Rocket League How To Rank Up

I've seen the basic advice of "how to rank up" in multiple ways and posts, and I don't really agree with the advice given, especially if it's not that helpful "learn how to control the ball on the ground", which has zero explanation to it.

**Note: This guide is meant for 2v2 and 3v3 playlists. It is not recommended for 1v1 at all. It won't apply to Solo Standard since the rank distribution for solo standard is completely different, and pretty chaotic.

Bronze I --> Silver III

• Practice controlling the ball in Free Play. In-game, you'll want to not just randomly hit the ball, but aim it in a general direction. Get a feel for softer and more powerful hits to be able to do basic dribbling. A lot of goals can be gotten in these skill levels just by putting the ball toward net over and over again.
• Practice basic teamwork, yes even solo queue. If you have a teammate in front of you and he's going for the ball, do not push up with him. Being too close to him will only hinder your team. If you have a teammate with the ball in the opponent corner, move forward to about midfield to help support him if he centers it. Don't get on his ass behind him with both of you being in basically the same spot.
• Use your boost. Many lower skilled players rarely use boost. Boosting is a tool, and hoarding it isn't going to help you. Don't overuse it, but certainly don't under use it. For example, if the ball is headed toward one of your corners and you are at midfield, use boost to reach your net as fast as possible to give you the most time to prepare for what's coming. It's better to be in a good position faster than in a poor position with boost.
• Practice the basic concept of rotation. If you just hit the ball and are not in a good position (e.g., in front of it or far off to the side, or directly under it while it's in the air), then rotate back around to net allowing your teammate to come in. If your teammate just hit the ball and he's beginning to leave, begin to push up toward the ball. But be careful, if the ball is really far away, you don't want to bum rush it. Just close the gap until you have a good opening to touch the ball without missing.
• This is paired with "basic teamwork" and a basic understanding of positioning. Don't be in the same spot as your teammate if you can help it. Being in the same spot is bad. If it would go over your teammate, chances are it will go over you too. Spacing is very relevant. Try to be where your teammate isn't, but close to the play. If your teammate is in the opponent corner, you would be mid. If your teammate is in net, you would be either on the ball in your corner/closer to midfield, or you would be in the same areas but recovering and rotating back to net.
• As a super simple tip, but effective, try not to be over aggressive. It's very easy to lose games when pushing up too much and trying to touch the ball too much. Relax, and play with defense in mind at all times. This helps at almost all skill levels. If you're thinking of going for the super risky challenge, maybe reconsider and wait for an opening later in the challenge. Instead of challenging stupidly early on an opponent shot, wait for his touch and save the ball. Much of the times the opponent will miss and you can just capitalize on their mistake.
• This does NOT mean you should push up really close and wait for their miss. Waiting (there's a difference between preparing and waiting for a miss) for a miss exclusively can and will lead to goals on you. Just keep their miss in mind and be mentally prepared for it, in case it happens.

Silver III --> Gold III

• Further improve your rotation. Most likely you are waiting for your teammate to be almost on top of you before pushing out of net or from the defensive 2nd/3rd player position. You'll want to work on pushing out earlier and earlier as you get better and better. This advice will ring true for all skill levels.
• Further practice controlling the ball with dribbling, soft touches and whatever. This is always a useful skill to improve and know when the opportunity arises.
• You'll want to prioritize practicing shot accuracy here. Being able to place the ball on net more often will result in more pressure against the opponent, and eventually they will make a mistake forced by the constant need to clear the ball.
• Practice the basic concept of boost management. You'll want to start keeping your boost meter up more often now that players are capable of basic aerials, putting it on net more often, and just getting to the ball generally faster than before. Pair it with your rotation. You just got done hitting the ball, not in a good position, and start to rotate back. You have a teammate in net and another teammate in the corner on the ball. This is an alright time to go for corner boost behind your goalie and rotate in behind him.
• Do NOT neglect pads. While this is part of boost management, it should have its own point. Pads give you 12% boost each pickup. If you slightly deviate your path to pick up 2-4 pads, that's 24% to 48% extra boost you didn't have before. Pads are a huge source of boost, even if individually they are small.
• Yes, you'll want to practice aerials. But don't focus too much on difficult high and fast aerials. You'll just want to focus on low and medium height aerials since that is what will be most common at this skill level.
• You'll want to practice half-flipping. It's a relatively easy mechanic that will save you when you put yourself in a bad position and need to go backwards. It doesn't hurt to bind Air Roll Left/Right to make half flipping easier. But this isn't a tutorial, so go look up a Half-Flipping tutorial.
• Improved centering. As you get to mid Gold, putting the ball around the corner over net is not going to be very useful for centering. It will be saved and cleared. You'll want to practice hitting the ball toward the opponent's back wall to bounce it. The bounce will send it out toward midfield. Try to aim the bounce to be close to midfield lateral-wise (sideways) rather than the edges of the map so that your centered teammate can push in and challenge. It's more difficult to read bounces, and the ball will travel toward your teammate. Don't be afraid to hit it hard, because usually you might have to in order for it to get to your teammate. But avoid booming it like a madman, because your teammates aren't GC and can't read backboard rebounds instantly.
• You'll want to practice moves that send the ball in the air, especially to help with the better centers mentioned earlier. These techniques are: "Half Volley", "Pop", "Lob", and "Flick".
• Half Volley: Hitting a ball's underside after it bounces to sent it in the air. How much underneath depends on how high you want or need the ball.
• Pop: Double jumping beneath the ball to hit it with your car's roof to give the ball height.
• Lob: Hitting the underside of the ball with your bumper, without jumping. Lobs can only be done if the ball is rolling toward you, rolling perpendicular to you (sideways), or if it's rolling really slow away from you.
• When the ball is on your car's roof, or really close to it, and you use a "Dodge" (the "flip double jump" mechanic that gives you speed) to do a flicking motion and quickly swipe the ball with your car's spinning velocity. (e.g. the tail comes up and rotates to smack the ball if you do a front flip).

Gold III --> Platinum III

• From here on out, you'll need to further refine your consistency in previously learned things and I will not mention them in individual points unless it's a new concept. Further refine consistency in basic ground dribble control, aerials, aim, power shots, half flipping, back wall passes, lobs, pops, flicks, spacing away from teammates, rotating faster, boost management (especially grabbing small pads close to your route).
• Practice generally faster aerials (not to be confused with the "Fast Aerial" technique, which is quite technically advanced that Platinum players will struggle with consistently).
• Practice boosting forward before jumping for a ball that's far away.
• Practice boosting and jumping at around the same time for a ball that's at about a medium distance.
• Practice boosting only after your car faces pretty upward to fly for a ball that's close and high above you.
• Practice your wall usage. If you want to clear the ball from your goal, you can safely put it toward the corner wall or side wall and roll it up. From there, you can follow the ball on the wall. If you have control of the ball and don't want to just give it to the opponents, you might have the option to roll the ball up the wall, then hit it forward with power to make it more difficult on them.
• Basic wall advice: Treat the wall like the ground. If you have a lot of momentum going up it, you will have momentum going up when you jump off. This sounds obvious, but so many people forget to account for it in a real game. If you want to fly, you might need to hit the brakes before jumping off.
• More basic advice: If you want to hit the ball with power and it has come slightly to a decent amount off the wall, you can use a side flip to come off the wall faster.
• Better clear placement: Now's the time to start focusing on clearing the ball toward a teammate who is already up field. If they are grabbing mid-boost, bumping an opponent, or just rotating back, you might want to put it in their direction so they can touch the ball to keep your team in possession. Even if it's seen as a "poor" touch that doesn't send it to their side, they can hit it toward the midfield, and if you're ready you can accept that as a pass. Don't rely on them being able to pass it well, this is Platinum, not pro level. Just be ready in-case it is, but also be ready for an even worse touch if possible.
• Begin incorporating boost stealing. Now that the opponents will be relying on boost a lot more, boost stealing is a valuable play. If you just got done touching the ball and you're next to their corner boost, take it. That's less boost for the opponents. Do NOT go out of your way significantly to take their boost when you could be rotating back or preparing yourself to support the next play.
• Practice giving "backboard" passes. Backboard is the wall area above the goal. This area is super difficult to read, even at the Champion skill level, and it's also dangerous because it gives the advantage to the attacking team. With more refined lobs and half volleys, putting a relatively soft ball on the backboard will make it difficult on the opposition, and give the advantage to the teammate your passing to. Don't make it super high or super fast, because of how difficult it is to read. The advantage is already given to your teammate, you don't need to make it harder on your teammates.
• Likewise, practice reading the ball off the backboard because the ball bouncing off the backboard will be more and more common the higher in rank you go.
• Begin your practice of incorporating air rolls into your aerials. Even the basic rolling of 180° can be a help if you want to avoid hitting the ball with your wheels and instead hit it with your roof for more power (wheels cause weak hits).