What are some drills people do to improve their shooting? Accuracy, speed of shot, release time, etc.
Is there a formula you follow to teach newer players how to shoot?
How many of us are concerned with shooting form?
Edit: I personally am pretty alright at shooting. I’m looking to crowd source new ideas for teaching players not necessarily for improving my own shooting although “always be practicing” is a proper motto.
Follow @Bouchaaaaard strategy
„I don’t aim, I just shoot“
But honestly it’s hard to say for me
Maybe practice shooting in solopolo first until you are able to hit the ball consistent. Then you can shoot harder and take it into games.
And don’t shoot too hard. Easier and more precise is the way (;
I don’t which part is the biggest joke between Levin telling to shoot easier or me not aiming
Btw, it’s not “don’t aim, just shoot”, it’s “close your eyes and shoot”, which is completely different !
More seriously, Emmet did a small training book with exercises. Try to find it, it is VERY helpful.
To improve shooting : put 10 balls in line in any direction, any distance and put them the 10 in a row in the empty goal. Do it 10000000000 times and try to understand what makes a strong shoot, what makes a precise shoot etc … It can be the position, the mallet size, the mallet head, the handlebar setting, the saddle setting, left foot front, right foot front, quick movement, slow movement, ball in front of the bike, ball aside of the bike, angle of the bike.
Simple as picking a logo or drawing a square on the board, or putting something on the ground across the net. Using pingy balls is cheating, tend softer.
what are the cues you focus on when you’re practicing these shots? like do you have a wrist motion or kinda ball location you’re trying to hit?
i think if we can formalize a lot of these cues it’ll help to broaden our ability to teach these things. as an example, for doing squats you have like the cue of ‘break the bar’ where you’re keying in on pulling the bar down into your shoulders for stability as you go through the motion
I had a few lucky shots during the last EHBPC, so I figured it’s a good time to share some thoughts on shooting in bike polo.
I’ve never played racket sports, hockey, or anything like that. Honestly, I think my hand-eye coordination is just average—or maybe even below. When I first started playing bike polo, shooting was definitely not my strength. No matter how much I worked on my overall skills, my shots were weak and inconsistent.
Over time, I developed two key ideas about shooting in bike polo:
The shot must be clear.
It’s all about repetition—just shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. The more, the better.
So when I practice, I keep it simple and consistent. I shoot from one position until I hit a target: either ten total shots or five accurate ones. Unclear shots don’t count. Then I move to another position, and then another, repeating the process. Sometimes I use a mini goal placed inside the regular goal to focus on accuracy.
I don’t overanalyze. I don’t think about body position or arm motion—I just shoot and let things come naturally. Somehow, I instinctively know how to position myself relative to the ball for a clean shot. And if the position isn’t perfect, I’ve “learned” how to automatically adjust with my shoulder/elbow/wrist to make up for it.
So in general: pick one position, focus on having perfectly clear shot and shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot…
I don’t overthink body positions—like which leg is up, which is down, or whether to rotate this way or that. Instead, I focus on a single shot position, for example, the forehand from the left side.
A clear shot means the connection between the ball and the head is “clean.” This includes the head hitting the ball with its center, the head not hitting the ground before contact, and so on. Usually, it’s easy to recognize a clean shot through the sensations in your arm and hand, as well as the pleasant sound it makes .
Important: This is just my personal method for practicing shots. It may work for you, or it may not—feel free to adapt it to what suits you best, criticise etc
I still don’t know if both leg up is a joke or it means that my both legs are in neutral position xD anyway..
I tried once to imitate the shooting position of other players who have legs in “neutral position” or make a strong upper body rotation before the shot, but in the end, it just made my shooting “decalibrated”.
Don’t get me wrong. I know that to make three steps forward, you need to make two steps backwards, but I just don’t have that much time, and I don’t really know the correct shooting technique. There is no Holger Geschwindner of Bike Polo yet. I concluded that I just need to take countless shots during my practice, focus on clear hits, and it will do.
what changed my shooting power and accuracy the most was changing the rise of handlebars / stem and trying offset / straight saddles.
after finding the perfect combination i adjusted my mallet length and went for the longest i could handle + the most optimal shooting motion ( or clean shots)
it include all shooting motions and angles so it taies a while to find a perfect balance of optimal shootings + variety of movements imo