It gets tricky when the ball is against the boards & you have to play it...
So, how do you play it? Here are some tips on how...
How Do I Play a Ball That's Against the Boards?
Transcription:
All right guys, question number one came in from Jeff Scheraga, actually who is in the academy as well. Great player from Santa Barbara in the US. He's one of the coaches there, really great guy.
And he asked what I think is a very fascinating question. How to hit a ball that is hugging the board,s. Okay. So it's so interesting because if you try and play it straight, in other words, you're running down the boards and the boards balls against the boards.
Okay. It's so tough to get your mallet, to get that ball, to come off the boards cause you hit it on the toe of the mallet, but if you play a little bit of billiards with it and you hit it slightly inside, outside, almost like a cut-shot. Hit it into the boards. Okay.
Try not to hit the bottom of the ball because you're going to pop it out over the boards. But if you hit it a little bit shallow and you hit it hard against the boards, it hits the boards and bounces out and then you can have a proper shot at it from there.
So, yeah, it's a great question. And, and just those two things of don't hit it deep, don't hit the bottom of the ball, because you're going to bounce it as you hit it, and often it'll go over the boards, but if you hit it on the equator and hit it hard against the boards, with a little bit of a cut shot.
So, your mallet face is open, then you've got the whole mallet face onto the, onto the ball onto the boards and it bounces out, very often. Not every time. Sorry, I didn't realize my mic was muted.
Is that something that you would suggest people should go and practice? You know, so there's not something you just do on, on during tournaments or during games.
Would you suggest... Start with the foot mallet Rob, start with the foot mallet and go and stand on the boards there and hit it until, you know what you're doing.
Now get on a horse, do the same thing. And now at a canter, do the same thing. But remember when you do that, in a game, you want to be hitting that shot against the boards as you check a little bit, because the ball is going to bounce left, so you want to check and be able to go where the ball is going and pick it up again on your offside. You know, so, it's a shot you play a little bit as you check. Okay.
