the contre-pied, injury-maker, and Hal its master
it results in a fair number of injuries to junior knees and ankles; ironically enough it’s Hal, since the explosion, who’s known as the real E.T.A. master of placement and opponent-yanking-around and the old contre-pied
Context
The tactic that wrecks bodies, and the boy who wields it best. The "wrong-foot" or "contre-pied" — sending a player the way he isn't moving — "results in a fair number of injuries to junior knees and ankles," and "it's Hal, since the explosion, who's known as the real E.T.A. master" of it. There's a grim symmetry: the injury-dealing stroke is the specialty of the kid whose own ankle is chronically shot ("since the explosion"). The body that inflicts the wrong-foot on others is itself a casualty of the game's violence to joints.