So you're saying that you are too slow and can't beat the goalie so you need to try and go way out around him? Well go ahead and practice the extreme long deadman shot.... you'll be hitting the wall late in the tournament when the pressure is on and your adrenalin is pumping.
First fallacy, WG, is that every goalkeeper you try to pull against will be racing you. You shouldn't assume every goalkeeper is a tool or a retard, especially at SemiPro or higher level, relying on one moronic defensive series. Just the nature of modern foos with all the rollovers and now even frontpin series forces most higher level goalkeepers to use several series and adjust them. They may properly keep the same philosophy, but have even completely different looking series against a good shooter.
Correct philosophy is that most pull shooters have practiced 2,3, maybe four at most, shots to score. And they usually have only one or two major kill lanes (trigger points up north, release points or kill lanes down here) that they've burned into their muscle memory and eye-hand coordination. This is easily proven by taking every damn video you ever saw on Pro or PM shooters and see which lanes or trigger points they wait to hit. I daresay they hit the other lanes a lot less than the ones they try to groove on, less than 5%. Which is why you see goalkeepers roving around and observing whatever shooting they can from future forwards they will have to defend, to scout those trigger points. yes, even PM's, and especially if they haven't defended a forward much or haven't profiled them well, yet.
Modern D insists that you can do any series you want, as long as you end up at release or shot time with a high percentage, perhaps 80-95%, with your goalkeeper player and nearest 2bar player blocking at or very near two of those lanes. Most tool and retard goalkeepers try to mimic defensive series without realizing the underlying philosophy, ending up at shot time with their players in lanes that the shooter may shoot, probably accidentally, once every decade (I'm serious!). Even when the forward mish*ts and scores, they often do not feel good because they definitely did not help themselves get into their groove, which is even more important for all the other points. When the adrenalin's pumping, WG, you will rely on muscle memory and shoot the shot at that one or two lanes you've shot a trillion times in practice and tournament. The highest level is always played with percentages, just as pitch counts & strike zone areas in baseball, positional play in D and in shooting in basketball, and man2 or man3 coverage in football.
2nd fallacy, WG, is that it takes a lot more to execute an square long pull, supposedly failing to hit on goal when pumped up. This is a classic example of completely wrong pull technique, not using longitudal or lateral spin. Over cranking with the correct technique actually ends up with a mini 7. And I have never seen TMac or Todd Loffredo strain as they shoot deadbars or 7s. Only the tools and retards using local bar technique that you describe. With the correct technique, it's actually harder to concentrate and hit inside, because there are always two players that are at or near the center. Shooting smooth longs on an overzealous goalkeeper who snaps to shut down the 3/4 (wrong lane) is a staple, no blinding speed needed. And a square pull developed with discipline from shooting square longs helps hide the shot if you're going for a hole behind a jumping racer, leaving the 1/4 or so open, or a split. Multiple releases, much more visible to the goalkeeper, are perfect tells working against the shooter, versus the exact same square takeoff in the correct technique.
Over the past 15 years, I've seen Tom Yore, Todd Loffredo, the Smiths, and Tmac and Johnny Horton practice a hundred square longs with their other holes, and do exactly the same shot so many times in a match when the square long was open, AFTER the goalkeeper moved, without once breaking a sweat or even looking excited. Smoothness and correct technique was the key, keeping all their options open, and not breaking down like a caveman.
The sad part is that a lot of prospective pull shooters never figure out the mindblowingly easy technique for shooting square longs and sidewinder 7's, despite all these vids all over AOL, YouTube, Yahoo Videos, etc.. and what, maybe 80 of the top 160 vids or DVDs from Inside Foos. The technique does not use any yank (elbow never goes back more than 2-3 inches) and relies on potential to kinetic energy to explode forward into the goal, no Hagar the Horrible punch or return motion except to complete the follow through. I recently taught a 14 yr old beginner down here, then a 54 yr old comebacker, who was using the cranking idiot technique you just described, and they're both easily stroking deadbars after shooting a couple hundred strokes seriously on their tables. The kid, is having fun and has fans, even Charlies Mackintosh, Hicok and Qbert from NC, several Orlando & Tampa pros among others who came down for our South Florida championships. Too bad he's also top 10 in the Juniors in tennis, which has to be his concentration. The other, Bobby, is teaching the technique to his 22 year old son, and mentally kicks himself for all the 20+ years of wasted pulls. And with him, we actually now have another pullshooter making the money in our locals, among all these "darkside" rollover doot-de-doots.
Back when I drew Tom Yore in the 06 Florida States Open, I had the great opportunity to see how smoothly his long was executed on other Pro and PM goalkeepers. That plus his straight and 1/4 that looked exactly the same at takeoff. He also helped me fight the optical illusion generated by correct technique, memorizing the opposing forwards' lanes with his help, and making sure I was there 90% of the time. It sure helped against Rich Wight, Terry, Bobby D, Starman, Rick Ino and other PM's. That and about 5 other Pro and high Expert teams. Oh, and yeah, we won that one, by the way.
Nonretarded Goal Techniques for Tools out there.. that's what I'd call the vid I hope to make. Prosthetic Steel-toed Boot leg included for all those old time yankers, so they can atone.
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