Have You Trained Your Human Player Today?

[viking]

We havent even bothered making a trident for this year and dont plan to.
We got enough issues to deal with.

I agree that we all have issues to deal with, and one of them is to build a trident and practice the ball exchange. Granted the Human Player is less of a factor this year, BUT don't let he/she lose the game for you if you didn't practice the move.

[Cynette]

Who has built a trident? The ones we built (following the drawings) are very snug over the ball. It almost seems like the best technique has been to put the ball on the ground and stab it with the trident. Has any one else found this to be the case?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Cynette

Who has built a trident? The ones we built (following the drawings) are very snug over the ball. It almost seems like the best technique has been to put the ball on the ground and stab it with the trident. Has any one else found this to be the case?

Our kids built one last weekend.

Ours is snug on the ball as well.
It's made from PVC pipe so it's kind of heavy. I hope the competition one isn't as heavy.

[BradMello]

Originally Posted by Cynette

Who has built a trident? The ones we built (following the drawings) are very snug over the ball. It almost seems like the best technique has been to put the ball on the ground and stab it with the trident. Has any one else found this to be the case?

We've built it......and broke it, twice. I'd advise against trying to catch the ball in mid air with the trident

[Jon Stratis]

We had our trident built the first week Having handled it myself a bit, it really isn't that difficult to get up to speed on it quickly.

[RoboMaster]

While I agree that throwing isn't a good idea, our team has found it quite easy to actually catch the balls with the trident when thrown. After you get the hang of it it's not that bad, especially if you train your human player. Of course people are appalled and faint on the spot at the thought of this.

I like the floor-stab idea though, and I think the safest bet will probably be to roll the ball to the human player, who stops it with his foot by stepping on it, and then stabs it with the trident. The bucket-brigade idea sounds great too for desperate times.

[ZeroGAdam]

Our team has had a couple people practice. We all agree that one of the simplest and easiest ways is to have one of the corner human players pick up the ball, and then the middle HP sticks out the trident to the corner HP, and then that corner HP sticks it in the trident. It seems to work quite efficiently.

[J93Wagner]

Has anyone else considered handling two balls at once?

I noticed there wasn't a rule against it.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by J93Wagner

Has anyone else considered handling two balls at once?

I noticed there wasn't a rule against it.

You'd better re-read the rules on POSSESSION

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

You'd better re-read the rules on POSSESSION

I think he is talking about handling two balls as a human player.

And if not, you better look up the rules!

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

I heard there was a rule saying that when you returned the balls with the trident, that you must pull down the trident strait and not in a curve. Is this a real rule and if it is where can i find where it says that?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb)

I heard there was a rule saying that when you returned the balls with the trident, that you must pull down the trident strait and not in a curve. Is this a real rule and if it is where can i find where it says that?

There is no such rule. It might be a recommendation from someone, because the balls may be firmly held by the trident, and wouldn't be released if there is no downward motion.

[thefro526]

I played with the trident on our ball return a bit before ship and it was a pretty enlightening experience, if not a bit fun. For new human players the trident is going to be a bit awkward to wield especially if you're on the smaller/shorter side. After about 10 minutes of playing with it our prospective Human Players and Myself seems to be pretty handy with it.

One thing we did notice though is that the ball return was pretty forgiving. We didn't miss getting ball in more than one or two times and as long as you place one of the posts in the center between the two rails it seems like you'll be about 99% accurate. Also, I found that the most effective way for me to use the trident was to place the ball onto the return and pull the trident out in an arcing motion (Forward arc towards the field). This gives the ball a little push down the return so that it'll go faster and it also reduces the risk of having it bounce a bit, which can happen when you pull the trident out very fast and straight down.

[Meredith Novak]

Originally Posted by Cynette

Who has built a trident? The ones we built (following the drawings) are very snug over the ball. It almost seems like the best technique has been to put the ball on the ground and stab it with the trident. Has any one else found this to be the case?

Yes, it is a tight fit. The ball tends to pop out of it. Stabbing it is a good idea. We will give that a try.

[viking]

I feel the first several weeks of matches there will not be that much scoring, so the Human Players will be standing more then moving the ball. BUT...they must be ready to move quickly and precisely and not fumble the ball.

We have 11 seconds to move the ball from the goal to the ball delivery system, practice that move with your human players.