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(Thanks to George Losonszky for taking his time to write
these tips)
But first, for just a little background, (just in case you have no idea who I
am), my name is George Losonszky and I am a Semi-Pro player that has played the game (off & on) for 17 years
and who has the desire to excel, but doesn't really have the physical ability to
due to a past wrist injury. I have played in several major tournaments in
Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma & Texas including 3 World Championships in Dallas.
(please don't get me wrong, I am not trying to inflate my own ego, rather I
wanted some of the newer players who don't know who I am to understand why I am
offering the tips)
Tip #1 - Have Fun
Have fun!!! If you can't have fun while playing you probably ought to take up
needle point or something else that you can have fun at. Having fun and having
a positive attitude (especially if you draw someone new to the game) is the ONLY
way to promote the game and encourage new players to play. If you do have a
newer player as a partner, talk to them & encourage them to do things like
clearing the ball. Praise their accomplishments & NEVER jump them if they screw
up. If they get stuffed (foosed), tell 'em it's no problem, we'll get the next
one. etc. And seriously... HAVE FUN!!! It's only a game. A game that WE
choose to play for our entertainment.
Tip #2 - Serving
Learn to serve the ball to yourself consistently. If you are up front in a
tournament & it's your drop, you should be able to consistently drop the ball to
your 5-man. If you can't (I saw quite a few guys blow the drop at the
Tuesday
tourney I attended) ask one of the better players to show you how you can
accomplish this almost every time. The ball should be literally pushed (tossed)
toward your 5-man.
Tip #3 - 5-man
5-man, 5-man, 5-man... Learn to handle the ball on your 5-man rod comfortably,
and learn to pass it consistently to your 3 man. There are 2 main pass types:
stick and brush (or chip depending on the technique, but they are relatively the
same pass)
Stick- get control of the ball & either from a moving or set position, move
the ball from one man to another and advance the ball in a straight line towards
your waiting 3-man along the wall or in the lane (between your opponent's 5-man
men). This pass is ONLY effective against better players if you can make the
ball speed from one man to the other be consistent. That way the defender will
have to guess if you are going to the wall or the lane.
Brush- get control of the ball & either from a moving or set position, move
the ball SLOWLY from one man to another and hover over it with the second man.
In a brush-like manner, cause the ball to either brush UP (away from the wall)
or brush DOWN (towards the wall) towards your waiting 3-man. This pass is ONLY
effective against better players if you can brush the ball from the same spot
and cause it to go either way. Also, this pass is ONLY effective if the set up
motion is the same (i.e.: don't pull the ball faster toward yourself if you are
going to brush toward the wall etc.)
Tip #4 - Advancing the Ball
If you are the goalie remember that you don't have to score a point all the
time, or even at all. It's nice to score, but the most important thing about
advancing the ball from goal is to clear the ball. This means getting the ball
past your opponent's 3-man consistently. (I personally try to stuff any and all
shots made from my opponents goalie). If you can clear the ball
consistently &
maybe even pass it up to your forward's 3-man your team will benefit greatly.
Tip #5 - Master a Shot
Shooting... Master one (1) shot and then use it. It doesn't matter if it is a
pull, a push, a pull-kick, a push-kick, or even a rollover. The type of shot
doesn't matter. What matters is that you are able to do it consistently, and be
able to go more than one place with it. For a pull this means having a
dead-man, a long, middle, short, straight, maybe a moving straight, a spray
forward, and even an angle back. Yes, I mentioned eight variations to a pull
shot, and I personally use ALL of the above variations at one time or another
depending on what I see from the defense. I guess the point here is not to get
hung up on the repetition. If you went to a major tournament you would see the
Pro-Masters shoot the same shot (with their built in variations) over and over.
They don't shoot a pull, then a rollover, then a push... etc.
Tip #6 - Adjustments
Adjustments are crucial and constant in this game. If you have an incredible
5-man pass series, or a great shot that works on almost everyone and all of a
sudden it's not working because your opponent seems to be all over it, make an
adjustment. Alter something about your pass, try a different one, change the
speed, etc... Do something different. Analyze what both you and your opponent
are doing, and try to modify your game so that you can pass or shoot on them.
The same applies to defense. If someone is able to pass or shoot and score on
you pretty much at will, it isn't necessarily because they are that awesome. It
is more likely that they have found a flaw in your defense and are capitalizing
on it over and over. Make an adjustment to what you are showing them and odds
are you'll eventually find something that will work for a little while only to
have to adjust again.
A really good player will constantly make adjustments all through out the game
as necessary. Plus just giving your opponent something different to look at may
force them to have to think about what they are doing and why. We have all
heard the saying, "Insanity is when someone does the exact same thing over and
over, yet expects a different result."
Tip #7 - Communicate
Communicate with your partner. As a partner on a team, it is your
responsibility to watch the entire game including your partner's playing. If
you see your partner struggling on a certain aspect of their game and think you
know how they can overcome this setback, make the suggestion to them when the
ball isn't in play. Be nice & just offer the suggestion... Don't get on them
about it. Remember we all need help sometimes, but no one wants to be
embarrassed or put down.
Tip #8 - Relax
Relax. Sometimes when we are in the middle of a game we think we're losing we
tend to tense up. This can be a major setback in any sport. When you get the
ball on your 5-man, take a deep breath & let it halfway out while focusing on
relaxing, then go ahead and execute your pass... Likewise with your shot.
After you get the ball, go ahead and set your shot up (assuming that your shot
is from a set position), again take a deep breath & let it halfway out while
focusing on relaxing. I even go as far as to take my hands off the handles &
shake them to aid in removing excess tension, then after you re-grip the rod
(remember to have both hands on the rods for a full second otherwise you can be
called for a distraction) take your deep breath & let it out halfway,
focusing
on relaxing, then only after all of that is done do you look at what the defense
is showing you, choose the shot you want and execute it. Don't worry about the
time limits with the ball either because unless you have a very difficult time
setting the ball up, you should have more than plenty time. Remember that 15
seconds on the 3-man or in the goalie area and 10 seconds on the 5-man are an
awful lot of time.
Most novice players will have the ball set up and shot within 5-7 seconds, or
have the ball passed from the 5-man in 3-5 seconds.
A Pro-Master will usually take the time to just within the allowed limits and
use it to their advantage. Doing this allows them to relax and it also forces
the defender to play defense longer, which may cause them to tighten up or show
holes and patterns that they normally have well concealed.
You will find that if you practice this relaxation technique you will be more
comfortable with the execution of both your shots and passes. And YES, I did
say practice this technique. You can't expect to be able to do something in a
match if you don't practice it by yourself or when you are goofing around with
your buddies. This leads me to my next tip...
Tip #9 - Practice
Practice, and practice smart. When you are practicing a shot or a pass, just
getting it once or twice is not enough. Practice it over and over, even if you
are getting it right. You want to be able to execute whatever you choose with
80+% accuracy. If in practice you can only make a pass or shot 20-40% of the
time those percentages will drop significantly against a defense.
Now on how to practice... Some people get caught up in the movement before they
advance the ball, and although it is a critical part of the pass/shot advancing
the ball is often times more critical. Take a brush pass for example. Most of
us can drag the ball across and hover over it but the key to a brush pass it the
ability to advance the ball from the same place and have it look the same yet go
to two different areas. As a newer person to this pass I recommend that you
practice advancing the ball from a set position. Place the ball where you would
normally intend to execute it from, hover over it with the 5-man & practice
advancing it in a crisp manner to the 3-man along it's intended route. Try to
get the look of the brush up to be the same as the brush to the wall. Be aware
of anything that you may be doing that will enable your opponent to read which
way you are going.
On your shot... you might try placing the ball where you want to advance it
from, then set the man in the normal start position. Then focus on moving the
man in a smooth manner to a position behind the ball & advance the ball, just
like a normal shot.
There is a lot more you can do in practice, but I am hard pressed to cover a lot
of it here. Mainly it's up to you. Think about what you want to get out of
your practice time, come up with a plan (and remember to take it in small steps)
on how to achieve it, then just do it.
Tip #10 - Consistency
Consistency builds reliability. When you set a ball up for a shot, try to set
it up the same way every time. I like to set my pull shot up as far over as the
rod will allow, and in the same position front to back. I do this to remove any
unneeded variables from my shot. When I shoot a long or a dead-man, I know
exactly how far I can pull the rod before it runs into the near wall.
The pass should have the same kind of consistency. Without thought, when I set
up for a pass on the near side, I pull my 3-man up against the near wall, even
if I'm going to pass to the lane. That way I know exactly where my man is every
time I go to pass. It just makes it easier to be very consistent on my passing.
The more you do things with consistency, the more reliable you will find the
results in the long run. At first you may find it a little cumbersome to think
through all of the little steps, but if you do them every time, you will
eventually be able to do them without thinking, and that will take you to the
next MAJOR step in professional sports of any kind.
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