Oxford University Table Football Club

At the moment an interesting debate is taking place on Britfoos about the negative effect of the snake (particularly in terms of putting off new players).

At the AGM in May it was agreed that we should experiment with restricting set piece shots and possibly wraps for the first half of each dyp.

However if anyone has any other comments on this issue I would really like to hear them. Is there an argument for banning the snake in league games? Or is the number of players in the university who shoot it at the moment sufficiently small that it wouldn't make any difference? I'm not actually proposing any drastic action, just want to get some opinions.

Thanks,

Graeme

Even though my game heavily relies on the snake I'm very much in favour of banning the snake (and any other shots involving a spin, like wrenches). It's going to make playing more fun and encourage fancier play. Also it'll stop us putting of new players too much by just snaking one time after another.

The issue of putting new players off with the snake is an interesting and not-so-simple one: I believe that most set-piece shots (front pin, snake, pull, push, push-kick, pull-kick etc) are capable of putting new players off if they are overused by a more experienced player.

The snake and front pin are probably the worst culprits because defending against them successfully is not intuitive.

However, the reason I would single the snake out above the others is that it is the shot that new players try to learn themselves. In terms of time spent learning, the snake is much more efficient than the other set-piece shots (in other words you can learn a reasonably good snake too quickly). Playing against someone in the process of learning/practising the snake is incredibly boring, and it is this that I am most concerned about in terms of putting off newcomers. Think back to Alan and Stan learning the snake last year (not that I'm blaming either, just as an example).

True, took ages, especially the pinning part (especially for Alan ). I wouldn't mind banning it, and possibly wrenches as well. However, that can lead to becoming out of practice for both snakes and snake defenses. That can have rather negative consequences in tournament and international performances (latter obviously affecting a minuscule number of ppl). On other hand, it will improve control and ball handling skills...

Yeah I do agree with Graeme. Newcomers do get put off due to the snake and pinshots, thinking its some ultimate move that they will never be able to learn or defend and that they are way out of league to play against those experienced players. I am guilty of doing exactly that last year Encouraging tap-bangs and pull/push shots would be the way forward.

I also wonder if similar issues could be raised with midfield passing. A simple wall-pass gets through all newcomers and gives like 90% possession to the more experienced player's 3-bar. Even if that player does not use the snake, the game would be quite one sided and the newcomer might not enjoy the game very much. Maybe we should encourage doing something other than wall-pases, like chip-passes, "weaving", brushing with inside men, etc.

Clearly there needs to be a balance; if we move too far away from 'tournament-style' play, we'll get creamed by Warwick and will even risk losing to Cambridge... I think we should trial having the first DYP catering to the newer player (restricting shots and passes) and the second one with no restrictions.

Even though I'm learning the snake and having a better success rate with it than my other shots, I personaly think that a global snake ban would be good for the game. The game would become more varied and exciting for spectators.

So, what's the status of it now in DYPs? No snakes?

Generally snaking has been kept to a minimum at the DYP's (at least by the better players). I think it's worked out ok, actually.

For the future: replacing a DYP with uni trials was not an especially good idea. The trials should be held at a separate time. Otherwise we get what happened on Thursday where there were lots of newish players turning up (for the DYP) who we obviously aren't going to turn away but who won't really enjoy the more serious games at the trials.