Friday, August 17, 2012

Volleys

Hey there!

A multitude of sticky note to-do's later, I have gotten to updating this blog. So, I'll keep the intro short and sweet; volleys are another shot that a lot of juniors (and college tennis players) have trouble with, so here are a few pointers.


Common sense question for you: if you’re at the net and someone is hitting a forehand at you, say, at 100 mph, would you want to think about changing your grip from your forehand volley to your backhand volley? I think not. I think, that you’d probably rather not get smacked in the face with the ball, and maybe even be able to get it back over the net. So, I win the argument on whether you should change your grip from your forehand volley to your backhand volley.

Just to reiterate my point, DON’T change your grip from volley to volley. Not only could this be hazardous to your overall health (i.e. getting hit in the stomach, face, groin, ect.) but it also is not part of the overall philosophy of volleys in general: KISS. No, not kiss the volley, although that would be entertaining to watch, but Keep It Simple, Stupid. The more movement you have at the net with your flailing arms/hands, the worse the outcome. So, flip flop your racquet face instead- volleys are instinctively played on instinct (Yes, you read that right- I’m trying to keep you on your toes here!). In other words, because the ball is coming at you fast (assuming) and you have less time to react to it (since you’re at the net, not at the baseline), the volley game is mostly stationed on how you instinctively react to the ball.  

On those terms, remember that the more you do at the net, the worse it is. AKA, less is more. Less swing is better than big swing- the general rule is that you don’t want to let your racquet get behind your shoulders other than on higher volleys. The difference of how you hit a lower volley compared to a higher volley is again less is more- simply scoop/slice the ball a bit more on the lower volley (pretend that you want to scoop a bit of ice cream out of the carton with your hands- that’s what your wrist should be doing sort of on the low volley). On a high volley, you should be hitting a bit flatter, with no scooping of the ice cream at all (Whack a mole coming into mind, but more like a sideways whack a mole).

Now that we know what to do with our hands, let’s talk about legs. Remember to keep the center of gravity of your body (belly button) lower to the ground on volleys- bend your knees. Unless you’re reacting to a ball hit straight at you, your legs should follow the ball on contact- if you’re hitting a forehand volley, your left leg should come towards the ball (a tad bit diagonally), while on a backhand volley you’re right leg should come towards the ball a tad bit diagonally.

 Now that you’re an expert on volleys, go against a wall (yes, wall) and hit volleys against it. This is a good training routine to not only to train good volleys but also work on your reaction time and keeping your wrist firm, as well as keeping your grip the same. Watch Cara Black as she does this work out, and then tell me if you could possibly do that switching grips on the volley (yes, I’m assuming your still not quite sold on that point yet- until you watch the video and agree with me).

Now check out the Brian brothers doing a “Romanian Volley Drill;” notice how their feet move and how simple their volley stroke is.

Now go out there and try it yourself- don’t forget to keep it simple! 

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