Air Hockey Game Play
Tournament play is usually played as this.
* The mallet is handled by the players fingers behind the knob not by gripping the top of the 
knob. This allows the air hockey player to move the mallet around the table with better wrist action.
*The basic defence of the player is to keep the mallet close to 8 inches out from the goal and also center to the goal. In this position, little movement is need from side to side to protect the goal from straight shots. To block side shots, all is need is to pull back to the corners of the goal.
*Shots are often hit out of “drifts”, this is where the puck moves in patterns so as to throw off the opponent’s expectations and timing. The most used patterns are the “center”, “diamond”, “diagnal and “L”.
*Shots are often used in “combos”, meaning groups of shots which are hit with the apparent delivery but the opposite directions, made by hitting the puck on the opposite side of the mallet. These shots are made to hit the puck off of the right wall or left so as to appear as a straight shot.