Pro clinic - Feb 25

[Pixel]

I'll be at TailGators at 7 PM tomorrow night.

If any of the new players wishes to show up early, I'll run a 5-bar passing clinic.

[Mannen the Cannon]

I will be there for 7pm and bring Liudas, Neall, and Eric. We could all benefit from a 5-bar clinic.

[Pixel]

If this runs well and attracts interest, I'll start doing it on a weekly basis, with topics either planned out in advance (e.g a 5-6 week schedule covering different topics), or with topics by request each week.

[Liudas LT]

Sounds like a plan

Dave, so I assume that you'll pick me up at 6:45. Right?

[Mannen the Cannon]

Sounds like a plan

Dave, so I assume that you'll pick me up at 6:45. Right?

Yup - 6:45 it is.

[Paul]

Mawio, teh nicest pro in the city I tells ya! I'll be there early as usual.

[5barwarrior]

Homework - Read these articles on the mindset of passing and defending on the five.

http://forums.ottawafoos.com/showthread.php?tid=74
http://forums.ottawafoos.com/showthread.php?tid=73

[Paul]

good articles; read em both a while ago, but re-reading them now stuff makes alot more sense!

[subculture]

Mawio, teh nicest pro in the city I tells ya! I'll be there early as usual.

Hahaha, that's really funny. In Toronto, we call him "the other Mario, you know the rookie".

We might have to change that soon though, the last time he was here, he was passing thru Olavo pretty consistently, and scoring pretty well on me. But until he becomes a promaster, he'll always be "our little Mario"

---

Homework - Read these articles on the mindset of passing and defending on the five.

http://forums.ottawafoos.com/showthread.php?tid=74
http://forums.ottawafoos.com/showthread.php?tid=73

Hey, where's the post where Ken Alwell ("pushkick of death" or lately "papercut of death") and I talk about 5-bar D? That was better than that crap!

[5barwarrior]

ok, sean, I can give you access to the old forum and you can sort through all the posts looking for it.
What was Ken's log in name?

[5000 Years Old Man]

Novel Idea or something like that

[5barwarrior]

Here are all of Ken's posts from the last forum. Being only 14 of them it wasn't that hard to pull them off. Sorry, Sean your witty replies would take to long to dig up.

========================================================

More questions for Ken...
novelidea Posted on: Mar 11 2005, 05:00 AM

Replies: 3
Views: 204

Hi all,

I want to thank all of the nice people I met up there! You two know who you are...ha

I have been in transition and am back in the states. I may pop in from time to time, but you know how it is with life. Foosball been very good to me.

As far as this last question, Sean about covered it. Smartass.

I used to do a lot of different excercises to keep the tendons in my wrists loose. I know that a weekend on those old solid rods wore me out and in fact I developed some rotator problems that were from foosball. Found that out playing golf and softball.

I would use one of those squeeze bags when you're driving. Stuff like that. I also used those hand held things you squeeze, forget what you call them.

But really the best way to be prepared is to get prepared by repetition. Prize fighters spar something like 30 rounds for every one round they fight for real. Golfers practice thousands of shots. I used to put in a lot of practice hours of repetition. And that will not only build up endurance but should hone the game.

I will leave you with one tip that more than any other gave me confidence. I developed a practice routine that I followed which was the closest thing I ever found to recreating the type of pressure I would be facing in a match. Something I could do when practicing alone.

I played games against my mistakes. My rules were that I had to use my time limits on each rod. Play exactly as I would play if I was facing someone in a match. Vary the passes. Vary the speeds. Each time I would drop a pass it would be one point for my "opponent" Each time I misexecuted or missed a shot it would be thier point.

I do not practice with the men down. I hit my "spots." I am more concerned with making each take off whether shot or pass, look exactly the same. So I would do a lane pass, and then a wall pass, starting from the same point.

On the three row I would shoot a short dink, then a middle kick. Middle dink (Sean's favorite shot) and a long kick would be my next shot and so on. I would actually think in my mind of the opposite shot so I would hope I was "giving" it away to my opponent.

When I used that practice routine religiously I started out losing games a lot. And I would be frustrated a lot. Just like in a match. But this way I could weed out the bad habits and the excuses. Practicing develops concentration and discipline. By the end of a few days of playing against my mistakes I was winning 5 to 1 or 5-0 and I knew I was ready for the tournament. I knew I had a strong game, and the ability to play it under "pressure."

Good luck,

Ken Alwell
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #5743


No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Feb 10 2005, 10:43 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227

I don't know how to do the quote thingy. Suffice it to say that I have never done a pass. What I mean is P A S S. But it seems in canada it means pass.

I saw the question in there this morning too! Missed it with all the chatter. So Horton says we are clueless, eh? Mystified perhaps, but not entirely clueless.

5 man defense is up there on the list of important things to having a winning tournament game. I didn't realize the importance of it until later in my career, but I played on a table with a smaller goal and I relied on my own offense and my partners blocking ability.

Since playing tornado and especially since the rollospin made 3 bar possession the name of the game, 5 bar defense is now critical and can determine the outcome of a match.

The specific question is how to block Spredeman's tic tac series, and I will get to that, but first let's talk defense in general. What are the basics of a good defense on the 5? What are the things in your control?

1) Overall defensive philosophy. Take away what they do best. In this case most people hit the wall faster and catch the wall more efficiently. So the most basic defense is to sit on the wall and race the up. Good place to start.

2) Observe. Where do they execute the pass from? Do they hit the wall from one spot and the lane from another? Do they pass on the way to the wall but not on the way up? Are they watching what I am doing or guessing? Are they using a speed pass or a read pass, or a combination? Do they pass at the same time each possession?

3) Watch my own thought process and learn. Did I "know he was going to do an up and I still bailed to the wall? If that happens to me I know I "fell" for his fakes, so I know I was paying attention to what he was doing instead of what I was thinking. What I mean is that my mind had figured something out, and was sure of something, but I wasn't listening and trusting myself. When this happens I know I need to go back to the basics of what I can control, and that is to put my man where I want it to be at all times.

4) Develop my own personal bag of defensive tricks. The most important aspect of defensive 5 is intensity. I want that guy to know he is going to have to work to get the ball. So I work. Digging. I don't have to block every pass, sometimes it's enough to deflect a few. Also, I can try many different defenses. Slow circles. Fast big circles, fast weave, stop dead and race, and any combination of the above. Foosball is a chess game, and noticing what works and trying new things is paramount. Don't be afraid to try something radical. Many times I have looked away and made a block because my body kept falling for fakes. Switch to the right hand.

5) As you advance in skills and in trusting yourself, you may discover that certain types of passes work better on you than others. Or some people pass better on you than others. Why? Everyone it seems goes through a period of getting stuck in a label, and it is a trap that is all in your mind. I remember when I used to be labeled a doubles player. Then I won a 25K singles event. How? I learned how to play singles. What I mean is that I believed what people were saying about me, and I rarely if ever entered singles. Instead of learning to play singles I was simply not a singles player. What a crock.

This applies to defense or any other aspect of this game. I am not a good defender on the five. People pass through me like butter. I can't block that guys passes for love. I can't block a tic tac series. No one can block Spredeman.

Attitude adjustment needed! I can't block a rollover. So I cut it down instead of learning to block the dang thing. Where do I start? I learn about the shot. I learn about what people are thinking. I learn about the real reality, not the one in my mind where I can't block it and it sucks. I get off the opinion and on to the effort.

That's when the game becomes fun and a challenge. In learning what works and what doesn't work, there will be lots of passes going through you. But with a good attitude and learning going on, there will be less frustration. Ever hear someone say "he was in my head?"

Think about it. If you knew what the guy was going to do you could block everything he tried. Well, how would one go about that? You can guess, you can watch him play other people and instead of watching what he is doing and marveling at it, you could see what his opponent is doing and what he does in response. Then you might do the same thing, and you would know what the odds are he will do what he did to the other guy. It's called bait.

You might try something else that is effective at times. Spike the ball back at him. It can be intimidating. If you are using a "fluttering" motion with your men it will happen a lot.

So now to Spredeman and the tic tac. I actually wouldn't use anything fast on him to begin with. I always look for tendencies. And tells. Little things. Does he hit between the men twice before wall, and once for lane? Is he leaving his three in the same position before each pass? Is he passing at 4 or 3 seconds each time?

I would use a slow circling defense and I would try to make him go up every time. More dropped passes I would hope. And I would get a copy of the worlds where he played Adrian Zamora in the doubles final. Adrian did a great job defensively on him. Study it. AZ is a pretty good guy. Approachable. Ask him what he was thinking about.

I actually prefer playing against a speed passing quick reader. Once you get on them a bit they seem to have a tougher time getting into a rhythm, and if they aren't one of the top players they usually beat themselves because they get frustrated.

My philosophy on defensive 5 is this: I am blocking a 4 inch area with a 1 inch man. I give my opponent the respect that he is going to get around 50% of his passes through me. In other words I won't let it bother me if he gets that and I won't let it affect my offense. That's attitude. Then I whittle away at the 50%.

Attitude. Intensity. I control where I put my man, the speed of my defense, the toes up or back position, spiking, etc. Hey, get radical, shut your eyes and move. Find something that works. I keep telling new players that if they are learning when they are being passed on or scored on it is all that really matters. They only need to block the 5th pass or the 5th shot sometimes to win. Quit trying to be perfect. Learn to get into 5th gear and stay there! I am amazed at how many people talk about certain players and think they are incredible because when the pressure is on they go up a notch or have another gear. They wouldn't be under pressure if they used it all of the time now would they??

Watch Dave Gummeson play. He plays the first game of a local DYP like it is the worlds finals.

I am sitting here smiling as I write this one because I am all about having fun when playing too! Intense fun?

Anyway, hope this ramble helps.

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #5267

No New Posts Pro tour attn. Ken
novelidea Posted on: Jan 29 2005, 12:31 PM

Replies: 2
Views: 207
Hey heman,

You've asked some really good questions. I've had some of the same ones myself. Without more info from them as to exactly what the next level looks like to them it's tough to say much about the effectiveness of the methods they intend to use to get there.

Like all players I have more thoughts about the whole thing, but I'm cautious about sharing my opinions in a written forum like this one. I've adopted a wait and see attitude.

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #5072

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Jan 22 2005, 03:51 PM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227 I didn't make it up to Ottawa, but I heard it was a great tourney. I don't do that much tourney stuff anymore, but I had fun playing at Olavo's last night and wanted to comment on a few things. I was asked a lot of questions about the old days, and how things compare today. While certain aspects of the game itself seem a bit different to me, the players themselves are much the same and pretty much want the same things.

Improvement of their individual game. Fun. Success, recognition for personal prowess, and recognition of the sport in general. More prize money, more competitions. More players getting involved.

In talking about the past I relaized I was pretty darn lucky to have played at a time when $50,000 tournaments were pretty common. Where I got to play against and test myself against some really great players and innovators. All for darn good money.

Made me want to see it happen again for todays players. That was one of the main reasons I started NATSA. To bring attention and sponsorship into the arena. To get kids playing again. To develop a feeder system of new players.

All of it is still possible.

What the heck does any of this have to do with foos101 or Olavo's?

Sean talked about what the foosball scene was like in Toronto just a couple of years ago compared to now. He and the other players here have improved at a rapid pace. Why? Competing against one another for one. Each of them has the drive to improve, and obviously natural ability. There were also some younger players there. Lots of talent.

But something seems to be missing. Creativity. Not that there is none, but hear me out. Bear with me as I make a point. When I played there really wasn't much history of the game. New passes and shots were being invented. Eventually the "tournament game" was developed as the highest percentage way to pass and score when playing in competition for money.

And now that tournament game seems to be the standard of play. There is a sameness to the game where ever I go around the country. To me it just isn't that much fun. When I was learning I made stuff up all of the time. I didn't use it all when I played in tournaments, but when I played for the fun of it I actually had a lot of fun. When I came back to the game in 1991 on tornado, everything was pull shot from the back, pull shot from the front. Foosball was boring to me. I used to love watching matches. The intracicies of the game were fascinating to me.

Now with the development of the rollover, and the tourney game it seems everything is pretty much the same. Which I think is a problem. Maybe a minor one but something to think about. I used to play regularly with Doug Furry, and we almost never played tourney style. If we had a crowd of players we almost always played two ball rollerball. It was simply a lot more fun.

As a result we all developed a tremendous feel for the ball, great peripheral vision, a lot quicker hands, and became incredibly creative. It definately improved our tournament games, and gave us a ton of confidence that we could do anything we wanted with the ball. They've even changed the dang rules for two ball now. A goalie can sit on the ball and take one point. Come on. That stinks!

Sometimes things don't really change for the better I guess. I'm not arguing against the rollover. But I do think it would be a lot easier to attract new players to the game if the game was more exciting to outsiders.

I've done demos all over the country, and I do tons of trick shots and ball control stuff. Not everyone will want to be a tournament player, but when exposed to the many fun things you can do with the game, more might be interested in giving it a shot.

As I watched the guys playing I was thinking to myself that the game has changed quite a bit for me. So next time you are just playing for fun, try not doing any set shots. Make up some rules to keep the game moving. It's a dang big goal, there are lots of ways to get the ball in there.

In some ways this is a rant I guess. Hope there is something in here for someone to learn something!

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4907

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Jan 10 2005, 10:01 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227 I don't think there is any right answer here. Probably a matter of adjustment. I usually simply drop and "fan", so it usually isn't an issue. If I play someone who is slapping the ball back at my partner I might try a few adjustments, but if the stuffing continued I would adjust my partner!

Ken

PS: I thought of this later on - where are you looking when your partner has the ball in the back? I find my best place to focus is right in the center of the table. I can see what he/she is doing, but my focus is right in front of me that way and I can react that much faster.
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4525

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Jan 6 2005, 11:47 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227 The mental game is one of the most important aspects of any sport. Attitude, focus, applying what you've learned, implementing strategies, coming up with that pass or shot that pulls out the game, etc.

What we call positive mental attitude is developed and can be learned and added to all of the time. It's one of the reasons I still enjoy competing. I still learn. I played in leagues the other night and applied a couple of things I'd been thinking about in blocking the rollover and had a bit more success.

In specific answer to your question about getting the edge back, I've used a couple of methods. One is foundational for me. Observation. Of me in any given situation. If I am not focused on the ball in play, if my mind is wandering and I am aware of things outside the scope of what I am doing, such as knowing I've missed my last three passes...I immediately bring myself back to the present by focusing on my breathing. I just take three deep breaths in a row. If I am serious about what I am doing, then I've probably prepared a bit and that should be enough to get me back on track and playing at my optimum.

What is your practice routine? Do you know what your foundation is mentally?

I use the "perfect game scenario" as my bedrock. This way I'm training myself to know what the perfect and best thing to be striving for in every situation. Highest percentage.

I could write volumes on this one topic. It's what separates the top guys from the rest. It comes down to what things you can control in every situation on the table, and maintaining (as well as recognizing when you aren't) focus on those things.

For example, if the ball is in my partners control, where does my focus belong?

What are the things I have control over? At forward? Goalie?

When I lose a game, do I know what I did and what changes to make? Does any one player give me more trouble than another? Are my physical skills similar? Is it a physical or mental error when I misexecute a shot?

How do I train myself to make full and best use of the time limits on each rod? (I once lost a $20,000 match because of a mental mistake, one I made on two consecutive balls...OUCH!)

Back on point here. If you find yourself at the table at 3AM and popping pills isn't your forte, try focusing on your breathing for a few seconds. Then do a few stretches to loosen up. Foosball can tighten your body up big time. We aren't running around staying loose.

Refocus on the things you can control. Attitude, intensity, use of time, and pass and shot selection. A part of a strong mental game is knowing when it isn't working. You
can still win if you aren't at the top of your game mentally. If your mind is wandering, let it wander and let your body take over. I've used nursery rhymes in the past when my mind got all consumed in fear or worse case thinking. If it isn't helping, give it something to do. Loffredo told me he does similar things. He will often sing a song in his mind to ease the pressure and let his body do what it is trained to do.

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4495

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Jan 1 2005, 10:26 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227 Good questions...boy I wish I had visual aids here. This is something I could show you in just a few minutes on a table...in writing it is a challenge. First off I prefer leaving my men up with the feet towards my goal. I have experimented with toes forward but when I drop the man I guess I'd prefer to be knocking the ball towards my opponents goal instead of mine! I can drop pretty quickly to catch passes on the three. However, some goalies who shoot a pull from the back want me to leave the 3 down against the wall, with the man tilted a bit forward. I am still of the old school where I just feel more loose by not doing that. I understand that it forces the forward to cover the passing lanes.

As far as more grabs there is an old trick that has now become a habit for me and gets me lots of extra possessions on both rods. Mike Belz was the first player I saw do this, but he did it as a defensive method. We used to call it "mad man defense", but I use it to keep the ball within my area until I can get control of it. If the ball is in front of my man, my man is tilted back and I "fan" the rod as fast as I can - conversely if the ball is behind my toes are tilted forward.

This method works on both rods to gain possession, and eventually control.

Once again a little mental adjustment might help here. If you are trying to "grab" everything that comes near the man with the foot, you could end up knocking the ball away, so tweak that objective just a little and simply try to keep it in your area of control until it slows down enough for you to grab with the foot of a man.

Does that make sense?

Another trick of the Tornado table is to flick a ball off the wall to change it's direction from north/south to east/west. Once again not trying to grab it, just get it going side to side in my area until it slows enough to control it.

And the number one way to get more possessions? Practice ball control! I still make passing drills a huge part of my routine. The more you practice working the ball between the men on each rod, and from rod to rod, the more you will "pick up" those balls flying around the table. When you practice ball control drills you are doing so many important things. You are improving your feel for the ball, excercising tendons, improving hand/eye coordination, and whether you know it or not your confidence will rise. Watch those Fabi guys and see how quickly they react.

Try using the "fan" method and adding some ball control exercises to your practice routine for a bit and let me know what happens.

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4419

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Dec 18 2004, 11:16 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227
Are consistent banks possible?

Possible, but not very probable. Similar problem to hitters in baseball. Round edge on the foot, round ball. I can do a chip pass fairly consistently on the five, but I have to move the ball very slowly to do it. It was my bread and butter on the TS foot.

Same with banks in the back. And I lost a huge weapon with my push kick on Tornado when I couldn't consistently hit the angles. Goalies can cheat like crazy on this table. HA

That said, I've seen people who have only played on Tornado and don't know they aren't supposed to be able to do something do some incredible things. But not with 100% consistency or speed. Is it possible? Ok, I will give you that.

What I would try if I was going to practice banking is two things:

One is mental. I would lower my expectations so I wouldn't get frustrated. Using the "inner game" technique of observing what happens rather than judging it as good or bad.

The second thing is that I would work for smoothness rather than trying to be crisp or fast. I can always add speed, at the beginning I would be doing things like watching the foot of the man or a spot on the ball. Light touch with the hands, etc.

Ken

Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4266

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Dec 17 2004, 10:16 AM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227

Hey Boss,

That's kind of what I had in mind. Foos-talk.

If anyone wants to toss out questions I will check in and answer, and by no means am I the only authority here. I did play the game for a living and I did take it seriously. I was a student and I learned plenty.

A few things keep me semi interested in playing tourneys again. I want to learn a snake shot myself (burp, urp, I can't believe I wrote that) so I can get into the mindset of the shooter in order to learn a 'd'.

I think this is a fairly unique area for foosball because of the Fabi style vs Tornado style. The fastball players who choose to try tornado can really bring some excitement to the game. one of the things I love about the game is creativity. I like making up shots and playing wide open rollerball. It's also a great way to learn ball control and gain confidence.

Tornado has a few built in things to overcome. The wide bumper, the hard man, and the rounded edge on the foot.

The mental part of the game has always fascinated me. As it does in every sport or competition.

Ken
Forum: Tourney Talk · Post Preview: #4244

No new Foosball 101, 102, etc... (Pages 1 2 3 )
novelidea Posted on: Dec 15 2004, 12:58 PM

Replies: 35
Views: 1 227 Maybe I should have started this thread a few weeks ago when I was flat on my back healing an ankle injury. Hindsight is 20/20. I don't know how much time I will have to devote here, but I think it's worthwhile to pass on stuff I've learned about playing foosball.

Last night I played in a league thingy here and one of the guys I was playing against was repeating the same "mistake." Been there, used to do that. I showed him a couple of solutions, and I noticed he went back to the old problem fairly quickly. Interesting...

He was dropping passes. Specifically the ball was bouncing off his 3 row on his quick wall pass. So I basically left that pass open.

Hmmm....there are a couple of things you can do about dropped passes. One is to ease up on the death grip on the handles, both 5 and three. Second you can set the man in a straight up and down position on the 3. Be sure to leave it there on every pass as you don't want any "tells."

Another thing you can do to recitfy this problem is to take a good look at your practice routine. When I am preparing for a tournament I have developed a routine which closely approximates what I will be doing when in a match. In other words, I take my time on each pass and shot as if I were in play. Once I've warmed up that is...

When I work with someone who is experiencing this type of problem I usually counsel them to slow down and execute the pass smoothly for a wee bit in practice. I want them to experience some success in passing and in catching. When you've been "dropping" balls regularly, fear of dropping can make you do some pretty funny things to compensate.

Hope this is helpful. I got a lot of info stuck in my head if anyone wants to pry it out. And I'm not looking to have this limited to just me answering questions. We all have a lot to learn from one another about this game. I still pick up stuff here and there watching and listening.

Someday I hope to be able to block the spin shot.

Ken Alwell

[subculture]

Thanks for digging it up and reposting Chris.

You don't need to dig up my post on 5-bar D. I'm pretty sure I just said something like "jar the crap out of the first lane pass, politely give them the ball on the 3. Then for the next 5 passes, pretend you're going to race lane and sit on the wall and watch them either hit your man, or drop their lane".

I did learn something in Maryland State, that I'm still trying to fully process. In a pick-up match, a very good player there passed thru me like NOBODY has done before, I mean like 20 out of 21 or something ridiculous like that. I started with casual D, then gave him serious D, but he passed through me effortlessly. It seemed like he always knew when I was baiting, and always knew to wait just long enough for me to freeze somewhere, and would pass confidently right at the perfect time. I'm convinced that if we'd played 3 more matches, he would have continued with that very high success rate, as it seemed like he was always a step or 3 ahead of me.

Later, I was able to play goalie against him, and watch other players 5-bar D against him, with much greater success. These were 2 players that knew him better (Victor L, Chris Hesano), and they were able to make his 5-bar look rather ordinary (or at least, block him a decent percentage), without seeming to do much. The biggest thing they did differently than me, was to start off without moving at all, for a good 3-4 seconds... sometimes this would lead him to pass right at their man, easily turning over the ball. Other times, they would start moving, and seem to know when he was going to pass and would make contact with it. Sometimes, they would be able to race his brush lane, whereas when I had deliberately tried to race his brush lane, it had been so smooth that I never caught up to it.

What does this mean? I think that this guy (Player A) happened to have a style that was perfectly suited to passing through my style of 5-bar D, and I was unable to recognize what he was doing, which was:

- move the ball with great control, looking like he had many options available at all times, which made me move my 5-bar constantly to prevent as many options as possible
- NEVER passed in the first 5 seconds, which increased the likelihood that at some point I was going to stop moving
- was able to read when I was baiting (so he'd smoothly pass the other hole), and when I was racing (when he'd either pass behind me, or execute a VERY smooth unraceable pass).

So why did the other defensive style work better? They knew him well-enough that it was unlikely he would pass early, despite his apparent control and pass "readiness". By not moving the first 3-4 seconds, that decreased the time that he had to 'read' their D. Some of the time, this would lead to Player A having less confidence that the hole would be there, making him execute LESS smoothly and therefore raceable.

I played him the next day, and copied Victor and Chris H's D as much as possible, and sure enough, it was like night and day. His spectacular 5-bar became just decent, and a HUGE advantage he had over me was lifted.

I'm sure there's lots more there, but the biggest thing I take away from this is if someone is owning you in 5-bar (or anything else really), watch closely when they are playing against someone else. The smallest movement, or lack of movement, can disrupt someone's style, or comfort level, and have a large effect on someone's mental game.

[Pixel]

Thanks for digging it up and reposting Chris.

You don't need to dig up my post on 5-bar D. I'm pretty sure I just said something like "jar the crap out of the first lane pass, politely give them the ball on the 3. Then for the next 5 passes, pretend you're going to race lane and sit on the wall and watch them either hit your man, or drop their lane".

I did learn something in Maryland State, that I'm still trying to fully process. In a pick-up match, a very good player there passed thru me like NOBODY has done before, I mean like 20 out of 21 or something ridiculous like that. I started with casual D, then gave him serious D, but he passed through me effortlessly. It seemed like he always knew when I was baiting, and always knew to wait just long enough for me to freeze somewhere, and would pass confidently right at the perfect time. I'm convinced that if we'd played 3 more matches, he would have continued with that very high success rate, as it seemed like he was always a step or 3 ahead of me.

Later, I was able to play goalie against him, and watch other players 5-bar D against him, with much greater success. These were 2 players that knew him better (Victor L, Chris Hesano), and they were able to make his 5-bar look rather ordinary (or at least, block him a decent percentage), without seeming to do much. The biggest thing they did differently than me, was to start off without moving at all, for a good 3-4 seconds... sometimes this would lead him to pass right at their man, easily turning over the ball. Other times, they would start moving, and seem to know when he was going to pass and would make contact with it. Sometimes, they would be able to race his brush lane, whereas when I had deliberately tried to race his brush lane, it had been so smooth that I never caught up to it.

What does this mean? I think that this guy (Player A) happened to have a style that was perfectly suited to passing through my style of 5-bar D, and I was unable to recognize what he was doing, which was:

- move the ball with great control, looking like he had many options available at all times, which made me move my 5-bar constantly to prevent as many options as possible
- NEVER passed in the first 5 seconds, which increased the likelihood that at some point I was going to stop moving
- was able to read when I was baiting (so he'd smoothly pass the other hole), and when I was racing (when he'd either pass behind me, or execute a VERY smooth unraceable pass).

So why did the other defensive style work better? They knew him well-enough that it was unlikely he would pass early, despite his apparent control and pass "readiness". By not moving the first 3-4 seconds, that decreased the time that he had to 'read' their D. Some of the time, this would lead to Player A having less confidence that the hole would be there, making him execute LESS smoothly and therefore raceable.

I played him the next day, and copied Victor and Chris H's D as much as possible, and sure enough, it was like night and day. His spectacular 5-bar became just decent, and a HUGE advantage he had over me was lifted.

I'm sure there's lots more there, but the biggest thing I take away from this is if someone is owning you in 5-bar (or anything else really), watch closely when they are playing against someone else. The smallest movement, or lack of movement, can disrupt someone's style, or comfort level, and have a large effect on someone's mental game.

Sean,

Any reason you're protecting player A's identity? Did he force you to sign an NDA? Let's see...you spoke about Victor and Chris...so...uhhh...Matt maybe?

PS - "jar the crap out of the first lane pass, politely give them the ball on the 3. Then for the next 5 passes, pretend you're going to race lane and sit on the wall and watch them either hit your man, or drop their lane". Based on Sun Tzu's "All warfare is based on deception."

[5barwarrior]

3) Watch my own thought process and learn. Did I "know he was going to do an up and I still bailed to the wall? If that happens to me I know I "fell" for his fakes, so I know I was paying attention to what he was doing instead of what I was thinking. What I mean is that my mind had figured something out, and was sure of something, but I wasn't listening and trusting myself. When this happens I know I need to go back to the basics of what I can control, and that is to put my man where I want it to be at all times.

so true...