the same as the Grand Prix. Okay, pretty similar to Grand Prix. Yeah, players or teams are invited. And are those an opportunity to meet other people from around the world? Do you get to meet a lot of other tech ball people, or are you mostly just in the Hungarian camp strategizing for the game? Not mainly around the world and at the highest level. Uh-huh. So do you have some friends from other countries that play tech ball that you've met? I've been to a lot of places through tech ball, so yeah, I could make friends. Yeah, that was gonna be my question. What was your favorite place that tech ball's taken you? My favorite? Morocco. It was the best in Morocco because I spent two weeks with Szögyi there. Morocco and a villa for two weeks. That sounds like a good time. Yeah, in the same room, one room. Yeah, in one room. Where did you guys go? Fez, Marrakech, Tangiers? No, Rabat. Rabat. Actually, I've never been to Morocco, but I've always dreamed of going one day. And so when you're romping around these countries in the name of tech ball, what kind of stuff are you doing? Like, what's your day-to-day look like? You going doing demonstrations? Yeah, exactly. Demonstrations or teaching players how to play, teaching people how to be a referee. What's that like? We don't really have any referees. It's like a referee course. Oh, okay, cool. Are the tech ball referees better than the football referees? Better. Yeah, are they better officials? Because is there as much animosity towards referees in tech ball? I think the life of tech ball referees is much easier than the soccer referees. That's good. That might be the best reform that you could make, is better refereeing. I mean, God bless the referees, they have such a hard job, you know, on the pitch sometimes. And the Premier League, it's terrible though. As a Liverpool fan in the Premier League, it's just, you know, this year. Yes, and Schoma also a referee on a normal football pitch as well. I used to be. He's an official referee. He has a degree as well. Oh wow, nice. Have you played against any really cool footballers? In teqball. In teqball, yeah, I played against Ronaldinho. You played against Ronaldinho? Yeah, three times. Three times? Oh my God. In two different continents, so yeah, I was lucky. You walk up to girls at a bar, ‘I played against Ronaldinho three times in two different continents. How you doing?’ They’re like, ‘Who’s Ronaldinho?’ That was your last day. Yeah, what did you do yesterday? That’s pretty good. What’s he like in real life? Nice guy? Yeah, yeah, he’s really cool. Nice. How was he at teqball? Really good. He has a really good touch still. Yeah. Teqball seems like it was designed specifically for Ronaldinho. Like they just designed the game that he would be the best at, so I can imagine in his prime. Although, does that actually translate? I’m very curious about that. If you’re a good soccer or footy or football player, does that mean you’re necessarily a good teqball player? And vice versa, can you be terrible at football and just the teqball wizard? I think the second one. Yeah, the second one? Yeah, yeah. It’s different. If you practice a lot, then you can become a very good teqball player. But for soccer players, you need something else. You need, I think, more knowledge of the game. Teq. Yeah, teq takes a lot of things. There you have to work with ten other players at the same time here, only one, or just yourself. Right, right, right. And in terms of, like, support outside, like when you go to these other countries and you’re trying to raise up teqball, are you getting a lot of support from the football industry, or is there other sports industries that are supporting it as well? Because it maybe, yeah, it doesn’t jump out at you as a soccer game. I mean, it kind of does because you’re using your feet. I mean, yes, obviously, because especially you guys and especially you, Willie, you play a lot of football. I can ask, how did you like teqball? How do we like tech ball? Well, for me, I was very surprised with how much fun I had because I was, like I said before, the times that I played have been with an incorrect football, and I was a little bit intimidated by the bouncing, especially with my short little stubby legs trying to hook it up when the ball is bouncing over your head is like mission impossible. But here, with the correct setting, even the correct surface, we're playing on a nice, like, cushioned blue floor that's very well, I don't know, designed for movement and dexterity and flexibility. Whereas you play on the hard court with an overinflated ball next to Varasliget on a rainy Saturday, you're gonna look like shit. Yeah, but in general, you liked it. So this is how it is. So every time a football player tries tech ball, they're going to fall in love with it because it's a new experience. This is something you never experienced before. And if it doesn't succeed the first time, it's going to be playing with you, like, why I'm playing football for, like, full time or whatever? Why can't I just return the ball three times after? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was cool. One of the things I loved most about playing was just the idea of skill acquisition that you got while you were playing. All of a sudden I started out very rusty. Tom and I were both a little bit nervous about, like, our movements. If you're gonna pass the ball to your teammate, I mean, you're playing with some of the best players and you're just nervous you're gonna give them a bad pass or something. By the end of it, I just didn't want to stop. It was like, it was almost an addicting feeling. I actually liked what you were saying earlier about when you're doing these demonstrations, it's almost like a different kind of game. You're not trying to win; you're trying to play beautiful, kind of like keep the ball on the table. And that's actually, I love playing ping pong and tennis the same way. Not trying to win the point, but just, like, keep the ball alive. And that's what I like the most about, like, the big rallies in tech ball are crazy, super cool. And to watch you guys play is so, so entertaining. Thank you. Yeah, so this is what they have to do. I mean, what they love to do. So sometimes I just come down and check how they are doing, and they’re just having fun. They come up with trick shots, and they do tricks from the other side of the table—sorry, other side of the room—to hit the other side of the table. So they come up with games as well. How old are most of you, by the way, that are here? Yes. I was going to say that you were 25. I’m less than 25, but it wasn’t a bad guess. I’m 24. 24. And our guest before was Leia. Yeah. She’s 21. Yeah, it’s going to be. I think the average is 24. Yeah, 24. Yeah, and the best thing is that we can do as a job what we like, so that’s the best thing. I’m just imagining having a job as a tech ball player when I was 24. It just sounds like a dream. I mean, I thought it was kind of like you guys were here after school and they asked you to put on some shirts, and then I was talking to you all and you’re like, ‘No, we work here. This is our job. We just play tech ball and obviously do a bunch of other things as well.’ But it just sounds like a pretty dream opportunity to me. And imagine you get paid for it and you can travel abroad and you can play with Ronaldinho. I mean, that’s the best part. I would work for free if I could play with Ronaldinho. I don’t know, maybe once or twice, then I would get old. But Ronaldinho, the star. Is there any other impressive players that you got to play with? Did you play with anyone besides Ronaldinho, or was he just Ronaldinho and then you’re like, ‘No one can possibly be better than this’? I played with Galás. Galás? Yeah, and I was there, but I couldn’t play with Simao Sabrosa or Douglas Costa. Douglas Costa, cool. That’s really—he’s probably great. Yeah, but the other guys could, so it’s like a change every time. How are the Brazilians in general as a tech ball nation? Are they as good as they are in football? Like in football, it’s very technical. Do they win most of the time, Brazil, or who wins the most? Which country is the best of them? Of course, Hungary. And then besides Hungary? Besides Hungary, yeah, the last World Cup in mixed doubles, Brazilian win. Watch out for the Brazilians. I mean, you guys had a head start, but once they get going, they can be pretty hard to stop. Yeah, and the Asian nations as well. The Asian nations. Well, it's because it reminds me a lot of, like, you see the ping pong players or the badminton players, and for a nation in Asia, that's like they play it in a whole different way than I remember playing ping pong in my backyard. It's more of a tech ball-like dynamic matrix sport. Yeah, and they also have in Asia sepak takraw, which is pretty similar to table—oh, sorry—football tennis. So that's why they’re pretty good at teqball as well. Do you know what jai alai is? Jai alai? Do you know what jai alai is? It's the one with the crazy, like, the grapefruit that they fling in the— I mean, I have a pretty limited knowledge of it, but my impression is that, yeah, it's a sport where you fling this super hard ball. It was invented in, like, the '70s or the '80s or the '60s even. I think it was in a Mad Men episode, and they pumped a ton of money into it, and it's supposed to be the fastest sport on Earth. I think it was also the most dangerous, and a few people died because they were launching very, very high-velocity hard balls at their head. Maybe that's why it went out of style. Yeah, it's kind of a niche thing. It was in Jackass. It was in Jackass, the first movie. Johnny Knoxville gets hit in the back, and he, like—he said it was the worst injury he's ever had in Jackass. Oh, wow. So I think that puts it in perspective. It does. What about the American market? How does teqball do in the American market? Has it caught on there? Yeah, so we are working on it. Obviously, soccer is not that popular in the U.S., but yeah, teqball is growing there, and we have good relationship there, and we have several teams as well, clubs. Right. And we have an all-female club as well there. Yeah, and we had the first all-female competition in the U.S. Yeah. Well, what's cool about American soccer, or football or foci, is Tom and I have both experiences that it has, just like teqball, had a huge growth, especially in modern times. And also maybe one of the cool things about exporting teqball to America is that there's not as much of a historical sort of pushback, which I'm sure you've overcome in many countries because teqball is obviously caught on in Europe. But regardless, we don't have the same sort of traditionalist approach towards soccer, so maybe it could even do really well there, I would think. But yeah, I haven't seen any teqball courts in America, but maybe we can start popularizing that on our return trips home. I mean, if I can play with Ronaldinho, I'm down to do anything for teqball. Yeah, some of the guys working on it as well in the U.S., so yeah. Very cool. So we are working on it, actually. We have to. All right. Thank you so much for having us today. This was a phenomenal experience. Not a thing. We thank you for coming over. Hope you liked it. You can keep playing. So yeah, I was gonna say, maybe we can play some more. Willie and I will start improving, and we can have a little match in the future. Yeah, sure thing. We're coming back for revenge. Exactly. All right, close the nuke, [unclear]. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you. And that was another episode of Talking with Willie.
