| Topic: Rollover Advice |
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1. The set up The set up is one of the most important parts of a rollover. A bad set up where you lose the ball or turn it over to the defender hurts your overall shooting percentage more than any other mistake that you can make. Also the set up is so simple that it should NEVER be screwed up. The problem is that everyone does drop the ball sometimes. It is good to get a routine for how you set up the ball. Christian, myself, and Ben, all use different set up techniques, but all are effective because we do the same thing essentially every time. I move the ball towards the middle man on my 3 row, and stop the ball directly under the rod, and beside the middle man on the 3 bar. I try to get the ball as far away from myself as possible when I catch the ball (in pull shot position). It is ok to do this anywhere on the far side of the big dot on a Tornado. Make sure the ball comes to a complete stop. Then I pull the man just behind the ball, and bring it in about 1/8th of the ball width. When I slide the man forward, it chips the ball at an angle, forward and towards myself. Now that my man has moved forward to chip the ball, I catch the ball in front pin position as it slowly rolls to the correct spot. It is very easy, make sure you do it slowly if you are just beginning, because it is really a simple process to do if you do it one step at a time. |
Posted: Jun 14 2011 2:21PM
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2. The Grip/Positioning Once you have the ball set up, it is time to get the grip right. Again, the grip is something that everyone needs to find the right grip for themself. Terry Moore, one of the original dominant players with a roller, used the middle of the are between the wrist and elbow. Tony Spredeman, arguably the most dominant shooter right now, wraps his wrist around the rod and has his elbow nearly parallell to the rod when he shoots. Most good shooters use a "standard" grip, where you tuck the handle sort of in between your wrist and hand. If you bend your wrist all the way as far as it can go, use the meat of your thumb that sort of sticks up and tuck that into the crevasse on the handle. I find this helps later on with the lateral movement. You need to put some downward pressure on the ball also. So once you have the grip right, you have to use your hand to torque the rod a little bit clockwise. This allows you to control the ball from the front pin position. Whatever you do, it wont feel comfortable at first. If you are an experienced shooter, but things aren't working out as well as you would like, think about adjusting your grip a little bit. I think one of the keys is to make sure you are using the crevasse, or indent, in the handle. If your hand is going into that, you can really get more lateral movement because it lets you push or pull the rod without it slipping out of your grip. Also, and again this might not be comfortable at first, I put a ton of pressure on the rod, pulling the rod upwards towards me. This puts a flex on the rod, and when I shoot it generates a lot of extra power. Christian also does this, but some good shooters don't do it. It is a preference thing, but I think you can generate a lot more power using that technique. |
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3. Reading: Walking/Tapping/Rocking Once you have set up you need to read the defense, even if you are just practicing to learn how to shoot. It is too easy to fall into bad habits, and shoot in the same amount of time every time you get the ball. A good defender will pick up on tells instantly, and a bad defender will figure it out even if they are not trying to just from repetition. A lot of players that can execute a great rollover get blocked a lot, and that is because they set up the ball, then 1, 2, 3... bam. You know when the shot is coming, and then it is as simple as leaving a hole open for them to shoot at, and then close the hole when the time comes (just before they shoot). In order to break that habit you again need to get a routine. I set up the ball, then take both my hands off the rod, look away from the table, and refocus my mind on the shot. When I approach I get my grip right, get my feet in a strong position (make sure they are the same regardless if you are shooting pull side or push side) and then I either rock, tap, or walk the ball around. If you are just learning, I would recommend rocking the ball. If you try to shoot the ball from a stand still, it is usually an easy race for the defender to beat the ball to the corner. Rocking the ball is when you roll back and forth on top of the ball, moving the ball about a quarter turn or less in one direction, then back the other direction. back and forth, back and forth... When you do decide to shoot, try not to change the speed of the rock. If someone is doing a slow rock, then shoots fast, the takeoff becomes readable and it is easy to race again. You can mix this up by either rocking the same speed the whole time, then shooting at the same speed. It is virtually impossible to block a shot if the shooter can do this correctly. If he can hit push, pull, and strait, out of a rock with an invisible takeoff... the only thing left is deciding to shoot at a good time towards a hole that is unblocked. The defender will not be able to see that you are going to shoot and then get his man in the way. Either way, that is tough to do, consistently. I would recommend using a rock that varies the speed and depth of the rock. If you are rocking a long deep rock where the ball rolls really far in each rock, then go to a quick fast hitch for a second or two, you will see the defender do something different with his men. Usually he is reacting to whatever it is he expects you to do on that shot, because he thinks a shot is coming. Sometimes it freezes the defense, so you can hit a hole that is open. If you can tap the ball when rocking it, this would be a good time to do that. Again tapping the ball makes the defender react to show you what they are trying to cover. You simply need to hit the rest of the net. Remember that the defense can only cover a small portion of the net, 2 men maximum can be in front of the net, and the net is at least 5 men wide. If you choose the right hole at the right time you will always score. A more advanced technique would be to walk to ball. Walking the ball is where you move it around the net, instead of staying in the middle the whole time. If you watch Darcy shoot, he uses walking the ball really well. By walking the ball you can get the defense to do what you want them to do. Move the ball over to the pull side, tap tap, walk it back to the middle then to the pull side... tap. Watching the defense the whole time, they are going into a repetition by now because they dont know whats coming any more. Walk it back to the middle, then bang, shoot a pull side. They just covered it for about 8-10 seconds and feel like they can't stay there anymore, its open as heck. Darcy does things like that a lot, and his scoring percentage is as high as anyone. Instead of reading the D, you are forcing the D to read you, and then hitting what you created as an opening. Again, some of the best players in the world don't walk the ball often. they all know how to do it though, becuase you need to have more than one option in case you are getting blocked. |
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4. Executing the shot So in whatever way you have read the defense, you decide that you are going to shoot towards a specific hole. Lets say you do try to shoot a pull side for the example. When your man is on the far side of the ball, it is easiest to shoot a pull side. Roll the man across the top of the ball towards your self, then instead of rocking back that way, just keep on coming towards yourself. Bring the rod all the way to the wall for a deep shot that will go off the post and in. For initial practice you might not want to try to go all the way to the wall, but get it out there pretty deep anyway. Wait for the ball to get there, the ball doesn't have to roll super fast, that isn't where the speed of the shot is generated. Usually the ball is going faster than you think anyway, and you can wait for it to get to under your man. Dont let your man drop down towards the table, the man has to stay above the height of the top of the ball. As soon as the ball is almost under your man, you pull up on the handle and let it rotate until it is in your finger tips. While the rod is rotating you push the rod back towards the middle of the table, creating recoil on the rod. This lets the front of the man contact the ball, while the rod is going back past the ball in the opposite direction. This corrects the ball so that it doesn't keep on moving in the direction it is already going in, which would cause your shot to miss the net. For a push side, do the same thing but reversed... make sure you practice strait shots because they are the easiest shot to get a lot of goals scoring once the player is worried about your other shots. |
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5. The fist pump After you score, make a fist with your hand and then pretend you are throwing an uppercut punch, make a loud grunt or yell "yeah!" when you do this and stare your opponent in the eye. Flex your bicep really big and give it a little kiss, while maintaining eye contact. This is not a crucial step, but adds to the effect of the thunderous rollover echoing around the room. Any additions or questions are welcomed! |
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One thing with the stationary roller, Put the man in the same spot over top of the ball for both push and pull. This is a major tell in a shot. I do it along with many other people. |
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True, but as far as I have seen, every single stationary rollover has tells, at least to a point. The takeoff is quite readable and hole selection is more predictable. Rocking the ball generates speed that otherwise wouldn't be there. Also it helps with blending in your takeoff. If you need to shoot a stationary rollover, then before shooting you should at least throw in some fakes, hitches, taps, or something. Tommy Adkisson is probably the beat player to have used a stationary rollover through out a major, and he did quite well shooting it. Still, he would tap or fake at least 3/4 of his shot attempts so as to not become completely predictable. I'm not saying you will never score by shooting strictly a stationary rollover, but a snake that you have more options off of like rocking or walking will certainly increase your lifetime shooting percentage |
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5a. The Recoiling Shake Another option which you can use if you score the game winning shot is to instantly release the handle after scoring and present your hand for the "good game" handshake. When attempting this maneuver ensure the rod has stopped rotating thus preventing a spin, but also making sure you recoil enough to allow the bar to continue moving back and forth in a lateral motion while you offer your congratulations. |
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Another note about what Will said with regard to pulling up on the bar when you shoot to generate power. While it is true this will give your shot some extra pop be careful because the way the rod bends the man gets closer to the surface of the table and this will increase the chance that you "roof" or raise the ball into the opponents rods or the crossbar. This phenomenon occurs on some tables more than others but if you find yourself roofing the ball try to take a little bit of that upward pressure off. |
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Good point. On some tables it is almost impossible to score because of the cross bar effect. On these tables I encourage shooting a pull shot lol. |
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Flex and THEN kiss muscle. Got it. |
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Rollover Defence 1. "Sweet Christian D" Sloooooooooooow movement of your men. Guaranteed to block 80% 2. "Week Side Will D" show a huge push side and then just cover the 3/4 push. Expect at least a 75% success rate 3. "The Ben Blocker D" still a work in progress 4. "Darcy Don't Shoot There D" Darcy goes for the bait, show him a hole, let him think about it show it again and slam the door. Probability of success-90% 5. "Tobin Strong Side D" use a fast moving shuffle showing the pull side more than anything else. After 3 or 4 seconds jump on the pull side. Chances of success 70% 6. Just do a cartwight  |
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#6 is a wicked D, but SOO much work. |
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Learn the Pull!!!Roll overs are becoming increasingly easy to stop. |
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Learn the John Wayne, Pulls are becoming increasingly easy to stop. |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1_i7VatYGA&feature=related Probably the best video to watch if you want to learn how to shoot a snake shot. Pro Singles champion Zeke Cervantes... He has a lot of other good video tutorials also! |
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Does he have one for the John Wayne? |
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No... but to make up for it I'll show you one live in a match this week, only one though... |
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