Hot Strategy

Table of Contents

 Last newsletter I spoke about Effective Strategy, which is planning your moves before the game starts. I talked about how important it was to do a walk-through on the field and the things to be looking for before your first break out. In this week’s Behind the Mask I will expand on the same theme and move on to Hot Strategy. Here I’ll talk about tailoring your game play after your initial plan of attack and how to effectively change gears on the fly.

Communications

  The first key is communication. I can’t stress that enough. If your team does communicate changes during the game then you will get marked early and often. Experience goes a long way here too. The more you play with your teammates the more you will understand their tendencies and you will know more about what information they need. You can use your command voice, hand signals or aim with you barrel to communicate moves and counter-moves. The important thing is that you and your teammates can exchange information quickly and effectively during the game.

 The most popular way of letting your teammates know what is going around you is to just yell at them. Use a loud and strong voice when you yell so you can be heard over the reports from the barrel and loud powered hoppers. The downside to just yelling out your opponents moves is, well, they can hear you too. A good idea is to use code words. My team uses baseball terminology on the field. During our walk through prior to the game we are picking bunkers and assigning them base numbers. This way during the game if we hear that we have one running towards third from left we know what he’s talking about and maybe the other team has some confusion. Find something that works for your team.

 Hand signals are less popular then just screaming but offer the advantage of being silent and much harder for the other team to intercept. The problem with talking with your hands is that you must have a line of sight for it to work. Your forward players are usually looking forward and may not be able to see your back players. During some games my team will use hand signals when working closely with another player. If we have two players with one opponent bunkered we will use hand signals to communicate our move instead of yelling out a move to keep the advantage of surprise.

  During the heat of the game when there is a lot of noise and motion going on the single best form of communication is aiming. While playing I know the report of my teammates’ markers and when I hear an exchange I can look to see where they are aiming and see if there is some help I can provide. If you are being pressed and you want to let you team know where the fire is coming from just return fire. A good and fast thinking player can let his teammates know the number of players he is firing at by holding up the number with his fingers on his forehand. Players towards the rear can yell up questions and the front players can motion with barrels too.

  Most effective teams use all three of these methods during each and every game. These are just a few ways to let your mates know hot changes or the changes that need to be made in the heat of the game. Customize these to your team and see what works for you. Silence is deadly, but it’s usually your team that suffers. Now lets look a little at what changes you can make during the game to take advantage of angles and strength of numbers.

 

 Angles and Numbers

  Two of the biggest factors that will determine what changes need to be made mid-game are the angles of attack and the advantage/ disadvantage of players. Both are constantly changing and will drastically affect the outcome of your game if you do not stay on top of this vital information during the game.

  When you are first breaking out of the box and you make a mark call it out. Let your guys know what happened so that everyone can mentally mark off one. If you know what position that players held yell it out too. “Left back out, two moving shallow center” gives a lot of information in a short and concise manner. Keep that tally running in your mind so that you can determine how hard you need or should press. Like wise is true if one of your players gets marked on the first move. You should already know what his first post will be and what part of your plan will be weakened. There’s going to be a hole or uncovered players on your team somewhere so it is time to tighten up those angles and play smarter!

  Angles of attack are not always the lanes of fire. Angles are the spots on the field that give you the greatest advantage by giving you the opportunity at multiple targets as they present themselves. You can open your angles up by backing off a bunker which will give you both a more aggressive lane of fire but also more places to move for cover. As you back off the bunker you will be able to defend yourself from either end of the bunker quicker and with the smaller angle but you will be exposing yourself to a larger amount of the field too. Know where you are going before you step out and know where you are likely to take fire from first and cover yourself while you move. The report of a marker fired in the general direction of the opponent might give you that extra moment to make your next move.

 When a target comes into your angle you already have the upper hand by having that lane sighted. Most players are looking to stay tight to bunkers as they swing around and won’t have their marker in a firing position but by you playing the angles will have the advantage. Always put yourself in the best possible place to have the most angles. You will be a more effective player this way. Bunker huggers usually get  marked as they make their shot and you end up just getting a one for one. If you play the angle of the bunker correctly then you will be able to pull the trigger before most players will even have their markers in a firing position.

  An example of this happened just a few weeks ago at a local field here. I was playing mid in a five on five game. We were down 2 to four with only a back player left besides myself. He was deep over my left shoulder and unable to see me. I was near the 50 and just off to the right. The center of the field was open. I heard my back yell “Liner up the first baseline.” This told me he saw someone running hot down the sideline to my right. That player was blind to me. I stepped two paces back from the bunker looking to my left to cover myself and then pivoted to the right as the attacking player rounded my bunker with his marker coming up from his knees and passing his waist. I popped him and he shot two rounds at the ground where he thought I should have been. I called out, “Liner out” and played on.

  With the calls coming in from your mates you should have a good feel for what is going on around you at all times. When you are finding yourself on the short end of the stick when it comes to numbers you need to be thinking as the hunter and not the prey. Keep calling out movements as you see them. This can lead to some confusion in the minds of your opponents. Keep them second guessing themselves with disinformation! You should be thinking about how they are going to be coming at you and prepare yourself quickly for the best possible defense. At any given moment that decisive move could be tucking tail and hitting the next bunker or reloading and staying put. You need to make the call but you should have a plan ready to go from your walk through earlier.

  There is no fool proof way to plan out every move in every game but thinking ahead goes a lot further then just reacting on the field, in the heat of battle. Take this advise and apply it to your team and see how works. It has worked well for mine!