Passing
An important part of playing foosball
Most people don't know this but passing is one of the most important part in winning a game of foosball. More importantly, ball control is the name of the game and like in any other sport your chance of winning the game are greatly increased the more you have the ball. So learning to pass is as important as learning to shoot and if you're going to take the game seriously, then you had better mastered the art of passing.
The Drop
The very first pass you will do is dropping the ball into play. This is very important because the last thing that you want to do is to turn the ball over to the opponent before your men even touch the ball. Therefore, the first pass you should learn is the drop.
The first thing you should do is to spend a little time alone practicing dropping the ball or passing to ball through the drop hole to your five men. You should develop a style of dropping the ball that you are most comfortable with, but more importantly your drops should have a high percentage of completion. Even more important, your style of dropping-the-ball must comply with the official or house rules. See section concerning the rules of the game. (Rules).
When playing on a Tornado table there are no cups or bowls to place the ball before or during the drop. Instead, the ball rests in a drop hole in the side of the table and does not moves until the player is ready to begin playing. This is a good feature about Tornado tables, in that it allows the player to concentrate on the drop, to plan out his or hers plan of attack, and to prep his or hers men for both defense and offense playing without having to hold the ball in the cup like on other tables. Again, I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass.
I found that a good way to drop the ball into play is to use your index finger on your right hand and poke the right side of the ball while it is resting in the drop hole. As you are forcing the ball through the hole, force it in a way so that when the ball falls to the surface it falls towards your men. Remember, it is against the rules for your fingers or hands to be inside the vertical plane of the playing surface. So as you develop your ball-dropping technique, you must learn to work the ball well with your finger. Also, never use your left hand to drop the ball into play even if you are left-handed. You must keep your left hand on the 5-men so that you can catch the ball immediately after it has enter the playing zone. If you are left-handed, then you are going to have to get use to playing this way. Remember, foosball is a game of wrist . Whether you are left or right-handed, it doesn't really matter in foosball because your wrist is what powers and controls the ball.
There are other ways to drop the ball into play. Some people spin the ball with the right amount of english so that when the ball hits the playing surface, the ball goes right to their men. Also, when poking the ball through the hole you can use any finger. I've seen people use their thumb. Oddly enough, some people in Wisconsin prefer to blow on the ball into play when dropping it. Those that I have seen do this have a very low success rate of obtaining the ball after it has been dropped. So I highly recommend not using the blowing technique.
I believe that the technique I have shown has a high percentage of completion, but this is not the best technique. The reason why I like it is because it requires very little practice and is easy to do. Nonetheless, you should develop your own technique of dropping the ball no matter how it looks or works (that even includes blowing on the ball.) So if you are going to take the game seriously, then dropping the ball into play should be a very important part of your game.
The Forward Pass
My definition of the forward pass is where the ball is maneuver by either a single or double's player in the direction of the opponent's goal. After the ball has been dropped into play, it has been my experience to see most players attempt to advance the ball forward to their 3-man rod rather than attempt to score immediately with the 5-man. This is a concept I prefer and recommend should be used. The reason being is that, unless you're a master with the 5-man rod (a very popular concept outside of the US) the percentage of scoring is very low. Scoring with the 5-man rod may work for a little while but in the long run the scoring percentage is not as good as the 3-man. This is especially true if you are playing against skilled and well-experience players.
Passing From the 5-Man to the 3-Man Rod
The next pass you must learn is the pass from the 5-men to the 3-men. Even more importantly you must master more than one kind of forward pass if you plan to play serious foosball. I highly recommend that you have at lease 3 different kinds of forward passes. I use at lease 3 to 4 different types of forward passes in a single game depending on the competition. If you only have one forward pass, then your opponent will figure out a way to block it and take control of the ball. Remember, ball control is the name of the game and if you don't have the ball you can't score. If you can't score you can't win.
Now I will familiarize you with several types of forward passes. There are several kinds but I will show you a few of the basic types. Most of the common passes used are the brush passes, wall passes, lane passes, pin or toe passes and combo passes. It should be noted that when doing these types of passes (especially single man passes ), the ball MUST always be in motion (or moving). Again, please see the section on (Rules On Passing) and (Terms) to see the various types of passes.
Single Man Passing
Before continuing, I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass. Single man passes are true to their name sake, in that they are passes done by one man. The single-man pass is a commonly used pass because with it you can do various passes. The following are just some of the commonly used passes that are done with one man.
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The Combination Pass
The Combination Pass, or brush pass as it is commonly referred to, is where more than one man is used to do a pass, whether it is a angle pass, lane pass or a wall pass. The combo pass, as I refer to it, is very useful when getting the ball around and through a defense. there are those who are so good with the combo pass that they leave their opponents standing there wondering where the ball went. The combo pass is an absolute must when playing against serious foosers. I highly recommend learning how to do the combo pass towards and away and with the other variety of passes (i.e. lane, angle, wall,...). Below are a few helpful tips, I hope will help on your journey of becoming a good fooser. Also refer to the (glossary) for more helpful stuff and terminology. Again, I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass, and it should be noted that when doing these types of passes (especially single man passes ), that the ball MUST always be in motion (or moving).
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The Toe Pass
Again, I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass. The toe pass (or pin pass) is a very interesting weapon used in the game of foosball. When used, a player can either toe or heel the ball and then pass it in any direction. The defender doesn't know which way to cover unless he or she has a lot of experience with these types of passes. Unfortunately, there is a certain rule that is applied when passing with the 5-men. The rule states that if the ball is stop and can be reached by a 5-man of either side, then the ball must make contact with another 5-man of the same suit before the ball can be advance forward (Rules On Passing). Unfortunately, the way this effects a toe pass (or pin pass) is that the ball usually has to be stopped and then set up before it is advance forward or to another 5-man, hence the rule takes effect . However, most players will let the less obvious pin passes go uncontested (so to speak) except for a tournament match where a referee may be present. I have found that the average player is not even aware of such a rule, so most of the time the issue is never bought up. However, if you are a serious player and plan to go pro someday, then I would not recommend using a pin pass as a main 5-man forward pass. Not to worry though, there are plenty of other good high percentage passes that can be mastered and used.
The toe pass does require a lot of skill, but once mastered there are several variations that can be used. The single-man pass and the combo-toe pass are very common . These type of passes require lots of practice, so don't think you can just start destroying your opponent with these type of passes without first mastering them. Again, you need to learn how to control the ball when doing these passes, so start out slow. The combo-toe pass is more difficult than most other passes, thus requiring more practice, but when mastered it can be very effective. Below are some tips on how to do these types of passes and I hope they will help to improve your game.
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Goalie Passing
The goalie pass is something I learned to develop in order to improve my game and to increase my chances of winning. During my experience, I had discovered that once I began scoring from the goalie position, defenses would position their defense to seal up the scoring lanes. In so doing, this would leave what I call "passing lanes" open. This means that if I had a partner who understood what I was thinking, then he or she would place their 3-men or 5-men but most of the time it was the 3-men in the open passing lane to receive the ball. The good thing about doing this is that if I had a high percentage shooting partner playing front and he or she were on the same page as me, so to speak, then that ball was as good as in the hole. Goalie passing can be very demoralizing to a defense too. Just when they think they have your shooting game in control by shutting down the lanes, you surprise them with a forward pass. Now, they have one more element they have to content with.
Of course, this concept works even better when you are playing single's because you are basically passing the ball forward to yourself. You just have to be coordinated enough to control the ball with your left hand to deliver the ball. Sometimes the job requires that the ball be pushed, pulled, toed/pinned, or even push/pull kicked in order to clear the defense.
Passing From the Goalie Rods to the Front 3-Man Rod
Again, I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass. Passing from the goalie to the front three is as important to the game as scoring. However, in my many years of playing I've seen little goalie passing used. I use it all the time because I found it to be a major attribute to my shooting game from the back. Not to mention that it increased my chances of winning the game. For example, if I am setting up to do a pull shot and I'm playing against someone who knows about defense, they will usually leave the lane in front of my man open. They do this because if they are covering the lane, they know that I'll go around, therefore, they will usually leave the lane open thus allowing me to pass the ball all to the way to the front. I found this to have a devastating effect on the opposition, especially when they think they've shut down the goalie.
Lane Passing
Once the opposition has realized that they now have to cover the lane, the goalie's offense can again begin to open up. The thing that you need to remember is that the passing won't work until the goalie has established a real shooting threat to the opposition. I find it to be a lot like the game of football. Once a defense realizes that the other teams offensive can't pass, then the defense only has to worry about stopping the run or vise versa. On the other hand, if the offense has established both a running and passing game, then the defense is in for a long day, because now they have to worry about stopping both. It doesn't really matter what offensive weapon that a goalie uses (pulls, push, push-kick, toes, banks,...) As long as a scoring threat has been established, then the passing should be there.
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open passing lane to the front which is made possible because of the potential pull shot
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After the passing threat has been made, the opposition now has to worry about covering the lane thus allowing the shooting lane to be sometimes open |
Wall passing
Over the years I have discovered that the wall pass from the goalie to the front three is a very effective pass. However, it does require some portion of skill and foos knowledge. Some skill is require because the ball has to travel almost the total length of the table along the wall with a great deal of speed and accuracy. Because you're pointing towards the wall and away from the hole when doing this pass, the defense can quickly pick up on what you are doing, thus blocking the pass. The trick is you have to try to hide this type of pass, and that's where experience and knowledge come into play.
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| the far wall pass |
Passing along the far wall
When passing towards the far wall, you can either push or toe the ball. The toe pass in this case is easier to hide because you can either do a toe shot or pass; However, in a tournament game toe-passing or pin-passing might be prohibited. On the other hand, the push pass to the wall is much easier to spot so it must be done extremely fast. I find it that most players who do used this pass prefer to do it on the far wall so that they can better see what they are doing and to better hide it from their opponents.
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| the near wall pass |
Passing along the near wall
When passing to the near wall, you can either used a toe or a pull pass. The same principles that applied to a pass towards the far wall are applied here. However, passing alone the near wall is harder to see and is partly done instinctively, thus making it a lease popular pass to used. I rarely pass along the near wall.
Another type of wall pass that is used is the combo-wall-pass. However, this pass is very rarely used especially in doubles. I think the reason is that the ball has to travel a greater distance from one place to other and the chances of turning the ball over are greater. When playing single, I used this pass quiet frequently because when I play single, I avoid shooting from the back. I prefer to stay up front and pass from the goalie position with my left hand. When doing this, I mostly used a toe pass or a combo pass.
Any serious fooser, will most likely consider developing a 5-man passing, as well as, a goalie passing game to add to their list of skills and abilities. In my opinion, the passing game should be taken very serious when considering whether or not you want to take your game to the next level. Most of the master players have a well developed passing game that they bring to the table.
So when you're off practicing by yourself, place a lot of emphasis and a good portion of your time on your passing game. It will enhance your game a great deal. This will allow you to get the ball more often, thus allowing you to improve on your shooting game.
I highly recommend becoming well informed with the (Rules) of passing before deciding whether or not to follow my advice on how to pass, and it should be noted that when doing these types of passes (especially single man passes ), that the ball MUST always be in motion (or moving).
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