Guide to Passing
Rob Uyeyama
This FAQ is divided into three sections.
- 5-3 bar
passing, advice for beginners. (Wall Pass)
- 5-3 bar
passing, guide to brush-passing (for beginners and intermediates);
the most important chapter.
- 2-3 bar
and 2-5 bar passing, preliminary guide.
Introduction (Wall Pass)
The reason for this file's existence is its Chapter
II, describing brush-passing. You do not need to read Chapter I to
learn the brush pass described in the second chapter. My recommendation is
to simply ignore (or skim through) Chapter I, which has some basic
concepts and a few tricks. The brush-pass, however, is a very important
technique for competitive play, so freely skip to the second
chapter and go to the first Chapter only for an occasional
quick-to-learn trick. Chapter
III on 2-5 and 2-3 passing is only intended as a very general
guideline.
Regarding table brands, the brush-pass can be adapted to most types of
tables, although this file was written with the hard surfaces and
toe-shapes of the Tornado table in mind. If your table (for example a
Dynamo) is much "stickier", you may find that the brush-pass
attempt simply ends up in a pinned ball. In this case adapt the technique,
starting the ball not quite so far back, and it should work fairly well.
With the Tournament Soccer and similar tables (e.g. Premier Soccer), the
men's toes stand further from the playing field, so again, the answer is
to move the ball slightly forward (from the recommended near-back-pin
distance). Among almost all types of tables, the strategy of being able to
shoot a quick wall _or_ lane pass from the _same_ position (and having the
skill to catch such a fast pass) is universal. Note that the alternative
stick-pass series is not described here, and probably will be included in
a later version of this file.
I. 5-3 bar passing, advice for beginners
At first, when seeing players much better than yourself for the first
time, it seems most tempting to concentrate on learning their seemingly
awesome shots, and how to defend against them. However, eventually even
this sort of knowledge will be insufficient, especially in any level of
competitive play; for even if you possess an unstoppable three bar shot
and your opponent a mediocre shot, but if you cannot get the ball from the
five bar to your three bar, and your opponent can, you will lose the
majority of games. Of course, without ball control and a fairly
high-percentage (i.e. "good") shot on the three bar, passing it
here will do little good. So once you've developed enough ball control to
set the ball where you want on the three bar, and once you've learned a
pretty good shot, you should cease most shooting from the five bar and
concentrate on getting the ball to your high-percentage scorer, the
three-bar.
The easiest pass, especially for use against other beginner opponents,
is the "wall-pass." This pass can be done either on the near or
far wall. The near wall description follows: Pull your three bar all the
way to the wall, and DO NOT move it off of the wall: the ball will be
traveling near the wall to the three bar, and if your three bar comes even
a hair off of the wall, the ball may roll past you between your near man
and the wall-- remember the bumper on the wall prevents your man from
actually being in contact with the wall, so that "on the wall"
actually means almost a full ball-length away from the wall!
To facilitate catching a fast pass, angle your three bar forward, about
at the angle at which you would be able to front-pin an imaginary ball,
i.e. head backwards, toes forward. This way the man absorbs more of the
impact of a fast moving ball, instead of causing the ideally fast pass to
simply ricochet out of reach, probably to your opponent's five-bar region.
Note: (For a more advanced catching technique, see part II
"Guide
to Brush Passing", which explains a wrist flick that is done with
the catching bar at the same time as the pass, so that the maximum
extension of the men is at the forward angle I have just described in the
previous paragraph.)
To pass a wall pass, position the ball an inch or two away from the
wall along the five bar (but don't put the ball ON the wall, since your
man is _not_ on the wall), and "shoot" it straight and hard to
pass to the near man on your three bar. Note a few points:
- this pass, if done correctly, deposits the ball squeezed in the
space between the near man on the 3-bar and the wall;
- but even if passed directly onto the man's toe, the pass is easily
caught;
- However, if passed into the space described in 1), it is possible to
EASILY catch a pass that is as fast as your fastest five-bar shot!
(although such a high-velocity pass may also be caught, with more
practice, directly on the toe of the man);
- also note that this "wall" pass can be done with the
ball's starting position even up to and past a full ball-length away
from the wall;
- Note: with most beginner level opponents you can wait until they
flinch away from the wall, and if you can do the fast version of the
pass, you can pass it through that fraction-of-a-second flinch.
- Note than in a fast-paced game, you will eventually be able to
immediately do a wall pass when you catch the ball on your five bar,
e.g. when your five-bar blocks a two-bar shot. (However in competitive
play, all tournament level opponents would easily intercept such an
on-the-fly wall pass.)
Two more things to think about
- You DEFINITELY SHOULD start now to make it a habit to keep your
three bar in the front-angled position at all times, always ready to
catch a moving ball, esp. from an on-the-fly wall pass.
- If your opponent learns to cover the wall pass, your five-bar angle
shot may be open, and if so, you can shoot, or even try to pass
through that hole. This type of pass is called a LANE pass (i.e.
passing through the space between the first and second men on the
opposing five bar when it is on the wall.) This is a tournament level
option here; if you can pass both a lane or a wall pass from the SAME
position, and if you can pass the ball at high speed, you have a
tournament-competitive pass. This option is described in the next
part, II: 5-3 passing, Guide to Brush Passing. But for now, if you are
only beginning, practice your ball control, your three-bar shot, and
your fast wall pass.
One other beginner pass
Roll the ball down toward either wall. At the FAR END of the 2nd man's
reach (i.e. the closest the 2nd man will reach toward the wall), pass the
ball lightly with the 2nd man, angling it toward the wall (where your
three bar resting). This angle is easy, since it is in the same direction
as the ball's original direction of motion.
Rationale: Beginning opponents will tend to follow the ball, and
as they also bang their rods against the wall, their 2nd man can no longer
guard the ANGLE-pass you just shot OUT OF its reach; only the 1st man can
guard it and he just banged into the wall as your opponent followed the
motion of the ball!
Two Trick Passes
that are good to know, but taken by themselves are useless to depend
upon... i.e. if you're going to practice a pass, skip this section and
practice chapter II's brush pass instead):
- begin with the ball (slightly to the rear of the rod), between your
first an second man of the near side. In one single fluid motion, pull
the rod then flick your wrist. This will result in the 2nd man passing
the ball to the 1st man (a "kick" or lateral pass), which
then immediately passes the ball along the wall; this can be done VERY
fast; practice this fast or not at all. Placing the ball slightly
toward the rear helps make a smaller lag time between the kick and the
wall pass, and in general is a good habit in passing.
- bounce the ball rapidly between the 1st and 2nd man. On one of the
bounces, lift your man as the ball approaches the 1st man and pass it,
either along the wall, or along the lane. Practice the wall pass
version first, since it's similar to pass "1)". This works
because with every bounce you are potentially moving the ball in
position for a pass; your opponent can't react to every bounce
effectively, nor can he easily tell which bounce will be the real
pass. Note that you can bounce it back and forth by mostly moving the
men to meet the ball, rather than bouncing the ball the full possible
range between the two men; note also that this motion can be done with
the ball bouncing in a range rather near the wall, or away from the
wall, or both in unpredictable succession. This bouncing is the basis
for the "stick-pass" series, which is not described here.
Practice Tips for Everyone
Most beginners don't know the ranges of each man's reach on the five bar,
and don't know very well the _edges_ of the men's reach on the three bar.
So: Lift the opposing five-bar, and just pass back and forth between your
five and three, doing ALL angle passes. The straight passes are easy to
learn and intuitive, but intercepting an angling ball with the five bar is
the part that is the hardest and needs the practice. Most people just wake
up one morning after practicing the night before and find that their brain
has figured it all out!
For defending against passes, you can either angle your men forward and
attempt to "swat" at the passes, so that they bounce to your
three bar or back to your five bar... Or you can angle your men backwards
so that you will catch any blocked passes, so that now it is your turn to
pass-- you don't want your opponent to keep regaining possession of passes
you have blocked! But don't angle them too far back, because you'll
unknowingly be leaving the wall pass _always_ open! The general motion is
an unpredictable back-forth motion done very rapidly to swat away all
slow- and medium-speed passes. See the "learning-foosball"
faq (#4) for more tips on 5-rod defense.
II: 5-3 passing, GUIDE TO BRUSH PASSING
I will begin with a disclaimer. I am a rookie (i.e. beginning competitive
level) player, so my knowledge of brush passing may not be entirely
satisfactory to experts and pros but know the fundamentals well enough to
relate the technique and the conceptual reasons behind them; if you have
any suggestions or corrections, please don't hesitate to email me.
As I mentioned briefly in part
I, the essence of the brush pass is that you can pass either a wall
pass, or an off-the-wall pass (lane pass) from the SAME position; hence
your opponent will not know which pass you are attempting until too late
if the pass is fast enough. The method I will describe is only the basic
"near-side brush pass beginning from a 2nd-man pin." Other
variations exist, but I feel this method will bring the quickest results
and knowledge enough to learn the other variations (e.g. far wall, off
near-wall bounce, 2nd man brush-down, etc.)
Once you feel you understand the concepts, SKIP to
"How
To Practice The Brush Pass" at the end of this section; this will
give the real meat of "getting better". The beginning of this
chapter will discuss the intellectual how and why of the pass, as well as
the practical (i.e. actual game-usable and USTSA-legal) application of it.
The "how and why" section is so detailed because I have observed
many people who have tried to learn the brush pass but had great
difficulty because they didn't understand what each element of the
technique was really doing. Once the player understands "why brush
the ball", and "why place the ball so far back", and so on,
it is much easier to learn the pass.
First, a commonly used hand/arm posture for the left arm is with the
palm facing up under the five-bar handle, and the elbow pointing out to
your left. You should lean down slightly so that your upper arm is almost
directly above, and parallel to, your lower arm. These techniques provide
leverage for the quick push/pull motion required to "brush" the
ball and put a spin on it. Make sure that when you flick the rod with this
grip that the men follow through to end up at least 45 degrees forward or
even parallel-forward to the table. Although you may not be able to swing
the man backwards too much, you only need to lift it back enough to just
barely clear the ball-- any farther back and you are revealing you
intentions to clearly to the opponent as well as compromising the power of
your pass. Try to avoid rolling the handle along your fingers with an
opened-palm when you are passing. It will feel strange at first, but keep
at it.
Since passing from a stopped ball is illegal, you must set the ball in
motion. Since passing immediately w/the same man you set the ball
in motion with is also illegal, you must pass it (or at least touch it)
with a different man. Hence, we will set the ball in motion with the 2nd
man on the near side of the 5-bar, and pass it with the near man:
First position your 3-bar on the near wall; make this a constant
habit. Then on your 5-bar back-pin the ball with the 2nd man from the near
side, men slightly forward. Adjust the pin (tapping the ball and rocking
it slightly) until it is about to slip out with increased pressure. Now
roll it laterally and VERY SLOWLY toward your near man. The near man will
then pass the ball by putting a spin on it using a "brush"
motion, to be described.
Notes:
- The ball is placed to the rear of the rod because this provides a
better position to put spin on the ball once it is moved laterally to
the passing man. It is the spin which will result in the angle in the
ball's motion;
- if the ball is rolled from a really solid back pin (i.e. ball too
far back) the near man will not be able to put a spin on (the back of)
the ball, and will most likely only pin (the top of) the ball again;
we want to pass it, not pin it again.
- Make sure the pass to your 1st man is perfectly lateral, so that it
reaches the 1st man at near the same almost-back-pin distance it
started from.
- The slowness of the lateral motion is ok, because this is NOT the
part of the motion which is intended to deceive your opponent; great
care in setting up the ball position with this motion, and the longer
time-window to choose among your impending passes are the two reasons
for the slow roll to your 1st man.
Before I describe how to pass the ball with the 1st man, here is a
paragraph of comments on the pass: Remember you want to have the option of
either wall-passing or lane-passing. Ideally then, you want to start the
pass exactly between the wall and the lane. So figure this area out by
watching the near man's range of motion as you push and pull the rod all
the way. The general center of this left-right distance is where you will
begin your pass. Important note: Here, and on the far man, is the LARGEST
distance guarded by only a single man on the entire five bar; there is no
6th man beyond the wall to come to the rescue to block a wall pass-- this
is why passes are done near the wall; also the near wall is more easily
visible, so we begin with this version, rather than the far wall. The path
of the wall pass seems simple enough; angle the ball toward the wall, and
if there is enough spin the ball will hug the wall all the way down to
your three-bar. But where is the lane? Pull the opponent's five-bar to
your near wall. See the opposing 2nd man? He can't go any further! The
ideal lane pass is just out of his reach; the only man who can block it is
the 1st man, who is also busy guarding the wall pass!
Okay, now the hard part. Remember approximately where you are going to
pass the ball from (between the wall and lane). This is really only
approximate, since you will wait for an opening, and then hit it, and the
ball will be rolling slowly while you are deciding. CENTER your near man
just behind the rolling ball and follow it. If you rolled it correctly
from the 2nd man's tenuous-pin, your near man should look like it is about
to pin the ball; it should not be obviously far up in the air away from
the ball. Since the man is centered on the ball and following it, the
opponent can't tell which pass you are preparing for, since at the center
you are prepared for both! How so? From here, you "brush" the
ball, either in the push (aka brush-up) or pull (aka brush-down)
direction. Usually a few fakes are thrown in for good measure, but let's
practice without fakes for now.
What does "brush" mean? Try to "scrape", or
"brush" the BACK or BACK-TOP edge of the ball with your man as
hard as you can, while applying the LEAST amount of pressure possible to
the ball, but maintaining contact with the ball throughout the brushing
motion, and DO THE BRUSH MOTION FAST. I repeat: always do the the brush
motion fast; don't even practice it slowly just to "get the feel of
it", because you won't. The brush will result in a SPIN on the ball,
which angles the ball in the direction of your brush (i.e. a brush-down
pulls it toward the wall, a brush-up pushes it toward the lane). Finally,
the two most common mistakes:
- none of this will work unless at the time you brush the ball, the
ball really is towards the back of the rod, i.e. just forward of the
line at which you could back-pin balls securely. Really. The
ball-positioning to that back position maximizes the spin resulting
from the brush.
- the other common mistake is to "swing" at the ball, as if
to shoot it forward; the brush motion is mostly a sideways motion with
very little forward swing-- at first try to err on the side of too
little swing (i.e. _no_ swing while maintaining contact for the
brush), then adjust from there; the ball will move forward if you
brush it right anyhow, and any swinging at the ball, or
follow-through, is done near the _very end_ of the brush motion-- but
at first, don't even try to swing as a followthrough and just try to
isolate the fast brushing motion.
Once you get the hang of it, it is VERY IMPORTANT to always be aware,
especially with Tornado men (with subtly angled toes), of the exact area
of the toe which is intended to brush the ball; it is usually along the
subtle _angle_ of the toe-- you probably didn't even notice this shape
before did you? If your pass doesn't seem to be working, concentrate on
the bottom of the two surfaces of the toe on either side of this edge.
(The bottom one is gridded with horizontal and vertical hatches, and the
top one has only vertical hatches-- these vertical hatches on the top side
help impart spin upon brushing.)
If done correctly, the brush will result in a significant spin (good),
causing it to whizz away at an angle; in the case of a brush-down/wall
pass, the ball will angle into the wall and _hug_ the wall all the way to
your waiting three-bar. Practice the pull-brush wall-pass first and note:
the first time you do it right, YOU WILL KNOW; the ball will move in a
very counter-intuitive way, seemingly disobeying the laws of foosball
Physics; it will seemingly be about to bounce off the wall, but instead it
will hug the wall as described all the way to your 3-bar. When this
happens the first time, remember how it feels like-- and try to reproduce
it. Again, always do the sideways brush motion as fast as possible, and
minimize forward swing.
Notes on doing it wrong
- If the ball is too far back when rolling, you will pin the ball, and
it may even squeeze out in an unpredictable direction, or simply stay
pinned.
- If the ball is too far forward, your brush motion is a) too
transparent to the opponent and b) you will have to mostly swing at
the ball and therefore the spin will only be mild resulting in a mild
angle (perhaps missing the wall or lane and colliding with the
opposing man) and little wall-hugging behavior.
Practical Notes
- at first, you may not find it easy to center your near man behind
the rolling ball, so remember to roll the ball slowly; at first if you
are intending a brush-up, you may be inadvertently positioning your
man slightly to the right (near side) of the ball, giving away your
intentions to the opponent, and the mirror image also applies for the
brush-down (pull-brush). Once you are well-practiced, you will be able
to spin the ball w/your brush in both directions from directly behind
the ball, or insert a series of fakes before you brush, for example
fake up-down, up-down, in rapid succession, followed by
"up", or "up-down" to really pass.
- experiment to find the best 2-man back-pin degree. The previous
paragraph explains too-far-back, too-far-forward, and just-right.
Again, always be aware of the brushing surface of the toe at whatever
angle you choose;
- To catch a wall pass, just leave your three-bar on the wall in the
front-angled position described in part I.
- To catch a lane pass, begin with your 3-bar ON THE WALL, then move
it off of the wall AS you pass; don't make a habit of leaving it in
position to catch a lane-pass before you pass.
- The lane pass is more forgiving if it has less spin; you may even be
able to just "swing" at it with only medium brush/spin and
get away with it if the opponent is adamantly guarding the wall; this
is only a crutch, and will not work in the higher levels of tournament
play; still it'll serve you well at first.
- Experiment with a variety of fakes, especially doing an
"up-down-up-down" motion behind the ball before you pass.
- Use your brain; figure out which pass your opponent wants to guard,
and shoot the OTHER pass!
- Once you understand the concept by reading this, skip to
"HOW
TO PRACTICE THE BRUSH PASS" at the end of this section.
Notes on Catching the Ball
Catching the ball using the simple front-angled position of the three-bar
(described in Part I) is eventually going to be "not good
enough". To catch a _really_ fast, spinning, angled pass, you should
begin with your men straight down, then flex them forward as you catch the
ball, and here's one good way to do this:
- for the three bar (right hand), find the correct position on the
handle, so that at the maximum end of flicking your wrist all the way
(as if shooting), your men are positioned in the front-angled
ready-to-catch position.
- Now keep your hand in this grip, & bring your men down so that
they are standing straight again; now you are ready to flick your men
forward as you catch a fast pass!
- On a Tornado, forget 1) & 2), and just put your thumb along the
_narrow_ part of the handle on the bevel one or two away
counterclockwise from the top bevel (i.e. about 11 o'clock) when the
men are standing straight-- keep the men standing straight, then as
you catch a pass, flick your men forward (keeping your thumb on your
chosen bevel). Your thumb here prevents your wrist from swinging the
3-bar too far forward. This motion _greatly_ enhances your chances of
catching a fast pass on any table, so now make it a habit to assume
this grip (relative to the rod's rotational position.) This type of
catching will be absolutely essential once you begin to practice
faster and faster passes; don't ignore!
How To Practice The Brush Pass:
The description above was about how to execute the pass in a real game,
why the brush pass is good, and how it works. This section will help you
develop the "brush-up" and "brush-down" motions
themselves. The brushing exercises will all be upon a stationary ball
(which in a real game would not be legal), and again remember it's
important to set the ball up a little to the rear as described. The fakes
included in these exercise are an essential part of what you actually do
in a real game.
How To Practice The Brush-Down (pull-brush) to the wall
First position your 3-bar on the wall, ready to catch a wall pass. Then,
place the ball about three inches from the near wall (along your 5-bar,
slightly to the rear of the rod, not quite so far that you would pin it).
Finally, do the exercise:
- Position your 1st man behind the ball, and do four rapid
fake-brushes, just barely behind, but not touching the ball:
down-up-down-up.
- Continuing this, brush "down" and pass the ball along the
wall.
Hence, the entire motion will be: down-up-down-up-DOWN, the last
"down" being the real brush-down pass. The pace (of the
d-u-d-u-d) should be leisure-rapid-- in other words, not so fast that you
are concentrating on the rapidity, and definitely not slowly since these
are supposed to be fakes. Remember to concentrate on putting spin on the
ball and being aware of that angled-surface of the toe which is actually
in contact with the ball, since your fakes can distract you from your
technique. At first, just push the opposing 5-bar to the far-wall, but as
you get more confident, bring it in closer and closer to your near wall as
you practice your series.
How To Practice The Brush-up (push-brush) through the lane
Place your 3-bar on the wall as before, and place the ball in the same
place along your 5-bar also as before. Now:
- do the SAME four fake-brushes behind the ball: down-up-down-up.
- Continue with down-UP, doing a real brush-up on the final
"up".
- As you brush up, move your 3-bar off of the wall to catch the pass
through the lane.
Hence the motion will be down-up-down-up-down-UP, looking practically
identical to the brush-down exercise's down-up-down-up-DOWN. The difficult
part is catching the ball, so you really have to practice holding your
thumb on that 11 o'clock bevel (on the narrow part of the handle) and
flicking your men forward as you catch the ball-- and don't cheat:
_always_ begin with the 3-bar on the wall!
So, practice about 100 of each version, or at least 25 if you're not
used to practicing yet. Once you have learned the techinque, you can
practice 20 brush-ups followed by 20 brush-downs (or 10 and 10) until your
series of 40 (or 20) passes are flawless; make sure you pass hard and
completely catch each pass; don't get caught in the common mistake of
practice the pass but not the catch. Experiment later with placing the
ball at different distances from the wall; for example with the brush-up,
if the ball is very close to the wall, you will need more
"brush" and less "swing" to angle the ball into the
lane, while if the ball is farther from the wall and more directly in
front of the lane, you will not need as much "brush", but more
"swing" to execute a fast pass. And the brush-down can be
executed anywhere from near the wall to (eventually) the farthest reach of
the near man away from the wall. So vary the position once you've learned
the brush motion, and that way you'll have a larger
"strike-zone" from which you will be a threat to brush pass in
either direction.
Practicing The Setup
This will be two similar exercises-- Begin with the 2nd-man back pin. Then
move the ball toward your first man. Execute a series of fakes, about six:
down-up-down-up-down-up. Then intercept the ball before it hits the wall
by moving the near man in the path of the ball. Return the ball by tapping
it back to the 2nd-man and begin again. That's all. The other exercise is
similar except, after d-u-d-u-d-u, tap the ball lightly into the wall with
the right edge of the near man. As it slowly bounces off, execute another
series of fakes: d-u-d-u-d-u. Then stop the ball with your second man, and
begin again. In a real game situation, a common technique is to bounce the
ball off of the wall then immediately do a very steep brush-up into the
lane as the opponent hopefully slams his rod to block the wall pass. Also,
these two exercises are useful in a real game so as to allow you to bring
the ball into position repeatedly, waiting to find the perfect
"open" pass.
Practicing Two More Options
- Practice the steep brush-up immediately after a bounce off of the
near wall.
- Practice the 2nd-man brush-down through the lane to the wall. One
way to do this is a variation on the exercise of the previous
paragraph: after you use your near man to bounce the ball back to the
2nd man, the 2nd man can then brush-down. The ball should travel
steeply through the lane (bring the opposing 5-rod to your near wall
for practice) and end up on your 3-bar near-man on the wall. The other
option from the 2nd man is a brush-up to your _middle_ 3-bar man.
One final note: there are many passing options with brush
and stick passes. Learning the near-wall brush-pass series is an
essential first step, and even it alone can be extremely effective.
Among other options are learning the same series on the far-wall,
learning tic-tac stick passes, and learning a blindingly quick
kickpass to the wall. Hopefully, the stick-pass series will be
described in a later version of this file. All right, that is it for
brush-passing! Practicing will give you a knowledge of spin that will
be useful later on in other types of passes and shots, especially for
tournament play on the hard surfaces of Tornado tables.
Part III: 2 to 3 passing.
Most importantly, you should master the essential skill of the 5-bar to
3-bar brush pass described in Part II before practicing too much in this
section. This section is going to be pretty brief and sparse in
strategy. In a doubles game: Of course the five bar needs to be raised,
preferably horizontally, since upside-down brings the men's heads in
striking range for the commonly slightly airborne passes and shots. The
three bar should always be placed along one wall; pick one, the far or
near, and just LEAVE IT THERE and practice passing to the three men in
this position only for a while. Be sure to angle the men forward to
catch passes from the two-bar. If the passes are slower (i.e. less than
fast shot speed), keep the angle fairly high off of the playing field.
However, for fast passes (i.e. FAST shot speed), the impact can be so
great so that the ball "muscles" its way underneath and past
the three-bar. Hence, for fast passes, hold the front-angle LOWER, even
close to 45 degrees! However this is not the key; the key is TO HOLD THE
HANDLE LOOSELY. If you are holding on too tightly, the pass will simply
ricochet off of your man. However, if the rod is held loosely, and at a
low forward angle, the ball will "muscle" the man's angle up,
coming to rest in a front pin. So 1) Hold it correctly for the expected
speed of pass, i.e. if the pass is slower, hold the man up higher and 2)
Keep it on one wall, and don't move it, so the defense knows where to
expect the men to be.
The two-bar's easiest pass, of course, is the wall pass. Make sure to
start the ball maybe a ball's length off of the wall, since otherwise
you will bank the ball off of the wall and into the 3-man's lane;
remember that bumper on the rod won't let your man get directly behind a
ball that is actually on the wall. You can pass to the 3-bar men which
are not on the wall also! You can either practice hitting these specific
men, or just ignore the men and shoot your shot-- there is a mild chance
that a missed shot will be a great pass! You might as well do something
with your missed shots! Eventually the opponent will begin to block your
wall passes, so you should also practice angle-passes which go through
the five-bar lane(when the opposing five bar is against the wall,
guarding the wall pass), and angle right to your three man sitting on
the wall.
Two variations
- when the ball on the 2-bar is set up for a push or pull, the 3-bar
should be placed _off_ of the wall so that the 1st man is directly
in front of the ball. Hence, if the push or pull is covered, the
straight pass through the lane is open. The 3-bar may be
"down" or it may be held up "floating" ready to
come down in case of a pass.
- Or, when set up for a push or a pull, leave the three bar on the
wall. Do a fake (push/pull), and as the opponent flinches off of the
wall, reverse your motion and brush a wall pass.
For a singles game:
All of the above applies, and you can alternative pass from the 2-bar to
the 5-bar. Developing a good left hand on the two bar is fairly
important. Also, if you can actually shoot kicks or push/pulls with your
left hand, your opponent doesn't know whether to guard the shot or pass!
One passing trick is to back pin the ball with the far 2-man, and pull
the rod fast. The opponent will flinch in your pull direction, but the
ball will squeeze out and spin in the push direction, in a pseudo-wall
pass along the far wall. Lifting all the rods, and practicing angle
passes back and forth between your 2 and 3 bar is worthwhile. Also,
practicing a 2-5 bar pass can be even more worthwhile.
2-bar to 5-bar Passing
This is often a more reliable way to get the ball to your 3-bar, in
other words by executing a _reliable_ 2-5 bar pass then another
_reliable_ 5-3 bar pass, instead of a risk 2-3 bar pass which skips the
5-bar.
Set the 5-bar on the near (or far) wall, and catch passes the same
way you would with the 3-bar, with the following exception: The lane
pass should be caught with the 2nd man on the 5-bar. Note that the
wall-pass is _much_ riskier, so that you will in general always be
watching for the lane pass to the 2nd man. Finally, while bringing the
ball into position from the center of the field, you should briefly
watch for the open stick pass to the 3rd man.
Happy Passing!

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