How To Improve Your Game

The Killshot: use it well, but use it wisely

by Terry Muck (adapted for 1-wall by Albert Apuzzi)

Whether it be the bomb in football, the home run in baseball, the dunk in basketball or the killshot in handball, the spectators love it.

The apple of the fan’s eye, the killshot strikes the wall so low it bounces twice before the opponent has a chance to retrieve it. Every crowd responds to the killshot and loves the shooter. They like the flash and the finality of this rally-ending shot.

Since the kill must be hit low to the floor, there is little margin for error. It is either good or bad, a point or an out. But, like all superficially simple phenomena, the success or failure of an attempted killshot goes much deeper than it appears. Many factors determine the success of the rollout, many more than the final sweeping stroke that puts an end to the rally.

The late Jim Jacobs used to put it like this: “So much preparation is necessary when one goes for the killshot. The final stroke is actually no more difficult than kicking the extra point after scoring a touchdown in football.” The preparation needed to successfully execute a killshot can be analyzed and divided into three areas. These areas of preparation also reflect the three most commonly asked questions about the killshot: How do I hit it? Where do I hit it? When do I hit it?

How do I hit it?

The technique used to hit a killshot is quite similar to the technique and stroke used for hitting drive serves and other shots. The most universal factor for hitting a successful shot,watching the ball, is even more important in attempting a killshot. The ball should be watched all the way into the hand as the stroke proceeds. Though the top players vary somewhat in their stroke, they are all together when it comes to letting the ball drop into their strike zone for a great point of contact and their intensity in watching the ball.

A successful killshot depends a great deal on the amount of effort the player makes in getting into position to hit it. This means legwork. You must get to a proper pre-shoot position, get set and then step into the shot as you make contact off the center of your body.

The actual point of contact may vary a little from player to player. Some may hit it off the front foot, while some may make contact closer to the back foot. But most of the best players make contact very close to the center of the body. Chances are this will be the best point of contact for you too.

It’s fairly easy to find out where you’re most comfortable making contact with the ball. Just practice hitting killshots by dropping the ball at different angles. The point where the ball jumps off your hand with very little effort and good control is your sweet spot for your personal point of contact. The reason the ball behaves this way at the proper point of contact is timing. The wrist snap and contact with the ball occur at precisely the right moment. The ball meets the hand and the ball takes off.

Determining the proper point of contact gets a little more difficult when you start stepping into the shot. Thus, the proper pre-shoot position becomes imperative for success. Set up behind and away from where you want to contact the ball so you can step into the ball to generate the power necessary for delivering a killshot.

To hit the killshot effectively, you have to let it drop close to the floor before you strike it. How low you need to let it drop depends on your height, your power and the comfort with which you can bend over and stroke the ball.

Ideally, you should let the ball drop low enough so your killshot travels straight to the wall. You’ll have to get low enough to stroke the ball with a flat stroke, meaning your forearm should be parallel to the floor at the point of contact. This ideal stroke will send the ball to the wall with the same trajectory you’d like it to have after it caroms off the wall. The ball will also have a tendency to stay down, since it will be traveling along the floor as it goes to the wall.

Again, this is the ideal stroke and most players can’t let the ball drop this low for a number of reasons, including bad backs, knees or whatever. The good news is that quite acceptable and consistent kills can be executed from as high as the knees or even higher. However, some bending is necessary to stroke the ball with the forearm parallel to the floor. Players who stroke the killshot from knee height or higher will find it necessary to put a reverse spin on the ball, coming over the top of the ball on the point of contact, to make the ball stay down.

One of the most common mistakes players make in attempting a killshot is to alter their natural swing to aim lower. The killshot should be hit with your most natural and comfortable stroking motion. If you’re not in position to use your favorite sidearm stroke, you should not be attempting a kill. If you find yourself starting to make numerous errors on your kill attempts, there are several areas of technique you can examine to try and remedy the problem.

If you’re not hitting the ball on the sweet spot of your hand and you’re losing control of your shots, the first thing to determine is whether you’re watching the ball into your hand. Once you’re sure you are watching the ball, consciously cup your hand on the point of contact so you have the feeling of caressing the ball as you strike it. This conscious fondling of the ball will help you delay your wrist snap and will help improve your timing.

If your kills are coming off the wall too high, the probable cause is one of two things. Either you’re not bending low enough or you’re not staying down after contact is made. The hard work in shooting kills is not the initial bending of the knees and back to get low, but staying low as you carry out the swing and follow-through. Try to follow through with your hand, arm and body going toward the spot on the wall where you are aiming. This should keep your head and body down through the completion of the stroke.

Where do I hit it?

Killers can be hit down the side lines or diagonally across the court. Killers down either side line are most effective when your opponent is in the front court. Ideally, you should aim this kill down the side line farthest from your opponent, or down the side line that will force him to go around you in his effort to retrieve it.

Hitting the kill diagonally across the court can also be very effective when your opponent is in the front court. You’ll also want to aim this kill to the side of the court that is farthest from your opponent or will force him to go around you to retrieve it. This kind of kill can be very effective when alternated with the pass. Often your kill can score for you when it’s hit a foot high on the wall after you’ve hit several passes from the same position on the court. Your opponent will be on his heels, ready to backpedal as you lay the ball down.

You may notice that killing the ball to the corners adds a hook to it. When you hit a right handed kill into the left corner a “natural” hook will be added to the ball and to the right corner a “reverse” will be added. Both shots have the effect of making the ball bounce away from the center of the court thereby making it more difficult for the receiver to reach. Once you become adept at the kill shot you may try to intentially add a hook to it. Some players find that adding the hook allows them to increase their percentage by aiming higher on their killshot without detracting from the effectiveness of the shot.

When do I hit it?

Once you’ve mastered the techniques involved in hitting killshots, you’ll need to determine how to use them in your game plan. A good point to remember is that no one wins by the killshot alone, although it is very hard to win without one.

Since it is such a popular shot, the danger, especially among less experienced players, is in overuse. Obviously, due to many factors, not every shot you attempt is a potential kill. The opposite extreme of keeping the ball in play at all costs and never taking a chance on a kill isn’t the answer either. The optimum course would be to shoot at the right time and pass at the right time. The decision to kill or not to kill is based on position factors: your opponent’s position, your position and the ball’s position.

If your opponent is in front of you, the rule of thumb would be to hit a pass shot. Like all rules, this one can be broken occasionally. But you should try to follow it since you don’t want to give your opponent the chance to rekill your slightly missed kills.

If you are in front of your opponent, it’s fine to attempt a kill as long as two other criteria are met: You’re in good position and the ball is dropping for you. Your positioning also is twofold: your position in the court in terms of depth, and the height and comfort of your stroke. There are good, marginal and poor areas of the court in terms of depth for attempting kills. These areas will vary somewhat for different players, depending on their ability to get low and hit killers. You’ll need to practice kills from different depths in the court to know exactly where your good, marginal and poor areas are for attempting kills. The area considered good in terms of attempting killshots is usually no more than 25 feet from the wall for most players. If you can successfully kill the ball at least eight of 10 times from this depth, it can be considered a good area for you. Remember to keep track of your success ratio during a game situation, since this is when it’s most difficult to execute your shots. The best way to truly determine these areas is to have someone chart a game for you. We all tend to only remember the successful kills and forget our unsuccessful attempts. It’s only natural. In practice, it’s also much easier to hit killshots since we’re fresh and not attempting them after hitting 10 or more shots in the rally and running from the opposite side of the court.

The marginal area for attempting kills is usually between 25 and 30 feet from the wall. Most of us will only be able to make about 50 percent of our attempted kills from this portion of the court. If we’re serving and our opponent hasn’t moved into center court and the ball is dropping into our strike zone, we might still attempt a kill from this portion of the court.

Beyond 30 feet is generally a poor area to attempt kills. There might be a time and place to attempt a kill from this portion of the court, but obviously not very often. Whether you served to start the rally certainly makes a difference. If you lose the serve on your ill-fated kill attempt, that’s all you lose. But if you weren’t serving, your missed kill attempt will tally a point for your opponent. Even when you are in the front court and your opponent is behind you, a killshot would be foolhardy if you’re not in good position to stroke the ball. It’s still necessary to get to a good pre-shoot position, set your feet, allow the ball to drop low and stride into it. Since the kill permits such a low margin for error, you must have total body control before trying the shot. You won’t be able to kill a shot that you hit well above the waist or is rebounding to you so fast that you can’t set your feet. You might get lucky on a few, but the percentages will soon work against you.

This is often the case on fly-kill attempts. The fly shot is one of the most effective offensive weapons in the game. It usually fits most of the criteria for success since it will be dropping in the frontcourt, and quite often your opponent will be behind you. But it will still be necessary to stroke the ball properly and step into the shot if you’re to be successful a large percentage of the time. Practice the killshot. Know your good, marginal and poor areas. Know where your opponent is before attempting the kill. When you start using the kill properly, you’ll note a rollout isn’t needed to score.

The time to use the kill is when you have your opponent out of position and you have a large margin for error. You’ll know you have mastered the killshot when you are scoring with those that don’t roll out, but roll away from your opponent.

Myth: A killshot should be aimed no more than 2 inches high on the wall.
Truth: Aiming this low will result in numerous skip-ins. If your attempted kill needs to be hit 2 inches from the floor to score, you shouldn’t be attempting the shot. If a killshot can be hit 6 inches high and still score for you since your opponent is in poor position, it is the right choice.

Myth: He who has the best killshot wins.
Truth: Handball, like all sports, is a game of opportunities. The player who rallies his way to the most high-percentage opportunities to hit killshots wins.