INSTRUCTIONAL around the court, making him travel long distances for every return. Watch for signs of fatigue in his game and, most importantly, get yourself in shape to take advantage of your opponent’s fatigue. These types of physical pressure are essential to being a consistent winner. Psychological pressure But mental pressure can spell the difference between two evenly matched players. Under mental pressure we include the intangibles, such as concentration, confidence and the ability to change the tempo of the game. You can also apply pressure via gamesmanship or psyching, but this is such a controversial and wide-ranging topic that we will do no more than mention it here. Some players can have you so irritated before you walk onto the court that you can’t play up to, or even close to, your potential. But these folks don’t usually make for best friends. Concentration is everyone’s instructional cliche, no matter what the game is. Everyone talks about it. Few practice it. No one can teach it. Concentration is many things to many people, including the will to win, desire, energy and single-mindedness. Concentration also is hard work, so you must be in good physical condition to practice it. You must want to win badly enough to expend the energy to concentrate on your goal, so desire is also essential. All outside thoughts must be blocked from your mind once you walk through the door of the court. Think of nothing else but the match you are playing – how you can win the match, how you can score your next point. Concentration means total devotion to your game plan and playing good handball, nothing else. As an example of how you can improve your concentration skills, how hard do you concentrate on placing your ceiling shots into the rear corners? We all have the ability to concentrate when attempting to kill a setup. Our eyes bulge out of their sockets, we visualize the kill and we flatten it. But all too often when we’re forced to use our defensive strokes, especially the overhand, we lazily send the ball back up with no intention of placing it into the deep
If you control the pace, you'll likely leave your opponent vulnerable and out of energy. corner. Yet it would be a sure bet that you’d score more points with well-placed ceiling shots than you would by killing setups over the course of a game. Controlling the tempo You can apply pressure on your opponent by speeding up or decreasing the tempo of play, whatever is more to your liking and not to his. If he seems very comfortable playing at a slow pace, speed up the tempo. If he seems comfortable playing a fast tempo, slow the pace. If you are the one controlling the tempo, you will feel comfortable whether it’s fast or slow. And your opponent will begin to feel manipulated, which is exactly what is happening. When you can play at a tempo that is uncomfortable for your opponent, he will certainly feel the pressure mount. Taking the ball out of the air, either flykilling or fly-passing, and maintaining your position in the front court will increase the tempo. It takes a lot of quick side-to-side movement and great anticipation to cut off your opponent’s returns in the front court, so you’ll have to be in good condition to maintain a fast tempo. Only the best-placed pass shots and ceiling shots will force you to retreat to deep court and allow your opponent a breather. When you use this tactic well, the points can add up in a hurry while your opponent is huffing and puffing. Control players invariably try to establish a slower pace with accurate placement of their ceiling shots and passing shots. Keeping the play in deep court will force
your opponent into errors when he loses patience and tries to force a shot. Again, a setup for you at the end of each long and grueling rally is the likely outcome if you’re controlling the tempo. All good players learn to play both fast and slow tempos, but all prefer one or the other when they are in control. In developing your game, experiment with speeding up the pace and slowing it down for an invaluable edge when it comes to tournament play against a wide variety of playing styles. Confidence Your opponent can tell when you have confidence in your game, and your confidence can plant seeds of doubt in his mind. Openly display your confidence, not through outright cockiness but in subtle ways. Look like a champ when you step onto the court, with your head high and good equipment. Don’t express anger at your missed shots or any calls that might go against you. Let your opponent know that you can win in spite of any bad breaks. Remember, your opponent will build confidence on your lack of confidence. Don’t do anything that will indicate your confidence is cracking. If you miss a goodpercentage shot, don’t rant and rave. Just make sure you convert the next similar opportunity. Everyone will be convinced that the miss must have been a fluke. Of course, you can also build your confidence on every shot in your repertoire by practicing in the court alone. And may all your opponents dread playing you! HANDBALL 61
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