Forums Home / Tournaments and Challenges / #22 Chris Lee vs #34 Randal Leistikow (
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| TheAirHockeyGuy
- 24 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 472
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Randal and I will be playing a challenge match this Sunday, the 27th at 11 AM at the Paul Derda Rec. Center in Broomfield. Sounds like there will be some pick up games possibly before, during, and after the match with Keith, Nick, Josh, and maybe some others.
Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)
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| doshumrt
- 27 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 7
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Turns out I am not going to be able to make it. Next time.
Josh Lundberg
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- 27 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 658
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Great match! Chris and Randall should have the scores.
Chris came out and dominated the first two sets, winning 8 games to 1 against Randal. Chris had a nice flow and was well seasoned, and had a solid point lead most every game. Randal was tense these first two sets. This was his first match where he had to deal with some real pressure in people watching and reffing for him.
In the 3rd set, Randal came out well adjusted and it went down to the 7th game, with him winning it 7-5 i believe.
The 4th set was Randals again, him winning it in 6 games. To be dominated like that the first two sets of a match, and then come out and win the next two sets is something that's pretty rare, especially for a rather inexperience player, playing a top 20-25 player.
The 5th set was pivotal, and was up for grabs from either player. Tied 2-2 in games, game number 5 was seemingly going to Randal as he was up 5-2. Chris made the comeback, and won it 7-5. That was huge and took some real wind outta Randals momentum. Had Randal got that game, i think he would have had the set. Chris finished him off the 6th game to take a 3-2 lead in sets.
Set 6 started out with a 1-1 tie. Chris then proceeded to take it from there. Randal hadn't been in this kind of a fight before, and his endurance was dwindling.
The match goes to Chris Lee 4 sets to 2.
Randal did some real good things in this match. He came back when it looked like it was going to be a huge blow out, and made it close, and then took the momentum. The killer to me was that 5th game in the 5th set. When you're up 5-2 in a critical game you need to seal it. Chris was starting to show some real frustration, but he held in there. That is the mark of a well experienced player, not succumbing to pressure, even when it seems like you're going down.
I look forward to continuing to work with Randal. We've been working pretty hard at improving his game since November, and he's come a long way, beating our John Stucky last month 4-0. His next opponent he will face with be Nick Geoffroy.
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| TheAirHockeyGuy
- 27 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 472
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Match results are here http://airhockeyworld.com/match.asp?matchid=19757
I'll post a recap tomorrow.
Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)
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| TheAirHockeyGuy
- 28 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 472
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Nizzi did a good job giving the summary of the match. After the first 2 sets, I was obviously feeling pretty good however early on Randall seemed a little out of control and scored on himself quite a few times. After the first two sets, he really settled down and he did a good job listening to what Nizzi had to say after every game. During the middle sets Randal's defense was very solid and was definitely frustrating at times. After he came back to tie it 2-2, I really had my concerns as to whether or not I was going to be able to regroup and turn it around. I agree that the 5-2 comeback in the 5th game of the 5th set was probably a turning point. After that game it seemed that Randal had lost some steam and luckily I was able to close it out. I wasn't really happy with the way that I played, I felt my accuracy was a little off, which did me no favors with Randal's defense playing as well as it was. I felt I really had to scratch and claw to get this win and I feel fortunate to have won it. Thanks Randal for the match, and thanks to Nizzi, Stucky, and Nick for reffing. Also, thanks to Nick for helping me get some practice in before the match and I look forward to more practice before Vegas.
Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)
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| Randal
- 01 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 18
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Congratulations, Chris, on beating me this past Sunday. Since Chris and Nizzi both wrote good summaries of the match, I'll comment on a few of the valuable lessons I learned. (Perhaps reading this will save someone the trouble of learning the same lessons the hard way.)
1) Know your opponent
I'd played Chris fewer than ten games prior to this match. He throws in some really nice timing wrinkles on offense that totally blew me up the first two sets. By the third set, I'd begun to lock onto what he was doing and started to make it a match. Had I played Chris a lot of games prior to this (or at least been able to get my hands on some video to get a feel for his rhythm), he wouldn't have opened up such a commanding initial lead. This reinforces my desire to play lots of challenge matches to really get to know other players' games and learn how to quickly adapt to various playing styles.
2) Avoid relying on newly acquired skills
During my February match against Stucky, I'd hit almost all of my shots from straight drifts up the table. Five weeks ago, Nizzi showed me how to do a reverse diamond drift, and I like the ideas of being able to hit shots from many points in the drift and using more of the width of the table. I'd felt leading up to the match that I had several shots dialed in, but knew I was in serious trouble at the start of this match when the first dozen or so shots that I intended to be left-wall-unders missed on the over side of the goal. As Chris mentioned, I scored a lot on myself, which is very unusual, but surprisingly easy to do when fast shots come back from the opposite side of the table than they're expected. Throw in the extra pressure of playing only my second challenge match, and all of the new stuff not yet ingrained in muscle memory completely unraveled.
3) If something's not working, a match is probably not the best time to sort it out
Despite having a dysfunctional offense, I stuck with the new drift and did my best to just will it to work. By the third set, some of my shots were finally on target, but the increased accuracy didn't come for free -- I sacrificed a bunch of the timing variety and deception I'd normally bring to the game, and Chris was blocking most of my telegraphed shots. A player as good as Chris isn't much threatened by shots they can see coming, but my defense fortunately held up long enough for me to win two sets.
Working so hard to score with subpar shots took a serious toll on my endurance. To give myself any chance at winning the match, I should have reverted to a more familiar offense, but I wanted to move forward, and the experience of fighting with/against the new drift for a whole match will help me. I'll soon be able to go back and forth between a couple really different looks.
(too long winded, so I have to split this into two parts...)
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| Randal
- 01 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 18
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4) Play smart and under control when you have the chance to close out a game/set
As Nizzi and Chris mentioned above, after falling behind two sets, I came back to even up the set count at 2-2, and for one fleeting moment in the fifth game of the next set was pulling ahead. When I'd pushed the lead to 5-2, I tightened up and tried way too hard to force the last two points, and poor shot selection/execution cost me that game (and perhaps the whole match).
I give Chris huge respect for coming back to win that pivotal game, because he totally killed the momentum I'd been building. Instead of my feeling like I was in solid control, one impressively flat game from me later, and I was down a set again, having to win the last two to salvage the mess I'd made of the day. Once Chris had me on the ropes, he stepped up his game to finish the job and knock me out. Though he wasn't as consistently sharp as he'd have liked, Chris has some great skills, and I was happy for the chance to compete against him.
Thanks, Nizzi, for coaching me and continuing to make me a better player. Although I was frustrated by missing most of the shots I had in mind, your support and insight helped keep me in the match long enough to learn a lot from it. Thanks also to Stucky and Nick for reffing and to Harvey Thornburg for coming to watch.
Looking forward to another match a few weeks from now,
Randal
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| Davisl
- 01 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 168
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Great match, congrats to Chris on pulling it out. Congrats to Randal on a well fought battle. I've always thought that realizing why you lost is 50% of the way to winning your next match - the other 50% is knowing how to fix it and actually doing it.
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Forums Home / Tournaments and Challenges / #22 Chris Lee vs #34 Randal Leistikow
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