Topic: passing advice..

[chance37]

I have a pretty good stick pass lane and wall and have put a lot of time into both the lane and wall.....Ive even developed a pretty good stick from the 2nd man on the 5 to the middle on the 3.  I also have worked really hard on the  off the wall pass thats deep in the lane....but its more of a wall fake brush up...but a lot of time i just fake hard and when the ball bounces off the wall stick it in the lane...but seems I have a easily readable tell of some sort...been working on hovering a little behind it to throw the opponent and this has helped..anyways I have just recently been amazed with the videos ive seen of Mares, Atha, and Rico....Most of the brush passers ive seen do both a stick and a brush...Maybe this is becasue neither are as good as the top players on videos...Should I focuse on the brush more or continue perfecting the stick?  I know everyone here has different opinions, but what would be my best bet in the long run if I wanna take my game up to the top levels?  Since hurting my wrist i thought it would be great to take the time to learn the brush series.....but its frustrating.....I KNOW...practice practice practice

[Daniel]

Practice everything a little and what works a lot.  If you know how to do a little of every pass you will know how they work and what types of defence work against them.  You want to work on your pass that work very well a lot because you don't want to not catch a great pass.  Make sure you give your self time you can't become a pro over night.

[chance37]

nail on the head.....I will be a pro...but hate it can't be now.....well back to the table..won't be too long...won't be long too long....not enough hours in the day....

[Old Meister]

The journey is the most fun. After 25 years of not playing I still thought about the game. Now I have a table and feel I'm getting my game back and I'm having a blast doing it. The funny thing is is that the only one I've played is my wife yet I'm playing almost as good as I ever have. I can't wait to go to a tournament and test myself. I imagine my game will be a bit odd for those I play and I will have to face reality in that my style might not be so good anymore, or not,,. I work on my passing in practice so that every shot I do up front is only after a successful passing sequence with a satisfactory pass. Todays terminology still throws me a bit but once I find the meaning to a term ,like stick or brush, I find I already do those as well as the tic tac sequence. I sure wish some of you guys lived closer and we could have a go at it.

[foosinaround69]

Chance I started just like everyone learning the game from guys who knew the game well. I asked them to practice with me on a daily or weekly basis. They taught me my five row and I think they did pretty well. I would play five row games with them all the time. You pass through succsesfully you got it back. If not you had to try and get it back to your five in order to start over again. I learned to do a basic pass first where I would bring the ball over slowly and do a simple stick or brush down or up. All looking the same so the opponent couldn't tell which one I was about to do. These guys were world class players and I certainly learned everything from them. After that I would be found at various places practicing alone for hours and hours and people would ask me why. Well I was learning how to make all my passes look the same. Now I have as good a five row as anyone, so I have been told. Practice whatever feels good to you. Ball control is so important. No ball control = no getting the ball as much as you need to to win. Keep on doing what you're doing whether it is a stick or a brush ..I use a follow brush series that works great, only because it feels good to me and i could do it pretty good then if that doesn't work or someone defends it well I do a wall pass followed by an off the wall brush-up or stick. Point is practice on something you can do well and get it down so you have a consistant series, then do some others to have a back up and you'll do fine. As long as you get the ball that's what is important.  Of course these are only my opinions and I love to teach the game of foosball, Its what like to do best!!!!!
Good luck my friend and happy foosinaround!!!!

[EDGEER]

Chance did you check into the Master wrist wrap I told you about?  Steve Murray turned me on to these things after I hurt my wrist.  It can take 6 months to get over a wrist injury without a wrist support, if you will use one it will cut the time down to 4 to 6 weeks.  No Lie!

[chance37]

thanks i got the mag force one you posted...wearing it right now at work......the injury was subtle but is still nagging me but getting better.......youre right everytime i turn it wrong i feel that tweeked tendon..

[Steve]

I use a brush pass since I started playing after a 30 year layoff it came easy you need about 80% of your time on the 5 row. I was a good pro back in the day now I need to watch and see all the new shots. snake shot what the$#@ is that I cant even see the ball move tic tac stuff starting over is it worth it all the bengay I`ll need

[chance37]

ive got to play against some guys that had never seen a snake shot an they were like what the f*** is that,,,i cant see it....i wanna say yeah mines a lil slow...lol

[bbtuna]

good thoughts, approaches, and ideas

I agree with the ball control comments especially...nothing has improved my game overall and nothing has improved my ability to learn new things faster like focusing on ball control

spend at least 1/2 your time on ball control for a year or two
spend 70% of that time on your weak hand (if you are righty that is your left hand and vice versa)

you may think this doesn't addresses your question and if you thought that you would be mostly right -

however, it is indirectly linked because many problems can be resolved through ball control improvement

f you take the next 4 months and spend 70%-100% of all your time on ball control, you will not believe what it will do to transform the rest your game

stick and brush are both great...best players in the world can do both but use one primarily

People who do the series

Stick Series
Tony Spree
Dave Gummerson (1 out of 25 throw in a brush)
Billy Papas  (1 out of 15 throw in a brush unless he owns you with the stick then he won't change)

Brush
Fredrico (1 out of 30 stick or hard wall, never seen him do a true lane stick)
Terry Moore (stick lane or wall 1 out of 25 or more...depends if he is being blocked a little, he will go to a stick for a change of pace and or timing)

Combo
Johnny Horton (whos five looked great at the last tournament...really like it - it is a pure mix of Brush, Stick, and Tic Tak...nothing else like it that I know of)
Tommy Addkinson (both - odd brush series working more from high in the lane brushing down than the other way but he can and will do anything more brush like moves than stick but still a good mix)
Fernando Rosa ... does both in a more classic approach and will do one until he feels the need to do the other - mostly all one or the other but he can go back and forth without missing a beat (like his pull and rollover)

Forgot the Tic Tak
only true tic tak that I know is
Tom Yore - classic 3 man tick tak
Some might say Johnny is a tic tak and he certainly can and does some tic tac but his is the true blend of all styles

My personal favs are Fred and Johnny...both very complex with literally an infinite number of options and a willingness (and ability) to do anything, hard, fast, slow, sneaky, at any time from any place on the rod