Ball handling:

When a new player asks about improving their game, a popular answer is “work on your ball handling skills.”  But what does this really mean and what should you practice?  Ball handling means different things on different rods.  In my opinion, the five row is the most important rod on the table, so let’s start there.  Ball handling on this rod can determine the outcome of a game and match, more so than any rod on the table.  Controlling the ball on the five row takes form in a lot of different ways.  The most important (and difficult) in my opinion is constantly maintaining the position and speed of the ball during your passing, so as to be able to execute your pass at any time.  Also, consistently maintaining possession throughout a passing series, and deflecting loose balls and trapping them on the five row. Let’s look at them one at a time.

Constantly maintaining the position and speed of the ball during your passing
When players practice ball control skills, I see a lot of them trying to maintain possession while whipping the ball around, bouncing between men and off the walls.  Instead of this, work on keeping the ball in the perfect passing position, and moving the perfect speed in order to execute the pass you’re attempting.  My main passing series is a brush, moving both towards and away from the wall.  It is crucial for a brush pass to have both perfect ball position for an effective “pinch,” and perfect ball speed for consistent angles to the lane and wall.  I am constantly trying to maintain my ball position to be about one half of a ball width behind (to the left) of my five row rod at all times when I have the ball on my five row.  As I move the ball between men and off the wall during my passing series, my goal is to be able to both disguise my passing, and execute a brush at any time.  Here’s a couple of practice drills; move the ball slowly between men going from near to the far side, then back, while always trying to maintain perfect passing position and desired speed.  I also spend a lot of time moving the ball between my first two men and then off the wall trying to perfectly set-up passes (both ball position and speed) that I’m working on.

Maintaining possession throughout a passing series
Maintaining possession of the ball on the five row is a result of practicing ball handling skills, and always having it in your conscious thoughts.  Make it a goal to play your next tournament game without a dropped ball on the five row.  When that’s achieved, set your goal on an entire match, then an entire tournament.  How many games/matches have you played where a win or loss came down to one possession?  The bottom line is you will win more if you don’t drop balls.

Deflecting loose balls and trapping them on the five row:
Some people don’t put this under the heading of ball handling skills, but I do.  Improving these skills equals more possessions during a match, and are similar to the skills required in deflecting and catching balls on the three row.  You will need to deflect and catch balls coming from all directions, and here’s what I practice.  With fast moving balls, use your peripheral vision to anticipate where your man will need to be when the ball comes under your five row.  Tilt your five row away from the ball 45 degrees or so to help soften the bounce off your man.  When the ball comes into contact with your man, make a quick push or pull sideways motion to try to knock the ball sideways, towards the wall (or off the wall), and under your rod in a parallel motion.  If you still don’t have control, you may need to shake your five row back and forth quickly to keep the ball from going through, this is called the “picket fence.”  If you need to do this, slowly raise your five row backwards during your back and forth motion so you don’t deflect the ball away with your own man.  When you see you can gain control, stop this and “catch it.”  The goal is to either stop or pin the ball, or redirect the direction of the ball to moving under your rod in a parallel direction so you can gain possession.  Practice by hitting the ball off of both back walls with your three row at different angles and different speeds, then catching it on your five row.  Also, when I’m practicing passing, I almost always feed the ball back to my five row on the far side of the table quickly so I have to trap it, then move it over to passing position.

Learn to control the middle of the table and you will win more games.