Menjadi seorang shooter yang lebih baik.

Ramai orang beranggapan  bahawa untuk melakukan shooter dalam pertandingan petanque adalah merupakan satu perkara yang amat susah dan payah. Sebenarnya bukan begitu. Ikutilah nota yang dipetik dan diedit daripada halaman web petanque. Semoga memberi manfaat kepada semua pemain dan peminat petanque

Becoming a Better Shooter

The process of including shooting throws in your petanque repertoire is not as difficult as many think. Shooting in preconditioned petanque can be just as much fun as any other casual tossing activity. The first thing that you have to accept is that you can do it. There is nothing magical about tossing a boule at a non-moving target 20 or 30 feet away and hitting it.  

   

So where do we start? Well, lets start by building on skills that we already have. If you can throw a pretty straight ball that is a very good start! Initially you may not have the strength to keep the boule in the air the entire distance to the target (keeping the shot boule off the ground as long as possible should be your goal). Your boule may drop half way to the target and roll in the rest of the way. Of course every cm that it is on the ground increases the chance that something will deviate it from your target - this is why you want to keep it off the ground as long as possible.

But we work with what we have, and if a throw that just gets half way there is what we have, then that is what we use for the time being. Concentrate on keeping the line of the throw as straight as possible and you will find yourself hitting more and more often.

Besides avoiding surface-caused deviations there is another reason to try to throw your boule as much of the distance to the target as possible - other boules! People that develop striclty rolling shooting techniques are very limited once the end starts getting cluttered by boules in front. This is why a lot of people think that they have to shoot as soon as they see a pointing boule that they think might be in too good a position to out-point - they are afraid that the shot will be blocked by another boule.

I believe that it is better to wait to shoot until you are sure that you really have to. Often another boule will out-point what appeared to be an excellent boule. Or a boule will bump the boule that you would have shot. Or an opportunity will present itself later that could mean a multiple point end if you shoot out one boule.

Conversely, there will be times that you shoot successfully just for the opponent to put in another equally good boule and you have one less boule in hand to counter that situation.

But to have the the option of waiting to pluck a target boule out of a crowd, you need to have the strength to deliver the boule either right on the target, or very close to it. Gaining the strength to do this might take some exercise.

The ideal shooting throw is the carreau (cah-row). This is where your boule replaces the target boule while knocking the target boule away. The advantages of a carreau shot versus other shooting throws is that it serves not only to knock the target boule out, but also gains a point for your team! A combination shooting and pointing throw in one!

Given the advantages of such a throw, it is important to practice a technique that will increase your chances of accomplishing a carreau. I have found several factors critical in carreauing.

1. The angle that the thrown boule strikes the target must be about 45 degrees. So your throw should not be a direct throw, but rather a sort of low lobbing throw that will drop right at the base of the target boule.

2. The throw should not be too hard. You want just enough energy in the throw to displace the target, the remainder of the energy is dissipated into the ground.

3. It helps to put back-spin on your thrown boule. This will encourage the boule to travel down the surface of the target boule and into the ground if you hit the target directly, and if you are slightly in front of the target it will minimize bounce and slow the thrown boule so that it does not follow the target boule but remains in place.

You might also watch for chances to accomplish a palet (pah-lay) - where you not only knock out the target boule but also improve on its position as your boule moves even closer to the jack!

Shooting Tip!

To better focus and hit more often, don't just aim at the target boule - aim at a spot on the target boule! That's right, find a spot on the target boule and aim for that. You will find that distractions will disappear, and you will often hit that spot!

Once you start hitting the spot, you will be ready to knock the target boule to one side or the other, or do doubles (hit more than one boule with your thrown boule!).

Practice exercises that you can do to improve your shooting skills. Basically they have to do with choosing a target and throwing at it over and over again. Some will advise you to put your target boule on top of a log or beam. Whatever the configuration, they are still exercises where you pick a target and throw at it over and over again. Obviously, this will help.

I suggest that you start out with the target at a range that is beyond 6 1/2 meters - you will rarely have to shoot at a target closer than this. See if you can throw that distance in the air. If you can not, do the exercises suggested to increase your strength, and meanwhile use the shorter distance to practice throwing in a straight line at the target.

Try to add some height to the throw so that you are coming down and striking the ground at about 45 degrees - this will be getting you ready for lots of carreaus later! Also practice throwing with a backspin. I find that adding the backspin makes it a more challenging throw for me, but the rewards later are worth it! Once you can throw the distance, add another meter so that you are throwing at a target boule that is now 7 1/2 meters and so on as you gain strength. Realize that once your opponents learn that you are a dead-eye shooter they will try to play the jack as long as possible! So your eventual goal should be to be able to keep your boule in the air for nearly 32 feet and be accurate while you're at it. Not asking too much right? Two favorite shooting practice games. Free-style Shooting, and Shooting Contest. 

Rumusan

1. Buangkan tanggapan negatif.

2. Percaya anda pasti boleh melakukan.

3. Melambung bola mestilah selari dengan  boule target.

4. Melepaskan boule pada sudut 45 darjah.

5. Tidak melontar dengan laju atau keras cukup sekadar sampai kepada target.