Let's Be Parola

[Janikka]

"Play with your instinct," he would say.

There I was, in a drop-in game as left winger. I'd like to think I scored some points, but I can't remember for sure. After the game, an invite popped up on my screen. It was for a party chat. It came from one of my random teammates. I joined and said hello. A brief moment of awkward silence was interrupted by a brisk cheery voice. The guy had seen EA advertise my stats during the game. He thought I had racked up an impressive point total.

That was JParola, whose team I then joined. I ended up playing thousands of games by his side in a defensive partnership that would last years. In our first team together, Parola actually started out on offense. During one particular game he kind of flared about our defense. If memory serves, our RD at the time was on the puck. Instead of making the obvious pass that would have kept our offense going, he chose to shoot the puck and cause a turnover. Parola decided he had seen enough. He said he'd switch to defense for a game to show us how it's done. He thought he'd get right back to being a forward after that, but it was not meant to be. He was far too good down there.

We always knew each other on the ice, but our approach was different. The more confident Parola trusted his instinct to guide his game. He knew he had a high sense for making the right moves. I tried to analyze every little thing I did and react accordingly.

In hindsight, Parola's game philosophy makes more sense to me than ever. I have only recently begun to adopt it. There's no point trying to force order into something that's chaotic at its core. In any situation on the ice, you can never control for all the variables. Maybe that's possible in offline with bots but not in 6 vs. 6. That's why it makes sense to react to whatever happens, when it happens. And that's best done by instinct rather than conscious decision. That will always be quicker and more effective.

I mean, as long as you're good. Like Parola.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Janikka

[Obagol]

(®) Trademarked Janni

[KingOfApes_]

#Windmill

[Juizki]

On 9/7/2018 at 1:15 PM, Janikka said:

There's no point trying to force order into something that's chaotic at its core.

I steal this and I'll use it to describe architecture... some day when I'm famous and stuff.

 

JÄLKIHIKI! -JParola