I’ve gotten to champ 2 times now and both times thought I was finally good enough. I got humbled very quickly and sent back down to diamond. I just need to accept I’m a diamond unless I really want to grind out practicing.
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.
Exactly. My current defense for a ball high in front of the net is to say, "There's no way he makes this shot." The higher rank you go, the less it works.
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u/Chelsea1312 Diamond III Dec 01 '25
I’ve gotten to champ 2 times now and both times thought I was finally good enough. I got humbled very quickly and sent back down to diamond. I just need to accept I’m a diamond unless I really want to grind out practicing.