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Chat Area => Archives => Topic started by: hack on January 06, 2007, 11:56:41 PM
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Guys,
I need some help here. I am not new to the game, I have been playing for several years now, but I live in an area where there is no professional level play (North Dakota). Going to a few regionals in SD has been an eye opener for me about my lack of five rod ability. I can't brush--just stick pass but no consistency. I want to develop some real passing ability and also some offensive improvement on the 2-rod. When I practice I get bored with it--what do you guys do? Do any of you know of any links to some passing drills/ball control drills or care to share your own practice drills? I have read the topics on foosball.com but I am looking for more detail. I can only practice for 30 minutes or an hour a day, so I need to roll with something more effective than I'm doing. Hook a brutha up!
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Nothing can compete with experience, but faced with none practice practice practice! I bought a couple of rod locks and use them to position the rods at different angles and try different options to get the ball through, five rod and two rod. I am sure you have heard it before but practice a pass or certain shot until it becomes second nature. when you decide on a pass from the five rod try to "set it up" from different angles and or speeds, even though it is the same pass it looks different to your opponent. Hope this helps in some small way.
Thanks,
Warner Blake
FVF
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Guys,
I need some help here. I am not new to the game, I have been playing for several years now, but I live in an area where there is no professional level play (North Dakota). Going to a few regionals in SD has been an eye opener for me about my lack of five rod ability. I can't brush--just stick pass but no consistency. I want to develop some real passing ability and also some offensive improvement on the 2-rod. When I practice I get bored with it--what do you guys do? Do any of you know of any links to some passing drills/ball control drills or care to share your own practice drills? I have read the topics on foosball.com but I am looking for more detail. I can only practice for 30 minutes or an hour a day, so I need to roll with something more effective than I'm doing. Hook a brutha up!
The #1 thing is to make sure you're actually practicing usefully--bad practice doesn't help you learn, you get bored and frustrated and just waste time. Ideally, get a brush-master to show you how to do it, but a few thoughts
1. Make sure the ball is well behind the rod--almost far enough back to pin it--when you hit it
2. Focus on moving the man quickly laterally while you're hitting it
3. Practice it for 5 minutes right-handed from the 2-rod on a stationary ball, just to see how much motion you can get up and down with it; then practice it lefty on the 5-rod from a stationary ball until you can execute it a bit
4. Try putting half an old bumper on the opposing 5-rod inside the wall, so you have a small gap on the wall to practice passing through; rubber-band the rod against the wall so it stays there.
5. Always alternate ups and downs--if you're going to practice 50 of each, don't do 50 up and then 50 down. Do up/down/up/down or up up/down down/up up/down down. You don't want to only be able to execute one way after you've done it 5-6 times.
6. Leave the fakes and weird hovers until after you've learned to execute the basic up/down from near the wall and from a bit away from the wall.
7. If something isn't working/improving _at all_ after 10 minutes, don't keep trying it--switch something up or take a break. Repeatedly practicing the wrong thing is frustrating and can develop bad habits.
8. Ball control! Practicing tic-tacing the ball back and forth between every man on the 5-rod for 10 minutes, then dribbling around between goalie/2-rod, then alternating front/back pin between everyone on the 5-rod, then in the goalie/2-rod.
You're likely to find that working on 5-rod ball control improves your passing skill more quickly than consciously working on passing; when you are really moving the ball around in your sleep, you have no trouble making sure your pass stays behind the rod the right amount, is tossed properly, etc and your passes are way more confident.
But yeah, it's boring. Put on music, or practice between during commercials watching a sports game, or something.
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Thanks for the advise guys...lately I have been digging around in these threads, and I read about the half bumper trick, I'll definitely try that and work on the brush ups/downs. Another thing I found was putting an extra man on the opposing 5, to just give you a small lane and a small wall. How do you get an extra man on the rod without having to pound out several roll pins? Is there a snap on man?
Sound advise guys, so thanks again.
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Thanks for the advise guys...lately I have been digging around in these threads, and I read about the half bumper trick, I'll definitely try that and work on the brush ups/downs. Another thing I found was putting an extra man on the opposing 5, to just give you a small lane and a small wall. How do you get an extra man on the rod without having to pound out several roll pins? Is there a snap on man?
I took a hacksaw and cut a slot in the back of the man (not too big, just big enough to snap him on but still be snug) and then I just use a couple of those little rubber bands you put around your wraps to attach his head and feet to the adjacent neighbors.