British Foosball Association

Player Skills - Advanced Skills

Shooting a Pull Shot

By Flow, posted on the RSTS newsgroup

First, the grip. There are many styles of gripping the handle. There are two main variables. Where on the handle the hand is placed and how far the hand is rotated. It seems most of the top Pull shooters grip the handle back towards the end. I've experimented with just about all hand placements, and I prefer to grip the handle in the front, with my index finger actually mostly on the rod. It seems like this grip allows me to feel the straight and middle better, while still allowing me to hit a crisp long. I've seen people be effective with many different hand placements, so I think it comes down to what's comfortable for the individual. I think that much more important than where you grip the rod, is how you grip it. This is going to be a little difficult to explain, but I'll give it a shot. Start by gripping the handle with your knuckles right on top of the handle. Take a couple of swings and watch where your man ends up. How high does the man go on your follow through? I don't get very much follow through with my hand in this position. Therefore, less power. The more you rotate your knuckles forward, around the front of the handle, the more follow through you get. You have to experiment to figure out exactly how far to rotate your knuckles to get the right amount of power. Here's a tip on getting more power that I learned from Todd Loffredo a long time ago. It's called "Pinkie Power". I try to wrap my pinkie finger very far under the handle. This makes it so that my pinkie knuckle is the farthest forward on the handle. This technique seems to really give me a crisp snap on my swing. This especially helps when squaring off(or even brushing back) the middle or the long.

Next, the stance. I've seen alot of funky stances in my day, but most of the great Pull shooters have a similar way of standing. The main thing they seem to have in common is a straight, extended arm. They also stand pretty far back and to the side of the rod. This gives their arm plenty of room to move freely. You have to ask yourself "where does most of the power come from in a Pull shot?". Does it come from muscle or from technique? I haven't really studied other players strokes much lately, and I'm too lazy to break out my tapes right now, so all I can tell you about is my stroke. Most of my power comes from the combined snap of my wrist and my elbow. When I pull the ball I cock both my wrist and elbow, then they both snap back down simultaneously. This snap creates most of my power. Again, this is very difficult to explain without pictures. Next, on the stance, is your foot position/weight distribution. I stand with my feet about shoulder distance apart, with my weight evenly distributed. I've seen a lot of variations on this, so it's probably not as important as your arm position.

Ball setup. You want the ball to end up pretty far back when you go to stroke it, almost squeezing it out. How people start to end up in this position varies. Some start with it already back and pull it straight across the table, while others start with it further forward and pull it back as part of their stroke. But, most good Pull shooters end up with the ball very far back at stroke impact.

Now, the most important thing for all of the above: consistency. I have a little mental checklist that I do on every possession that includes grip and stance. You have to limit the variables to have a consistant shot. If your grip or stance is a little different every time, your body has to try to adjust to achieve the same result. The more consistant your setup is, the more consistant your shot will be.

Practice techniques. The first thing is that you should always practice the way that you will play. By this I mean you shouldn't get used to hand setting the ball all the time when you practice, cause you can't do it when you play. One of the main strengths of great Pull shooters is that they get the ball setup quickly and efficiently, giving them the maximum amount of time that they are a threat to shoot. This is a major weakness of mine. My setup sucks because I don't practice it. When I practice I just handset the ball over and over. I'm good at shooting the ball once it's in position, but I'm not that great at getting it there. In my style of shooting, I like to sit on the ball and really use the clock, but if I waste 5-10 seconds setting the ball, it doesn't give me much time to work the clock. I guess I better head for the table to correct this. That's what I like about writing this stuff. I think it always ends up helping me as much, if not more, than the people who read it.

Another thing about setting up the ball: Most people start their setup from a Pushkick position, and push the ball into the Pull position. If this is the way you do it, you should get your grip, and get into your stance before you push the ball over to set your Pull. This way you're always a threat to shoot the rolling Pull or the "just as it stops Pull". If you wait until you have the ball set for your Pull shot to take your stance, either you're not a threat to shoot the rolling Pull, or you're shooting it from out of position.

Practicing can be real boring, so I like to turn it into a game to make it interesting. I will pick a shot that I want to practice(setting the defense up accordingly), and if I score it I get a point. If I don't I lose a point. If I get to 10 points I win. If I get to -10 I lose. When doing this I always pretend that I'm starting from a time out. I have to touch 2 men and let the ball stop for a full second before I can shoot. This forces you to practice your setup and gives you a little time between shots. It's easy to get on a roll if you just hand set the ball and shoot every couple of seconds. But, this doesn't happen in real life. You always have at least 10-20 seconds minimum between shots. Hell, sometimes you don't see it for minutes(seems like hours).

When this gets boring, because it's too easy to get to 10, try this. Now, you start from the drop, and have to make a pass and a shot to get a point. If you don't execute either one you lose a point. I guarantee you, if you can consistantly get to 10, on all your passes and all your shots, you are a badass. You'll definately know which passes and shots need work by your results.

You can use this technique in a variety of ways. You can go 2 bar to 5 bar to 3 bar and shoot. You can just shoot from the 2 bar. You can start from the 2 bar, pass off the back wall to the 3 bar and shoot. Your imagination is the only limit. The point is that you play a game against yourself to make it more interesting and fun to practice. It also gives you a measuring stick. Can you get to 10? How long does it take you? You'll know what needs practice, and be able to tell when you are making progress.

Well, this is quickly becoming a book, so I think I'll quit now. Hope you find some of this useful.

Good Luck

Scott