British Foosball Association

Player Skills - Tournament Play

What Makes a Great Singles Player?

Posted to RSTS newsgroup

1. What makes up a great singles game?

Having a well balanced game. By this, I mean that you need to be a great goalie as well as a great forward. You must be able to adapt your game to various playing conditions and situations. You must have confidence in your ability, know when to turn it up and when to slow it down. You must be quick in your transition game and be able to anticipate where the ball will go when a shot or pass is missed or deflected. You can then react quicker to the play, as you already have a good idea where the ball will be if things go awry.

You must also have a strong zone defense against the opponent when he/she is shooting from the back on you. It would be good to learn a 2-5 row passing series if you don't have a strong goalie offense. You can never have enough depth in your game. It would also be good to learn to defend against it too. Work on making your game smooth and minimize your tells on all rods. It would benefit you to study your opponents's game before you have a match with them. This applies to local players as well as players on the major tour. If someone has your number, so to speak, find out what that person does to give you so much trouble. Find out why they beat you; each game gives you an opportunity to learn and improve. Give attention to detail, this is where the great plyers are seperated from the good players.

Probably the most important thing that you can do though is to evaluate your game HONESTLY. What I mean is, see your game for what it is. If your 5 bar is weak but you have a strong shot work on your 5. If your goalie game suffers, strengthen it. Too many people tend to acknowledge they have a weakness but fail to address it. An example would be if a player has a strong shot but a weak 5 row. That player may play to his/her strengths when in practice; spending more time on his/her shot that's already strong and not enough time bringing up his/her 5 row to a high caliber. You must not neglect to practice your strengths but instead, spend more time on your weaknesses. Pretty soon, your weaknesses will become stronger than other people's strengths and your perserverance will reward you with more singles victories.

2. What makes some promasters better than others at singles? Better Defensively? Better transition? Better judgement? Etc..

Practice, discipline, practice, experience, practice, transition game, practice, study your opponents, and some practice wouldn't hurt either. Also, a little luck factors in too.

3. How would you teach these skills?

Find a solid pro/promaster player on tour with proven track record in singles and ask for some advice. In general, tour players tend to be better teachers than local types because they have a more well rounded game and have seen more different stlyes of play. Maybe play them some games. Offer to play them for some money to help swing the deal your way, if necessary. So what if you lose? Think of it as if you paid for a lesson. Golf and tennis teaching pros charge alot for their services. You could never afford a top 50 pro teacher in those sports but you could do that in foosball. Don't goof off though, play them hard like you would in a real match in a tournament. You can ask for a critique at the end. Most pros/promasters are willing to help out if you ask them. Just don't come up to them right before or after a big match when they need to focus or in some cases, re-evaluate their last match :}

4. What kind of practice drills would help you learn these skills?

Watch what works and emulate it. Watch the InsideFoos tapes to help learn reading defenses and form. Play alot of singles against better players. Repetitive practice strengthens a player's skills with regards to passing and shooting. Use all available options in your passing and your shooting series. Lastly, to build your transition game speed and anti-slop skills play alot of 2ball rollerball (doubles) or speedball with 1 ball in singles. This hones your reflexes and sharpens your awareness on the table. Good luck.

Jim (Full-Ninja-Snap) McKenney