| (Steve Rabackoff is a member of the Sothern
California Ironmen, and works at DYE Products in San Diego, California)
Edited by Opie of Team Image
Three Minutes Left.....
There's three minutes left in the game and it's three on one. If you win
you go to the finals and if you lose...well, it's a long trip home. What
do you do? Don't panic!
A problem I see with a lot of players is when they get into a bad situation,
they start to freak out. This will land you a front row seat on the sidelines
each and every time. Keeping your head in the game and staying calm is as
important as the gun you use or the paint you shoot.
Situations that cause players to panic:
Multiple opponents :
First off take a deep breath, analyze the situation and figure out what you
are going to do. Find the player closest to you or the one that poses the
most danger and work on that guy. Once you have him on the defensive, look
for the other guys and deal with them. Throw some paint their way and put
them on the defensive. By the time your first player realizes you've left
him alone and is comfortable enough to come out, you're back on him. When
I was captain of the Houston Heat I sent one of our players down to the second
team because I felt he wasn't getting into the game. I watched him
single-handedly eliminate seven players in a seven-on-two situation and turn
a sure loss into a max (I guess I just really pissed him off). Keeping calm
and staying focused will get you out of this situation more often than not.
Players to watch in these situations are Shane Pestana and Marty Bush (Ironmen),
Vu Houng and "Animal" (Team Image) and Danny Love (Aftershock). These guys
are some of the best in the business.
Good position gone bad:
You are in a good spot with good cover when all of the sudden it seems like
RP Scherer has opened a distribution facility on top of your bunker and your
designated cover man smiles and waves at you from the sidelines. Somehow
you have to stay calm as you overhear their player talking about "I'm gonna
go to this guy." Most players reaction is to get up and get out of there,
but that's the wrong answer. First you need to re-establish communication
with your teammates. You need to know what you have in front of you, and
if you are going to get out, you need someone to take the pressure off so
you can get out clean. A lot of teams thrive on this situation. They'll put
four, five, and even six guns on one spot to get a guy out. Even when they
can't hit you they know they can force you into making a mistake. Relax!
Let your team know what's going on and try to get some help. If they are
focused on you, then several of your teammates should be open to do other
things. You may think you are not in the game when actually you are.
We'll cover more next month. Thanks for reading.
Steve Rabackoff
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