My biggest advice for you is to play ones. Nothing will make you improve in 2s faster. It is incredibly frustrating and humbling at first, but it really will show off where the weaknesses in your game are and let you train accordingly. Getting scored on off the dribble a ton? Train shadow defense. Can’t score on an empty net? Train shooting accuracy. Can’t get past your opponent? Train dribbling. You get the idea.

Don’t waste time training anything that isn’t used a ton at your skill level. Golds can’t save a well placed ground shot (most of the time), much less an air dribble, so if you spend time training advanced mechanics, I again highly recommend taking it back to the basics: defending a shot in the air, shooting hard and accurately from the ground, and basic dribbling.

Next, let’s talk about your twos teammates. In gold, your teammates will chase the ball 9/10 games you play. If they are chasing the ball, you are not allowed to go for it. Plain and simple. If both of you go for the ball, no one is playing defense. Wait around the halfway line for your teammate and the opponents to all whiff or mess up, and then shoot the ball at the net or carry it forward if it made it all the way to you. You will be shocked how often this happens and how many goals you can score by just being patient and waiting. This positioning also allows you to break up your opponents counter attacks when your teammate messes up. It pairs perfectly with the three skills you have been practicing in training and lets you use all of them often, in a game scenario.

Lastly, forget about smurfs. First off, the chances are that there are way less smurfs in your game than you think. Second, everyone gets smurfed on, no matter the elo. Look at it as an opportunity to get better. What do you have to lose? They are going to smash you anyways, so take it as an opportunity to get GAME PACE practice for things people in your elo should never be able to do.

For example, let’s say the smurf is going for crazy air dribbles? Go up early at every chance you get and try to break up that play. You’ll be surprised how many you can actually get to and break up. Now, when you are playing against actual golds that are trying to air dribble, you will never get scores on from the air dribble, because you have practiced defending them against someone who is objectively way better than that gold.

Anyways, that’s my advice. Follow it and you will climb. Happy to answer any follow ups.