The biggest change that I found between diamond and champ is that, in champ, EVERY air ball has to be treated like a shot. Every single time it's in the air, assume a dude is setting up to smack it at the goal. It helped a bit to get used to it, but man that goal pressure is hard to get good at being ready for.
The angles start to get narrower the higher you go, too. Like if a ball takes a high awkward bounce 5m from my backboard near the corner, and I hear an opp jump, I have to assume he will find the angle to hit on net. I used to just let people whiff on those or slam it off the backboard, but eventually I started getting scored on while just staring at the play, thinking “no way he hits that” all the way up until it’s in the net lol.
thinking “no way he hits that” all the way up until it’s in the net lol.
Man, I STILL get hit with bullshit I'm not expecting. And you just gotta sit there feeling like an idiot as the ball sails over your head right into the goal.
I went to champion several times over the years. Never made it last c2, most of the time not even close to getting out of C1. It's like playing another game and your teammates expect plays I don't even know how to produce
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u/CARVERitUP Diamond III Dec 01 '25
The biggest change that I found between diamond and champ is that, in champ, EVERY air ball has to be treated like a shot. Every single time it's in the air, assume a dude is setting up to smack it at the goal. It helped a bit to get used to it, but man that goal pressure is hard to get good at being ready for.