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From: Dave Jones, 12-18-97, rec.sport.table-soccer
These are what I consider the most important objectives of the goalie,
listed order of priority. You will notice that I consider blocking
the
three row less important than the other objectives. Beginning
goalies
should consider these the Five Commandments and follow them religiously.
1. Block the Slop. Your skills won't get you far if every ball
coming
your falls into your hole. Be ready for a deflected pass, as well as
the shot, from the opponent's five row.
When the opposing goalie has the ball your defensive movement
should be
slower at least until you feel the ball on your men or see it in your
area. Move smoothly, do not jump or flinch. Find a point for
your
visual focus on the imaginary line between the ball and your goal so you
can peripherally see both the ball and the goal without looking directly
at either.
2. Control Loose Balls. You should control every ball coming
into the
goalie area (usually off the back wall) or at least influence it so
it
does not go directly to the opposing forward.
3. Clear the Ball. Scoring the point from the nets is the
ultimate
clear but it is not your objective. A pass to your forward is ideal.
You must at least get the ball past the opponent's three row. Even
if
the opposing 5 row blocks it, with the right speed on the ball it will
bounce back to your partner's 5 row. That often means that you
should
not try to hit the ball as hard as possible and you should sometimes
clear the ball in the direction of a wall rather than toward the hole.
4. Block the Goalie. Coordinate your defense with your
forward
(usually with zones) or adjust your men to fill gaps left in your
forward's defense, especially the area between the second and third man
nearest you on the five row. A number 2 zone defense should be
worked
out ahead of time for certain shots or anytime the first zone defense
does not work well (If the other goalie beats your zone twice then
change defenses. In choosing the first zone defense the forward will
usually tell you whether he wants you to block either the short or block
the middle and long. If the defense is good it will take an
exceptional
shot for the other goalie to score.
5. Block the Three Row. Scout your opposing forward for
telegraphs,
for shot selection, timing and execution, for trick shots and quick
shots. Watch for rule violations by the forward like distractions,
too
much time and resetting. See what defenses work for others.
Get advice
from knowledgeable players you trust.
If you break these commandments you are doomed to burn in goalie
hell.
Amen.
From: Tim Dudra, 11-2-97, rec.sport.table-soccer
I'm posting this in response to a number of requests for "Hints on Snake Defense". This is just a few points that I've noticed apply to many (if not all) shooters of the namby pamby roll-over.
These points come from years of shooting the roll-over (I are namby-pamby too). Some of this stuff I've figured out myself, some I've learned from other players. One point Evan Stachelek was nice enough to point out to me AFTER he whooped my butt in Open Singles. Thanks Ev!!!!
Initially I wrote this to one person so forgive the first person style narrative.
This may not be the be all and end all of how to block the roll-over but much of this stuff works and I've applied it successfully to improve my blocking percentage against purveyors of the limp wrist flip shot.
--------------- THE NOTES BEGIN --------------
As for the things to look for about the snake there are a number of simple things (easy to explain via e-mail) that you can look for. Rookie/Amateur players almost always have these problems (half of winning at Semi-Pro is not losing to those categories).
What I recommend is take this list (or memorize it) and study a bunch of local roll-over shooters. See if you can figure out what I mean (much easier to do this visually).
Since no good players have posted stuff like this I've taken it upon myself. Then again, perhaps I know more than the good players. After all, you play more matches on the loser's side of the bracket. ;)
HINT 1:
In general, when defending the flop-over, keep your men moving (not too quickly). NEVER cross the men over. When I was on my game the instant I saw a cross-over happening I fired BLIND to whatever post I was thinking of at the time (usually a push). The cross-over has to be really quick and it doesn't do that much good (most roll-over shooters don't read a D anyway --- shoot like a monkey, think like a monkey).
TELEGRAPH 1: How they hold the rod:
1. If their hand hangs down, their best shot is a push. Their pull will be the weakest - make them beat you with pulls. 2. If their hand hooks underneath the rod, best is a pull so make them beat you with good accurate pushes.
The above rule is accurate for about 98% of roll-overs. This rule doesn't seem to apply to Terry Moore so don't look at him. It does work with Robert Mares though (at least last time I saw him shoot - Besides, at your rank you want to worry about pros, semi-pros and this rule is very consistent for them). To beat the pro-masters everything must be working at once OR you have to get really lucky.
When encountering either of the above two situations (points 1 and 2) I generally make them beat me around the two bar on their strong side and leave the "perfect" hole on their weak side (i.e.: if the person hooks their hand underneath I will give them the two bar out around dead man on the pull side (don't use the two-bar man that will go dead, use the other one - that way the shooter knows you CAN go past dead man and it will make him nervous - in fact, I never move that man to dead man at all, just let them think I will). A good way to make this "dead man" hole look even smaller is to keep the foot of your two bar forward to cut down the angle (hockey terminology).
FIGURE 1: D for a
strong pull-shot shooter. Note the two-bar
particularly (which man is being used).
Legend: [] - The ball O -
A man on rod
| Goal |
Goalie
====---------O-------------------
====----O-------O----------------
[]
--------O-------O--------O---==== Three bar
By leaving the "perfect" hole on their weak side (for someone hooking their hand under this would be the push) I mean to make them beat you to a clean 1 to 1.25 ball width hole. Most shooters are not accurate on their weak side (a "fire for effect" thing where you shoot into an area). Under pressure these holes look tiny on the shooter's weak side because they (more than anyone) know they are inaccurate there.
Don't worry about middles as MUCH as you might think. They are actually kind of hard to hit accurately (but if the hole is big BAMM!!).
TELEGRAPH 2: (Courtesy of Mr. Stacheluk)
Once you've established the player's weak side, watch for ball positioning. In order to hit their weak side well, many players start to cheat on the ball. They line their foot up off center of the ball (the rock will even seem a little off-center).
e.g.: Assume weak side is push shot. Following shows my recommended D and how shooter will cheat to improve their push shot.
FIGURE 2: Cheating to
the weak side.
Legend: [] -
The ball O - A man on rod
| Goal |
Goalie
====---------O-------------------
====----O-------O----------------
[]
--------O-------O--------O---==== Three bar
Problem is that when they do this cheat to improve their push then the pull gets weaker. Sometimes this cheat is small but usually it is noticeable as anywhere between about 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch of cheating.
When you see them start to cheat then shift your D about 1/2 inch towards their weaker side. Some guys are tricky though and change the positioning of the ball under the foot often, keep your eyes on the ball and where the man is relative to the ball.
The reason the strong side gets weaker is that their is now MUCH less ball to roll across when executing the strong side.
TELEGRAPH 3: Change of speed.
Here is one I'm guilty of and I know others are too. Before trying to shoot their weaker side a lot of players have to "rev-up" to shoot. Watch for a change in how fast they are rocking the ball. If the wiggle seems to be getting faster (this will be about 1/2 to 1 second of "revving-up") then make sure you have good coverage on the weak side - leave a bit more middle - middle is hard to hit when rocking quickly.
If you find someone with this fault you can often OWN their butt. Ask some of the local goalies around Vancouver. Many of them brick my roll-over badly.
TELEGRAPH 4: The Slicer/Dicer Problem
Have you ever noticed how some roll-over shooters seem to slash back on your D more often? Some of them even try aiming this irritating shot (others are just lucky). One of the things some slicer/dicers do to enhance their slicing ability is to pin the ball a little bit further back than they normally would. In other words the ball is positioned closer to their own goal than it would normally be. By doing this they gain the ability to slice but at the expense of slowing down their long post shots. When you see the ball being pinned a little bit further back, try tightening up your D and DON'T cover the extreme posts until the shooter proves they can hit them.
Another good trick in this case is to reset them a little, if you can get that ball backwards a bit more they might just lose it backwards (and hopefully score on themselves ;) ). Don't reset hard or you'll get called on a jar. Just a very slight reset should be sufficient to cause some problems for the shooter.
TELEGRAPH 5: The Dribblers
Often roll-over shooters dribble. This is because their brains are not well developed and they can't control their salivary glands.
Other roll-over shooters dribble the ball around by tapping it all over the place. The key point here is that MOST dribblers cannot shoot long while tapping the ball (they have a range of 1 to 1.5" from the where the ball is). Keep your D tight and concentrate on keeping your D centered with respect to the position of the ball. Ignore the man, just look at the ball and make sure you cover the 3-4 inches of space in front of it.
---------------------------------------------------------
I hope this helps you new up and coming goaltenders. As I said, it is hard to explain with words but take a look for some of these things and if you spot them, take advantage of them. If knowing this doesn't seem to help, send me an e-mail and try to explain to me what you were trying - maybe I didn't communicate my point well. Personally, I think most roll-over shooters have problems but you need to study them and be aware of the variety of little problems roll-over shooters have.
The key point is that the shot is NOT unstoppable. It has its weaknesses and these can be used against the shooters. Usually to learn these rules you have to learn the shot but fortunately there are still many players out there with too much pride to shoot the "donkey toe". Oooops, misspelled that one ...
I have other rules I look for but I'll let you digest the big ones above. Once you think you know what i mean on those or if they aren't working, let me know and I'll drop some more.
One other point, if a roll-over shooter is crushing your team's five-bar then they may be so overconfident that none of the above helps. These rules are best for when games are close. Solution, play with a forward so good that the roll-over shooter never gets the ball. I've almost blocked 100% of three bar shots under those circumstances.
Tim
==========================================
More Snake Defense Ttips from Bruce Nardoci
Another defense to try against rollover shooters is to "camp"
your
goalie in their strong side hole (leaving about a ball's width hole
between the edge of the man and the side of the goal, so the ball likely
won't go in there and the goalie man is still covering more of the
middle of the goal than it would be if you had the man all the way in
the corner of the goal. Then move your two bar man around to constantly
change whether it's covering the middle or other corner of the goal.
Since the "camped" goalie effectively cuts off that part of the
goal,
you only have to worry about defending the middle and other side of the
goal, with your 2 bar (assuming he can't shoot a cut shot off his
rollover, which virtually no one does). If nothing else, this will
reduce him to 50% shooting (or less, since he'll have to shoot a middle
or his "weak side", and you probably don't want to cover the
"deadman"
hole on his weak side, even though the 2 bar can go past the
deadman since he probably can't hit it consistently, enabling you to
cover more of the middle with that man too) if you just randomly switch
between the middle and corner holes. And, depending on your use if the
the other tips and giveaways, you might can bait and read with the 2 bar
to increase your chances of being the the right middle or other corner
hole when he shoots. Finally, since after a while he'll realize that
you're just camping your goalie on one side of the goal, he'll
eventually not even try to shoot there. Then, on a big point when you
really need a block, just before he shoots you can move your goalie from
the "camped" hole to cover the middle or other side, and with
your 2 bar
covering the other "non-camped" hole, you'll almost certainly
get the
block since the only hole that's left is where you had been camping your
goalie, which he almost certainly won't be shooting at.
From: Rocky Wilson, 10-15-97, rec.sport.table-soccer
When you are defending against a 5-bar pass, it is a cat and mouse
game. What your opponent is trying to do is (1) Simply Pass so
quickly that you aren't there, or (2) do a fake to get you off your
mark and pass once you've fallen for the fake (and example is the
hesitation wall pass--also known as the double-pump wall pass), or (3)
they use a hovering technique and "hang time" to make you commit
to one
hole and then they go to the other or (4) they time your defense and
wait until you move off your mark and pass where you were.
If you are having problems with (1), you need to use a random jump and
fake defense or some sort of shuffle. They should not be able to
just
blast a pass by you. It is easy for you to keep them from knowing
exactly where you are going to be at any one instant. Remember--THIS
IS VERY IMPORTANT--do not try to keep in the middle of their two
options try to race them to the one they pass. You are in NO MANS
LAND
and will likely not block any pass at all. Always have you man in
the
position of one of their options and jump from one to another.
If you are having problems with (2), simply do not look at what the
opponent is doing. Set up a defensive pattern rather than trying to
block their passes.
If you are having problems with (3), then join the crowd, a well train
player with a lot of hang time and good execution will get a good
percentage of passes. The only real counter to this is randomly
taking
their favorite options and moving quickly to avoid committing.
Awesome
hand speed and aggressiveness is another counter. Most--lets say
all--players who use hang time against their opponents don't pass
perfectly every time--they flub, or pass slowly on occasion--you need
the aggressiveness and hand speed on those occasions. WARNING:
THIS IS
A CONTROVERSIAL POSITION, BUT IT IS MY OPINION: If you do not
lose the ball on a jar or reset call occasionally, you are simply not
aggressive enough.
If you are having problems with (4), the problem is that your motion
defense does not have any "fakes" in it. If every time you
move, you
change position, then the opponent simply waits until they see motion
and passes where you were! The counter to this is to sometimes
(often?) move your defense, but move it right back where it was.
Sometimes just a twitch will cause the opponent to pass right into your
men.
Other important techniques on the 5-bar defensively are to change the
attitude of your men. Sometimes tip them forward, sometimes
backward.
The purpose is for you to adjust so the opponent will not get the ball
back when they pass. Most forwards pass a similar speed each time.
Some positioning of the man's foot forward or back will cause a minimum
of rebounds when you do get blocks. Another way to do this is to not
hold on to the handle as tightly. This allows your defense to absorb
the impact and keep the ball on your men and causes the ball to stick
to your 5-bar instead of going back to the opponents 5-bar. If
you've
got quick hands you can also try to spike their pass as an option.
Hope I've helped. ............................Rocky Wilson
[A response from Moonglum]
That's a great overview of basic (and a few not so basic) 5 bar
d's. You
should read through this post several times and write down each concept
as a separate defense. One of the main points Rocky is trying to get
through to you is there is always a way to get your share of blocked
passes. When your playing someone who has a pass that is raceable you
can choose to stand in "NO MAN's LAND" and race to where he is
hitting
it. If this is working you might even block every pass .This is the
Defense most people use naturally. The problem is if the pass is to fast
or hit at too steep an angle you will lose your race most (possibly
all) of the time. The second choice for most people is the option guess.
Let us say we are playing Bill. Bill has 4 basic passes he like to do.
The first two happen right next to the wall. 1 is a wall pass 2 is a
lane pass. When the ball gets near the wall you keep shaking your men
like nothings changing but the moment the ball enters his danger zone
you have already picked wall or lane and just stand there. A variation
on this is to pick your men up wait for movement and swing where you have
pre picked. Bill 3 and 4 options are slower and in a different area
so
we just race them. Another point rocky made that is very important is
that you never want to give back a pass you blocked. In the example
above you will block 10 out of 20 passes near the wall. however if half
those bounce back to him for another try you only end up with 6 or 7
blocks and that may not be enough. That is where Rocks loose grip or
spike comes in. Alright my one finger is tired of typing NEXT (how about
one of you silent PRO MASTER TYPES filling in)
- Moonglum