Topic: 5-rod defense

[clhereistian]

I've been trying to improve my 5-rod defense. I'm decent at getting in front of passes from my oponent's 5-rod, but the passes always bounce right back to him. I've tried holding m guys at different angles, and nothing seems to work. Any advice?

[Daniel]

Don't try and catch the pass either get a piece of the ball to defect it or hit it back at them.  If you hit the ball back it will either bounce off him so you can catch it or it will go though his 5 bar.

[Rios]

watch some inside foos dvd's or check out some of the matches on youtube.
If you notice, they usually spike the lane (toe out) and toe back when they go to the wall.

Learn to realize what their favorite pass is in certain situations, notice if they tend to pass through the lane if they are closer to the wall or if they pass wall when they are further away from the wall. These are things that you will learn with more experience...

[foozkillah]

I've been trying to improve my 5-rod defense. I'm decent at getting in front of passes from my oponent's 5-rod, but the passes always bounce right back to him. I've tried holding m guys at different angles, and nothing seems to work. Any advice? 

I recommend practice defending with a compatriot who has a similar passing series on the 5bar to what you've described as hard to trap.  If you really really wish to catch or steal the ball, then use repetition to train your defensive 5bar grip to "give" (move backward) or just use succeedingly looser and looser grip tightness until you can reliably catch enough of the balls.  You say you already have a good or decent ability to move your 5bar figures well enough to get in front of most passed balls, so if you can get to a happy medium of enough grip to prevent slipping sideways, but loose enough not to rebound the ball back, you should get to where you can increase your "capture" percentage.

Your statement sounds like you're gripping the handle so tightly that even though you get in front of the pass, it still consistently bounces back to the opponent's 5bar.  More grip than you probably need, and virtually clenching the handle probably makes your 5bar player figures act like a wall.  But only practice to train your 5bar to "give" will get you there.  I myself try to use "give" to trap balls passed along the wall or the lane just off it, BUT I also prefer to try to spike or at least deflect any passes aimed off the wall, towards the center, which are much more dangerous because those would be "on-goal".