Beginner’s Guide – Defensive Shooting
Shooting from the defensive area (the 2 bar) can be deadly in singles and doubles. The key is learning different shots that exploit different gaps left by your opponent. For example, a series of different pull shots.
The most attractive shot to learn, and one of the most effective is the long pull shot:
Defenders need to cover the other side of the goal if they want to stop this shot! This leaves the near side unguarded:
Or perhaps they are leaving a gap down the middle of the table:
The last shot actually has the same ending result as the first pull shot, with the ball going into the ‘long’ hole. However, you shoot the ball from the middle of the table and ‘spray’ the ball into the long hole. The first long pull shot is shot from the far side of the table and ‘squared off’ creating a straight line to the back of the goal.
If you can’t quite hit the long pull shot as well as Shovie (and let’s face it, most players can’t!) then the spray long pull shot is a good way of still exploiting the same hole.
Mix up squaring the ball, and spraying the ball to be completely unpredictable.