Practicing techniques

[Paul]

So I read this on some foosball forum, can;t remember which one but I've been trying the past few days and I think it's a really good/challenging way to practice.

Basically you're playing vs yourself. you get the ball on your 5 to start. You must make a pass up to the 3 successfully, then setup your shot and make it, scoring you a point. any other scenario scores a point against you. Games up to 5.

If you are able to beat yourself 2-3 times in a row, I'd say you're pretty damn good. I beat myself for the first time in about 15 tries yesterday. huge moment.

give it a shot if you haven't already.

Anyone got tips on how to practice defense? hire a friend?

[Pixel]

Practicing defence is difficult to do outside of a game setting, or without someone constantly shooting on you.

Try different movement speeds, different positions of men (standard vs reverse, big holes vs small holes). Pay attention to when your 2-bar switches over to the other man, or when it crosses over your goalie rod.

Always be aware of which hole(s) you're leaving open, so that you can close it down at a moment's notice. This also makes sure that you feel like you're in control of what's happening - even if the forward scores, they should only score where you are making them score. This is a huge psychological thing. And when they do score, don't be disappointed - use that opportunity to take note of where they shot, whether it was at your men or at the hole, what position your men were in, whether they shot when you were moving or when you weren't, how long it takes them to see, register and shoot at a hole, and what man they were shooting next to (the 2-bar figure or the goalie figure...some people have psychological/mechanical issues with shooting around one or the other). Take every goal as a lesson opportunity, and not a frustrating let-down. This is not a complete list. Talk to me tonight and I'll see if I can illustrate some stuff/show you more.

[Persian Prince]

So I read this on some foosball forum, can;t remember which one but I've been trying the past few days and I think it's a really good/challenging way to practice.

Basically you're playing vs yourself. you get the ball on your 5 to start. You must make a pass up to the 3 successfully, then setup your shot and make it, scoring you a point. any other scenario scores a point against you. Games up to 5.

If you are able to beat yourself 2-3 times in a row, I'd say you're pretty damn good. I beat myself for the first time in about 15 tries yesterday. huge moment.

give it a shot if you haven't already.

Anyone got tips on how to practice defense? hire a friend?

Prior to tournaments I practice defense in the same manor as a boxer would prior to a fight......what a boxer calls shadow boxing......I call shadow defending.

Essentially its how I was taught to defend from the beginning but without the use of a forward.

1. Go about your normal routine as if someone was setting up on the 3-rod (shooting snake, pull, push, etc..).

2. Begin moving your D around but pay close attention to what is open and what is closed.

3. You will immediately notice that you are leaving one or more holes open to long a period or too short a period.

4. You will also notice that you might be favoring a particular side. Understand that favoring a side when Shadow defending is a fault not a bonus. In actual playing time, you may favor a side if your opponent can not square off a long push or pull.

5. Pay close attention to crossing over during your D, if your goalie crosses over with any of the men on the two rod you have what could be a major problem. Many highly skilled forwards await the opportune moment when you cross over, this gives them everything from 1 dot push or pull to long on both sides. Crossing over can be very beneficial if you are using it as a bait. Baiting your opponent with a cross over takes some practice but can be very effective when playing skilled forwards.

6. "THE BAIT" The bait is essentially the ultimate Jeidi Mind Trick....if you can make your opponent believe a hole is open or is going to be open when he releases than you've sold the sucker. Baiting is very successful once you have felt the reaction of your opponent. It does no harm in a tournament game to use a random D and throw a bait in there and sense how your opponent reacts. There have been times where I have played a doubles match against highly skilled Pro's and they would score the first goal or two but be blocked 20 times in a row.

To practice a bait, go about your regular D and pick a hole that you would like to bait your opponent with. Whichever of your men ends up on that hole should be the man you use to bait, move him in two ways - very slow and react back to that hole or very quickly and react back to that hole. Practicing the bait is essential in critical moments of a game, you may choose not to use it until the very end of the 5th game!

7. Try to memorize at lease 3 different D's. Each D should be for a type of player. For example, I find that fast players like Merv feed off fast Defenses. I like to give Merv a slow D with lots of baits as he is very dependent on exploding to the hole when its open. For Taha I use a medium speed D with baits on his favorite side - pull - and for slower shooters, I like to use a quick D.

8.Mindset, there is no forward better than a defender. The forward is at the obvious disadvantage, he has to shoot around or between moving men and time the next opening. Your confidence should be relayed through your D, once you have given up, any and every forward will score on you easily. But once you have blocked a skilled forward consistently, you do more damage to his image and esteem than anything else.

Hope this helps!

Omar

[Paul]

will do man, thanks for the tips; what's your name again? I just don't wanna ask everyone if they know where Pixel is.

I'm Paul.

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shit, Omar, that is alot of great advice up there! I sure don't mind particulars vs some of the guys

The whole bait thing I think is easier said than done; I completely understand the concept, and when I try it it works sometimes. Usually though, I can't even race them to the hole that I'm forcing! I definately do my very best not to cross my 2 guys, perhaps you could show me a situation where it'd work; I think most guy's snakes are too fast for me to react to with that kind of bait.

As for having 3 different D's this is good advice to me, I've always just tried to stay random and pretty much play the odds, which usually ends up in their favor, probably because they're not playing odds, but picking open holes Now you say slow for merv, medium for taha etc, I don't know a whole lot about these guys' play styles, mostly because we're not in the same tier, although I did have a week vs Merv. But what style of shot would you say each Defensive style s condusive to? ie: a snake shooter is weak generally against what? a slow D? a pull shooter?

Then you got JP over there with his buritos and taquitos and texax masacres; what do you do vs a guy like that?

Keep it commin guys, I'm lovin it!

-P

[SilentSam]

To me what's important in defending is recognition of what the Forward is looking for.

Some players shoot mostly at open holes for instance, and others tend to shoot at holes that are opening up at that moment. Some even shoot directly at the defender in hopes that the defender will race away from that hole. Im recognizing what a forward is looking for, you can throw hitches in your defense, which basically make it look like you're about to open a hole, but are in fact never really leaving it.

Hitches work best against Forwards who like to shoot at holes that are just opening up. For forwards who tend to shoot directly at men, slower moving D works well. I find people who shoot at holes that have been opened for awhile struggle against fast moving D, but that is not always the case. You'll find that the better forwards do a mix of all 3, so against better forwards your defence will have to adapt, or randomize to incorporate all 3 styles.

[Paul]

yea, it seems that whomever I'm playing, to me, is a "better forward", so I do alot of random shit lol

[Pixel]

yea, it seems that whomever I'm playing, to me, is a "better forward", so I do alot of random shit lol

For example: I am a regular forward.

Chuck Norris is a "better forward". A roundhouse kicks comes out of his beard and kicks you in the face before he shoots.

[Liudas LT]

Chuck Norris is a "better forward". A roundhouse kicks comes out of his beard and kicks you in the face before he shoots.

Yes, but he also shoots a roundhouse shot, only the handle doesn't move, instead his middle man on a 3-bar turns around it, breaking the ball into 5 small pieces scoring an instant winner...

[Paul]

yea, it seems that whomever I'm playing, to me, is a "better forward", so I do alot of random shit lol

For example: I am a regular forward.

Chuck Norris is a "better forward". A roundhouse kicks comes out of his beard and kicks you in the face before he shoots.

We all know Chuck norris would get his ass handed to him by either Vick Mackey, or JAck Bauer. Take your pick.

[Pixel]

Paul - how is the 5-bar practicing going? Noticing any improvements?

[Paul]

Mario: 5 bar is definately showing signs of improvements; I hope they'll translate onto the Tornado without too much difficulty. I decided to stick with the lower series, with a bit of practice on the upper incase I'm not having any luck down under. I have 2/3 of the series pretty well down, still need to work on the lane.

[Pixel]

Mario: 5 bar is definately showing signs of improvements; I hope they'll translate onto the Tornado without too much difficulty. I decided to stick with the lower series, with a bit of practice on the upper incase I'm not having any luck down under. I have 2/3 of the series pretty well down, still need to work on the lane.

Good to hear! Any specific problem with the lane? That thing was the bane of my existence on the 5-bar for about a year. If you tell me what it is, I can probably speed ya along.

[Liudas LT]

what about some practice tomorrow? for me the only problem is to get to Mario's or Paul's place... anybody willing to take a ride? (that is of course if Mario or Paul are up for some practice)

[Pixel]

what about some practice tomorrow? for me the only problem is to get to Mario's or Paul's place... anybody willing to take a ride? (that is of course if Mario or Paul are up for some practice)

My place may be out of order for some time. Before I left for xmas, the superintendent (who lives under me) came up to complain about the noise - after 8 months! I either need to figure out what he's hearing or find a way to make everything quieter...or get rid of my table

[Paul]

Mario: 5 bar is definately showing signs of improvements; I hope they'll translate onto the Tornado without too much difficulty. I decided to stick with the lower series, with a bit of practice on the upper incase I'm not having any luck down under. I have 2/3 of the series pretty well down, still need to work on the lane.

Good to hear! Any specific problem with the lane? That thing was the bane of my existence on the 5-bar for about a year. If you tell me what it is, I can probably speed ya along.

I think the main problem is that I've practiced the timing for the wall so much that hitting it that split second sooner proves difficult; but setup, tick tack to get setup and then either wall or off the wall to lane is getting DECENT. Lots of work still left to be done no doubt.

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I got Graeme commin over to my place tonight for some practice; I'll see what's up for tomorrow.