Meet Colin Cummings: Us Air Force Officer And Greatest Air Hockey Player Of All Time

About an hr earlier our scheduled chat, Colin Cummings accompanies his polite petition to hold pinch a photograph of an image acquainted to parents worldwide, a grizzling newborn strapped to his front, resolutely refusing to succumb to her greeting nap.

Cummings has gone astir this week’s defence of his aerial lucky world title alternatively otherwise to his galore others. Partly, that is acknowledgment to babe Clara’s presence a mates of months ago, which has dominated astir of nan summer. The remainder of it has been dictated by a occupation relocation to Hawaii wherever he has been fixed a three-year posting arsenic a unit serviceman successful nan US aerial force. The aerial lucky array astatine his Oahu location represents nan only professional-style playing aboveground successful nan full multi-island state.

Shorn of suitable playing partners, Cummings has geared up for his tilt astatine a sixth successive world crown successful an unconventional manner. Irregular solo practises – progressively infrequent since Clara’s commencement – person been nan aerial lucky balanced of a tennis subordinate hitting balls against a wall. He has besides attempted to support way of opponents connected nan mainland done video streams of their matches, but his main beingness activity of precocious involves surfing Hawaii’s celebrated waves.

Aged conscionable 26, Cummings is already almost universally considered nan aerial lucky GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Two different players, Danny Hynes and Jesse Douty, are now tied pinch his 12 world titles, but that brace are mostly bracketed alongside a mates of others connected nan 2nd rung of aerial hockey’s all-time pyramid. Cummings, alone, stands astatine nan top.

It was he who, astatine 16, became nan youngest ever world champion successful nan athletics – and Cummings is perfectly adamant that aerial lucky is simply a sport. And it is he who has relinquished conscionable 1 of nan 13 world championships held complete nan past decade. Ask nan man himself and he is successful nary uncertainty complete his GOAT status: “Oh hellhole yeah, bro, I sewage to be. I’ve moreover sewage a small goat sticker connected my mallet.”

Most group Cummings encounters are amazed to perceive that aerial lucky moreover possesses a competitory life extracurricular arcades and location basements. Played connected a low-friction table, pinch opposing players attempting to deed nan puck into goals utilizing handheld mallets, nan elite broadside of nan athletics has, successful fact, been astir for almost 50 years, opening soon aft aerial hockey’s invention.

Texas, North Carolina, Illinois and Idaho are America’s 4 awesome competitory hubs, while nan caller roar successful barcades – drinking establishments featuring retro intermezo offerings – has provided a resurgence successful pockets crossed nan country. Aside from a Venezuelan contingent, and a smattering of Russians and Spaniards, aerial lucky tends to beryllium an all-American affair.

Cummings’ way successful began erstwhile his family relocated to Texas successful 2009 and happened to move crossed nan roadworthy from nan world No 4 player. Invited complete for a crippled by nan man’s boy – who was nan top-ranked Under-12 subordinate – Cummings received a pasting and vowed not to fto it hap again: “I instantly knew I had to hit nan kid. He was truthful cocky.”

Within six months, nan Cummings family recovered a mini array of their ain astatine a car shed sale; half a twelvemonth later, they had upgraded it to a professional-standard table. While Colin emerged arsenic nan star, aerial lucky quickly became thing for nan full family to play. His younger relative Connor is now classed world No 3, while their father, Mike, is No 15. As he has done for adjacent to a decade, Colin tops nan pile.

In nan smallest of niche sporting ponds, nan biochemistry postgraduate is simply a superstar. But dissimilar his world-beating peers – deliberation Roger Federer, Lionel Messi aliases Oleksandr Usyk – he receives adjacent to nary outer recognition.

“It’s decidedly a challenge,” he says, of his vastly contrasting lives connected and disconnected nan aerial lucky table. “I person to beryllium versatile.

“I person my aerial unit persona wherever I person to embody a activity character. Then there’s nan aerial lucky champion persona wherever I locomotion into a room and group each want to meet maine erstwhile I person nary thought who they are. Then there’s normal life.

“I retrieve erstwhile I won my first world title successful 2015, I went backmost to my time occupation wherever I was a crockery boy/janitor, conscionable mopping nan level successful a hairsbreadth net. I’d gone from being world champion to mopping floors.”

In nan fledgling days of his narration pinch his now-wife Meg, Cummings sent her a video nexus of an question and reply he did pinch CNN. “She was like: ‘You’re nan world champion? What nan heck?’ But she’s very supportive.”

So overmuch truthful that hubby and woman moreover joined forces to declare world doubles metallic successful 2022, though Cummings suggests that was a one-off: “If I’ve not been playing astatine each successful Hawaii, past she’s decidedly not been playing.”

The furthest immoderate imaginable discontent stretches is Meg forlornly enquiring whether they mightiness picnic farther afield than Texas, wherever nan world championships usually return place. That return to acquainted ungraded does astatine slightest mean they tin forego costly edifice bills and enactment pinch family for free during competition.

In a athletics that offers astir $2,000 prize money for winning nan world title, Cummings suggests he has “at slightest surgery even, if not made money” complete nan people of his career. When not based successful Hawaii, he had besides antecedently earned humble sums done sponsorship from mini companies.

The eventual ambition is to “break retired of this niche bubble and move into thing that’s multinational and good cemented”. The closest comparison, he says, would beryllium to emulate nan maturation of array shot aliases foosball – which has produced men and women’s world champions from 10 different countries complete nan past 2 decades – and, eventually, array tennis.

Until then, Cummings must contented himself pinch nan adulation of a prime fewer and nan ignorance of nan masses. When he returns from this week’s world championships, he intends to clasp an accumulation tourney astatine location successful Hawaii for his aerial unit colleagues, who each judge they tin hit him. “So I’ll toast them all,” he says. Wayne Gretzky ne'er had to woody pinch specified disrespect.