What is
possible? First of all, the game
consists of putting the ball in your opponent's goal, and keeping it out of yours,
that's obvious. But
there are good and bad ways of accomplishing this. The most common problem is "spinning the
rods." Here are the most
often-cited points that are good about spinning the rods:
You can hit the ball
HARD with little or no effort
You hit the ball more
often
Because of 1 &
2, you probably score more often
This method is fun and
energetic
If you don't spin, you
miss the ball a lot, hit it slowly, score less, and look lame
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T SPIN THE
RODS:
You
can hit the ball about as hard as your spin by practicing a wrist-flick (to be
described) in less than a week
You can easily learn to
hit the ball more often than a random spin
You
can accurately aim the ball and score, while a spin-shot is pretty random or
only straight and easily blockable by an alert
opponent
You are in position to
catch loose balls if you don't spin, creating more scoring opportunities
Spinning can damage the
table (by breaking men, pins/screws, or damaging the rod itself)
The third
and fourth reasons are the most compelling since you'll score more often, while
the first two are just ways of saying, "you get the same benefits as
spinning anyways with very little practice."
So: DON'T SPIN THE RODS.
Now as far as learning to play
without spinning the rods you need to develop two basic skills:
Your wrist-flick
Aiming the ball
Not spinning the rods also helps you
on defense, and that will be discussed immediately afterwards.
WRIST
FLICK: if you can't seem to hit the ball very hard (without spinning), how do
you do it? First of all, try it with your
right hand, since that hand will be doing almost all shooting. Put the ball on the playfield under your
front three-man rod, in the center in front of an open
goal (lift the defending rods for an open shot). Now, practice hitting the ball
as hard as possible straight into the goal from this position-- use your
middle man and don't push or pull the rod:
Stand slightly to the
left of the rod, and away from the table
Hold on to the handle,
and don't let go
Now, "forget"
about both your arm and your hand, and only concentrate on your WRIST
"Throw"
your wrist as hard as you can straight down towards the floor, past the side of
the handle, resulting in...
Your
wrist snapping downward-- since of course your hand is still gripping the
handle, the motion stops as your wrist locks abruptly-- this is the wrist
flick!
AIMING:
set the ball up along the 3-rod as previously. This time, instead of concentrating on speed, consider your control of
the aim. Observe that if you hit the
ball dead-on, the ball travels straight into the goal. Now change your rod's position, so that if
you swing (wrist flick) straight (without push/pulling the rod), you'll hit the
left 1/4 of the ball. Swing. Notice that the ball angled to the
right. Different distances from the edge
of the ball produce different angles. Beginning
your swing with the front of the man's toe touching the back of the ball gives
you more control than if the toe begins from the air way out from behind the
ball. Now try aiming a shot into an
undefended goal from every single man on your five-man rod. You can even hit a ball in from the very edge
of the table!
Before
we go on, let me mention an alternative way of hitting a ball hard, this is
called the "open hand", or "fan" technique. Basically, you cock your rod & men
backwards to shoot by rolling the handle clockwise up your palm as you open
your hand, fingers toward the floor. As
you shoot, you reverse the motion and roll the handle back (counterclockwise)
to your fingers, which catch the handle tightly. Done quickly, this open-close motion can
result in a very hard shot. Control with
the open-hand "fan" is more difficult that a normal wrist-flick, but it
can be learned.
FUNDAMENTALS OF DEFENSE: Again, don't spin the rods. You can only block an incoming shot if your
men are straight down,
which they
aren't about 80% time when they're spinning; yet it's fairly common for
beginners to do this anyways. Why? Because
it looks cool, and once in a while, a shot blocked by a spinning rod will
immediately become an offensive shot towards your opponents goal-- neither of
these reasons are compelling. Even if
you're not spinning, don't get eager to shoot the ball: Stop the ball, then shoot it. Otherwise, you'll often lose
the ball, resulting usually in a possession and a quick goal from your
opponent's dreaded 3-rod.
So,
what else do you do? Your opponent can
aim the ball just like you can. Therefore, you want to guard both the STRAIGHT shot, and all ANGLE
shots. Remember if you can draw a line
from the ball to your goal, that shot is open. Never position your two men (your middle goalie and one of the men on the
two-man rod) behind each other-- if you do, you're just blocking the same place
twice, and you might as well just lift one of the men, and your defense
wouldn't be any worse for it! Just experiment, placing the ball on all parts along the opposing
3-rod, and positioning your defensive men to block both the straight and angle
shots. Remember if you can draw a
line
from the ball to your goal, that shot is open. (Did I just say that?) Now your opponent either relies on you to
flinch and open these holes, or must "race" you, moving the ball
horizontally along his three-rod until it reaches a position where a diiferent straight shot (or sometimes the angle) is
open. Defending against opponents who
try this latter option will be discussed in Chapter 2. Also, be very aware that shots from the opposing
5-rod and 2-rod can also be blocked in this way-- you just have to learn to
expect a shot from these areas of the table, and block most of the possible
"lines" to your goal. Just
being aware of these "lines" and trying to block them will make a big
difference. Finally, if you're shooting
from the defensive region, remember you can still aim it, and take your time to
lift up your 5- and 3-rods (or in doubles, tell your partenr)
so that you'll never block your own shot!
Now
that you can wrist-flick hard, aim the ball, know how to act on defense, and
know how to maneuver a ball without losing it,
you are hereby no longer a "spinner"!
If you found this article
interesting you may enjoy visiting www.foosmanchu.com for more tips on getting started.