I've written remarkably little about the Battle Paddles on this blog up to this point. One of the shameful reasons is that I simply haven't been blogging all that often in the time since they came out, but there's far more to it than that. The real reason I haven't written about them more is that they're hard to write about.
Up to this point, there isn't really any commonly accepted lingo with regards to the Battle Paddles and before we can really start talking about them, we have to define our terms. Now, I don't want to write a 5,000 word diatribe where I name all the tricks, parts, holds, traps, etc. for the Paddles. That would be overwhelming and thus useless. Instead, I think the right approach is to parcel things out and define them as we go.
I figured the best place to start would be the same place you start if you get a new set of Paddles: Putting them on.
There are four distinct fasteners on the Paddles and a total of six individual loops. As you get more and more comfortable, you'll find that you're not always using all 6 loops or all 4 fasteners. Instead, you come to find that some tricks are possible only if you use a certain combination of these loops.
These various ways of wearing your paddle are referred to as "Paddle Grips"; as in, what particular way are you gripping your paddle. There are 15 possible combinations that you might use and while some of them would very rarely be used, it's best to be thorough. If there's one thing I've learned in my time as a Myachi Master is that you should never set limits on creativity.
Below I'm going to breakdown all 15 possible Paddle Grips, but before I do, we need to define our terms a bit. The photo below should help.
You'll notice too that I've added a number to each strap or loop. The 1 refers to the wriststrap, the 2 to the thumb loop and so on. Below, I'll be referring to each grip by a number. A 134, for example, would be a grip that uses 1 (The Wriststrap), 3 (The Pinky Loop) and 4 (The Finger Strap). So this would refer to a grip where the thumb is left loose.
This might seem confusing at first, but as we go, you'll see that it's much easier than referring back to the individual straps over and over again.
1234 - The Full Grip
This is, at least at this point, the "standard" paddle grip. It's the best one to use if you're playing a sport that requires running up and down a field or a court, as it's the strap that leaves the paddle least likely to slip as you move. The drawback to this grip is that it doesn't offer much wrist movement and thus isn't the best for freestyle or net sports.
123 - The Trapper
This is a grip where the wrist, the thumb and the pinky are strapped in but the fingers are left loose. This is not used very often, but it does allow for some really cool traps between the backhand and the paddle and thus may eventually become a common grip for table games.
124 - The Sentinel
This is the grip that I use most often and is the best grip if you'll be wearing your paddle for a long period of time. In this one, everything is strapped in except the pinky. It's basically a small trade off where you lose a bit of control and gain a bit of comfort. It's definitely recommended if you plan on wearing your paddle for eight or nine hours a day.
134 - The Hitchhiker
In this grip, you use everything except the thumb loop. This allows for some spectacular pinches, but it leaves the paddle pretty loose on the hand. It's much harder to catch long distance and high speed passes so it is mostly used in freestyle, but could also be useful in some court games or Fu related games.
234 - The Free Flow
Here, you're using everything except the wrist strap. This is a very common grip for freestyle, as the wrist strap can impede the flexibility you often need for swaps, body crosses and centrifugals. It's also more comfortable over a long period, so for many Paddle sports, you'll find yourself using this grip. The major exception is something like Myachi football where you're running down field a lot.
12 - The Ebert
This is a rarely used grip where only your wrist and thumb would be strapped in. I can't think of many advantages to using this grip, but I'm not prepared to say that there aren't any yet. It just means we need to explore a bit more.
13 - The Dr. Evil
This is even more unconventional than the Ebert. Here you would forego the finger straps and the thumb loop and use only the wrist strap and pinky loop. It's hard to imagine a grip that would leave you with less control (except the single strap grips below), so I feel common in saying that this will remain the least used double strap grip.
14 - The Talon
Although I haven't used it much myself, I can immediately see the utility in using only the wrist strap and the finger straps. You won't have as much control as you would with your thumb in, but it allows for a lot of quick tilt on the paddle, which could come in handy when playing table games. It could also make for some cool freestyle capabilities, though they seem like they'd be pretty tough to pull off.
23 - The Surfer
Another option I'm just throwing in to be thorough. Here you would be using only your pinky and thumb and you'd probably only be doing it because you hadn't tried it before. I can't imagine what advantage it would give you, but it would be really hard to control and the paddle would be really likely to slip off your hand. Oh yeah, and it would probably get uncomfortable pretty quick.
24 - The Free Form
This is one of my favorite grips. I probably use it third most often after the Sentinel and the Full Grip. Here, only your fingers and thumb are strapped in and the wrist and pinky are left free. It is the single best grip for freestyle, as it allows for a full range of motion and all but the most specialized centrifugal moves. It isn't a very good grip for sports, though, as it doesn't offer you enough control for passing.
34 - The Scout
Another grip used strictly when freestyling, this one uses the finger strap and the pinky loop while leaving the wrist and thumb free. It is certainly not as common as the Free Form, but it does have advantages in certain paddle-trap moves and thus I use it occasionally in the course of a day of jamming. It is difficult to control and becomes a bit of a strain pretty quickly, so I wouldn't recommend it for long periods.
1 - The Free Hand
There's really only one reason to use this, but the reason is awesome enough to justify its inclusion. You have almost no control of the paddle here, as only the wrist is strapped in. In fact, normally when you use the Free Hand grip, you don't even strap the wrist down very tight. This allows the paddle to swing pretty much freely, rotating around your wrist. This allows you to toss the Myachi up, swing the paddle out of the way and then free style on your bare hands for a minute. A quick throw and a difficult twist later and it can be back on the paddle.
2 - The Slap Stick
There isn't much of a reason to include this one (or the next one for that matter) as you will probably never use them of see anyone else using them. This is a grip where only the thumb is strapped in and isn't recommended for freestyle, traps, field sports, table sports, net sports, fu, or any other possible Myachi endeavor I can think of. Again, only adding it to be thorough.
3 - The Renegade
See above, except instead of just using your thumb, you're just using your pinky so you have even less control of the paddle. Again, this one isn't really recommended for anything and is just being included to be thorough.
4 - The Python
Ah, finally we get to the reason why I bothered to include single strap grips on this list in the first place. You'll likely never use the three grips listed above, but this one comes in really handy for a lot of freestyle tricks. In fact, this is the only grip with the paddles that will allow you to do a Snake or Crane. This would, of course, be strapping in only the fingers and leaving the wrist, thumb and pinky free. It's certainly the grip that offers the most range of motion and thus some of the coolest freestyle possibilities, but it is useless for sporting and traps.
---
Alright, so now that we have the basics out of the way, I'll be able to easily refer to various Paddle grips as we talk about the different games and tricks we've developed with them. I'll probably throw down at least two more blogs about the nomenclature along the way, but with this primer I'll feel comfortable launching into some of the more complex stuff without needing illustrations.
Oh, and get to work trying out all those grips you hadn't considered yet...
No comments:
Post a Comment