Topic: Open-palm grip for beginners

[akoudrin]

An open-palm grip is the way to hold the rod handle on its side with a straight palm. This grip can initially be helpful to generate power behind the shot. The regular closed-palm grip uses only the flick of the wrist to turn the rod, which needs a few training sessions to make it powerful.

To shoot using the open-palm grip, open your palm with all fingers straight. Hold the rod handle on the right side with the handle being about half way in your palm. Make sure your thumb is not in the way by having it in line with the straight fingers. Rotate the handle approximately 90 degrees clockwise so that the foosman is close to the horizontal position with its feet pointing away from the opposition goal. Hit the ball by moving the palm up and grabbing the handle with the normal grip. After the shot the foosman should be rotated close to the horizontal position with the feet pointing towards the opposition goal.

The downside of using open-palm grip is poor ball control during passing. The ball needs to be passed around in the offence to set it up in a perfect place to execute a shot. Thus in most situations you would use the closed-palm grip to set up the ball and then change to the open-palm grip to shoot. The change of the grip causes delay between passing and shooting, which gives the defence time to prepare. It may also create a "tell", by which the opponent can see when the shot will be made.

The disadvantage means that open-palm grip should not be used beyond the very beginner levels of foosball. If you start using open-palm grip for your shots, you should consider switching to using the closed-palm grip in the near future. Avoiding open-palm grip altogether is a good idea, although it will mean the shots are slow and powerless at the beginning, but a few weeks of practice should improve the speed and power significantly without having to switch the grips.

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Foosball Regards,
Alex Koudrin

[thebodygroove]

Is it just me being European or does this seem like nonsense to others as well?

1. It's called "open handed" or "palm roll" - but not "open palm" (unless you've hurt yourself very badly)

2. If you need a lot of power, there's no way around open handed play. Watch Tony's pull kick - it would be very hard for him to compensate for the ball's high lateral speed if he didn't shoot it with a palm roll.

3. It's absolutely no problem to control the ball with an open handed grip.

4. It's absolutely no problem to shoot open handedly from a closed handed grip.

5. On tables that offer more grip than Tornado, Open Handed is the standard grip. In Germany for example, Closed Handed is all but non-existent if it comes to offensive techniques. 

[garabdorje]

It's full of nonsense *sigh*

 

The downside of using open-palm grip is poor ball control during passing. The ball needs to be passed around in the offence to set it up in a perfect place to execute a shot. Thus in most situations you would use the closed-palm grip to set up the ball and then change to the open-palm grip to shoot. The change of the grip causes delay between passing and shooting, which gives the defence time to prepare. It may also create a "tell", by which the opponent can see when the shot will be made.

Pure nonsense, the ball always needs to be passed around to be able to setup any shot. For a front pin it's usually only one pass and then you just make minor adjustments.

akoudrin you seriously need to watch this tutorials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap8RCYskGWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yDeZ6iObOU

You need to at least grasp the basics of each technic you want to write about, if you don't, you need to go to a good resource to research. It can be the videos from above or you can ask around professional players but don't make up stuff other wise your guide will end up misleading new players and that I think is against the purpose of your guide.

The disadvantage means that open-palm grip should not be used beyond the very beginner levels of foosball. If you start using open-palm grip for your shots, you should consider switching to using the closed-palm grip in the near future. Avoiding open-palm grip altogether is a good idea, although it will mean the shots are slow and powerless at the beginning, but a few weeks of practice should improve the speed and power significantly without having to switch the grips.

The quote above demonstrates how you can mislead players from using an awesome technic. Other wise why would the euro shot be the most popular shot in Europe countries?

I think you have an awesome project in your hands, but it needs to be done right. You cannot make up stuff you don't know about. It has to be done like any other research project. You have to investigate good resources like videos, tutorials, interview professional players etc. And of course you need to have a bibliography.

I am still excited for your project, but now I know you still have lots of research to do before you can create what you whant:

The Foosball Guide is an all-in-one practical learning resource on foosball, suitable for anybody from complete beginners to advanced players.

[SilentSam]

Is it just me being European or does this seem like nonsense to others as well?

I agree with you for the most part. On Tornado though, I also agree that beginners should learn closed handed first.

1. It's called "open handed" or "palm roll" - but not "open palm" (unless you've hurt yourself very badly)

Heh... made me laugh on this one

2. If you need a lot of power, there's no way around open handed play. Watch Tony's pull kick - it would be very hard for him to compensate for the ball's high lateral speed if he didn't shoot it with a palm roll.

Here's where I disagree. You can generate an incredible amount of power using a closed handed shot. The main thing is a good closed handed shot should rely on the pinch point (where the ball almost gets stubbed into a backpin). Pulls, Pull-kicks, Pushes, Back-pins and Push-kicks all can have wicked closed handed power.
Front pin shots it's a little harder, since the pinch point isn't there. I have a hard and mean closed handed front pin, but I have to point my whole body into the whipping motion. Still, the power is there.
But case-in-point, I'd hazard that 95-99% of pro pull shots use close handed grip, and there's no lack of power in most of them.

3. It's absolutely no problem to control the ball with an open handed grip.

I'll half agree here. I can consistently have a slight cutback on my pull, allowing me to tuck the shot, and to go deadbar on it easily enough. Open hand tends to straighten out the shot easier. Depending on the shot, one has more control over the other depending on what you're trying to achieve.

4. It's absolutely no problem to shoot open handedly from a closed handed grip.

This depends on your natural grip, the handle shape (hence the table), and the shot you're shooting. From my grip, I find it really difficult to go right into open hand.

5. On tables that offer more grip than Tornado, Open Handed is the standard grip. In Germany for example, Closed Handed is all but non-existent if it comes to offensive techniques.

I thought there were a few pull shots in Germany? I also thought that Bonzini players are 50/50 when it comes to open/closed handed shots, even with pins.

[thebodygroove]

2. If you need a lot of power, there's no way around open handed play. Watch Tony's pull kick - it would be very hard for him to compensate for the ball's high lateral speed if he didn't shoot it with a palm roll.

Here's where I disagree. You can generate an incredible amount of power using a closed handed shot. The main thing is a good closed handed shot should rely on the pinch point (where the ball almost gets stubbed into a backpin). Pulls, Pull-kicks, Pushes, Back-pins and Push-kicks all can have wicked closed handed power.
Front pin shots it's a little harder, since the pinch point isn't there. I have a hard and mean closed handed front pin, but I have to point my whole body into the whipping motion. Still, the power is there.
But case-in-point, I'd hazard that 95-99% of pro pull shots use close handed grip, and there's no lack of power in most of them.

No real disagreement here. American Pull Shooters prove that one can generate a lot of power from wrist action. The thing is that it's more difficult to learn a decent closed handed shot, especially if you don't want to get tired half way through a tournament. 

3. It's absolutely no problem to control the ball with an open handed grip.

I'll half agree here. I can consistently have a slight cutback on my pull, allowing me to tuck the shot, and to go deadbar on it easily enough. Open hand tends to straighten out the shot easier. Depending on the shot, one has more control over the other depending on what you're trying to achieve.

I meant that you can easily use an open handed grip while setting up the ball.

5. On tables that offer more grip than Tornado, Open Handed is the standard grip. In Germany for example, Closed Handed is all but non-existent if it comes to offensive techniques.

I thought there were a few pull shots in Germany? I also thought that Bonzini players are 50/50 when it comes to open/closed handed shots, even with pins.

Yes, there is a small percentage of players using a pull shot as their main offensive technique, and there's a growing number of defenders shooting pulls from the 2-bar. All of them shoot closed handedly, without exception. But all of them would also agree on the fact that it's a more challenging technique compared to the Euro Front Pin, at least on our tables.

Bonzini players traditionally shoot closed handedly because the old handles wouldn't allow for anything else. As far as I know, this has also been changing gradually.

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