I don't get all this... I look at killshot selection the same way as baseball pitching looks at pitch selection, which I've always regarded as the closest in higher speed ballcontrol and release principles to foosball 3bar shooting, and the more solid options you have, the better and more dominant you are as a shooting forward. And obviously more consistent, too, because there are more weapons to choose against varying D's.
Sure, everyone will have and should have one favorite shot, but not an absolute one. If a player has never encountered a goalkeeper or two or two hundred, who just happen to have a D that is so wall-like against that player's main shot, then that player has either never really played good competition, or is just extremely lucky. If I remember the mid-90s when Tommy and Rob were dominating, besides switching up whether they were doing well in one position or the other... just to keep the opponents on their toes, they also alternated between pulls and rollovers, even within the same game. I'm not aware, but has anyone else quintupled in one Worlds like Tommy did?
If one hasn't developed or found the correct technique for say, a hard fast long pullshot, from asking a pro or asking on line or watching vids, then keep looking, because many people have been doing that shot in literally DOZENS of workable styles, FOR DECADES. Correct technique means correct drills and correct practice, not YEARS of practice (YEARS or PRACTICE = LATER YEARS of OSTEOPATHIC AND NERVE INJURIES). If one doesn't have a physical impairment that makes it difficult to open one's mind to trying out several techniques and mastering a good pull or rollover or pullkick or push within WEEKS, then it's OBVIOUSLY A MENTAL IMPAIRMENT. I keep seeing this in 20 year "forever" rookies who keep trying to reinvent the wheel, not using their means of finding out how to do it right, which gives me a ton of satisfaction when I train beginners to lambast their idiot world after a couple months work. Although sometimes it's just a personal thing, because I've seen beginners and rookies languish forever in their local BYP/DYP's, simply refusing to learn from even local Semipros or higher players. But then they go to their first superregional or intrastate, or perhaps even a tour event, and they easily absorb the correct technique from the friends and partners they make there. Go figure. The other man's grass is always higher in THC?
But just like in pitching baseball at the major league level, a respected, viable, even feared pitcher has to have one or more options to his favorite killshot. Sure, he might have a devastating nasty slider or split-finger fastball, but he should also have a workable breaking or offspeed pitch, and perhaps a decent curveball or knuckleball. Continued practice to also master these alternate pitches is what makes a dominant pitcher. Which comes to my point, IT IS JUST AS VALID TO USE AN ALTERNATE SHOT or PITCH to hit that GOAL or STRIKEZONE, if that alternate shot is less familiar or less well defended by the goalkeeper or batter.
And baseball teams that have pitchers with multiple "money" pitches also logically have more hitters that can handle more good pitches, because of the access to their own pitching staff's and coaches' philosophies and strategies. Same way with foosball shooting. Makes it a lot easier to defend a shot you might not actually use a lot, but it's still easier to defend a shot you yourself have practiced and scored with in the past. Nothing like doing a shot to get to know what makes a shooter uncomfortable or know what any shooter would be looking for with that same shot.
So I'd recommend a beginner/rookie to practice to get a killshot, sure... but also to make sure it is a correct technique that can be practiced and relatively mastered for their level within a few months. NOT YEARS. This would then leave more time to practice and make effective other killshots. Why burn the energy and concentration on forcing one's rollover or pullshot only, when an alternative (I MEAN A PRACTICED, GOOD ALTERNATIVE) can blow out the current goalkeeper with the minimum stress? Even only on 4th or 5th points? Then the player can worry about the maximum deadliness of of his/her main killshot at the next game.
I'd recommend warming up one's main or fave killshot, then also warm up one or more alternatives. Too many times have I seen where a shot percentage is lowered by good goal D, but the forward keeps insisting on figuring out the D, often with variations on the same kill shot that had never been practiced. Then it turns into a grinding defensive style attrition game, where the more dominant 5bar simply gets more shots and wins. SOUND WAY TOO FAMILIAR? A high scoring percentage can affect the opponents with pressure to score, much less pass, as much, if not more, than a game with both goal defenders dominating.
I'd just say: know your weapons as well as the enemy's, BUT bring as much of yours as you can. You'll have less to worry about .. And I like that the rollover has come about, because it does allow a higher percentage first killshot to be learned much more quickly (NOT MASTERED, MIND YOU!) , AND ALLOWING BEGINNERS AND ROOKIES TO ALLOCATE MORE TIME TO DEVELOPING THEIR 5bar PASSING and DEFENSE. I agree with many that it's probably saved both informal and organized foosball in the domestic US, the same way lowering the pitcher's mound in baseball increased scoring and made defense (pitching) much harder. The snake took over, because it was much easier and faster to learn to a useable level, but it hasn't eliminated or obsoleted the older shots. It just needed time for defenders to adjust and develop the D. And I believe Rico and other frontpin shooters have re=awakened interest in pinned shots, including the many backpins that used to be around. So all these doomNgloom predictions are a bunch of crap. And it still goes back to the 5bar, where lefties like myself have always known that the TRUE heart of foosball lies... IN THE TRENCHES BAYBEEEEE!!!!
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