Movement: The volley

[Guest]

The segment covering the basic footwork for the volley is truly absurd and poor. The player's steps are too far apart, the player doesn't travel through the volley properly, instead makes the biggest, most common mistake of volleyers at all levels, planting the foot just before or at impact which typically dips the racquet head...thus the second stupid mistake people make of adding some extra wrist and/or arm movement to their volley...all because they aren't travelling through the ball. i would encourage you to use volley video of some of the greats rather than an instructor that if he'd had great volleys, would have made money playing instead of teaching the wrong stuff.

i appreciate the effort, but don't appreciate having spent money on this site to be shown incorrect and ineffective technique.

[johnyandell]

But how do you really feel?

I think one of the interesting aspects of teaching tennis is what to teach when to whom and especially, how. Obviously in play when the player is moving forward there are going to be differences in what the feet do and the timing. But I think a lot of players have been damaged by the concept of moving thru the volleywhen their mechanics are flawed.

If you are going to isolate elements to teach the basic motion, then I think what Bob is presenting is not absurd and poor, it's good. I love the unit turn. I might agree about his step size, and he and I have always disagreed about the wrist action on the volley. Check out Nick B. as well on all of this.

Before you cancel your subscription you might also want to look at Bob's article on the float. And you can take your own suggestion by watching a few dozen approach and serve and volley sequences in the Stroke Archive. If you played college tennis that might be far more valuable anyway. Bob did. And he won some national senior events as well.

If I was going to criticize the site, I'd say that one area that needs more depth is the footwork section--which we are adding from Pat Dougherty plus an entire new series from a guy named David Bailey who will blow people away with the thoroughness of his analysis of the pro footwork.

[carrerakent]

johnyandell,

ha, you are right. i kinda blurted out my feelings. i guess that's cause of the overwhelming amount of poor instruction i see on the volley.

i've experimented with teaching beginner kids...teach them to place the racquet more stationary and more in front, then run through the ball. i taught a 10 year old girl this last week...she would hit dozens of firm crisp volleys...i think because of the simplified biomechanics and not causing undue movement of the racquet with body dip by planting the "punch" foot at impact. whenever someone is volley poorly, i take away their foot plant and their volleys instantly improve 100%. it's hard to criticize that kind of positive result.

people do become stationary before a volley, especially say between a first volley and a second...but by retreating back to a smart position after running through the first volley and then split stepping and moving through the second with a firm wrist...i bet even Bob could improve his volleys and probably have won more championships.

no thoughts of cancelling subscription...other aspects of the site are too wonderful!

[johnyandell]

Sounds like a good drill to try with the little kids in my summer camp.

[jhm36]

Just wanted to say I've started running through my volley and it has improved dramatically. Great technique for me when I'm trying to drive the volley relatively straight through the court, hitting near the baseline. Biggest improvement came on my forehand volley which I had been reaching WAY too much for. Very much easier to contact the ball near the plane of my body with this method of running through it.

Thanks for bringing up the subject.

[kwaconsult]

a friend of mine just picked up a video from tennis warehouse that features edberg's footwork on the volley. he moves his inside foot in then steps across (sort of a drop step). the concept is if you pull your foot under you, you will 'fall' into the the next step in the direction of the stroke (volley or groundstroke).
i'll be interested to see bailey's stuff as i think footwork is 'the' most important thing in the sport and nobody teaches it.
good work on the site showing the pro footwork for forehands etc.

[johnyandell]

The drop step exists and is used all over the place at different times including the volley. But that doesn't mean that it is THE volley footwork for Edberg or anyone else. It's just one of the ways players get in position. Think David will open a lot of eyes.

[yemenmocha]

I see some of the frustration from what the others are saying, but having looked through the special section on Sampras' footwork on the volley I was able to make noticeable improvements with a few sessions against the wall and with my practice partner.

I would love to see a section that focuses on footwork for low volleys, especially the backhand. Ideally it would include some info about suggested conditioning exercises for the legs as well as footwork. As a tall serve & volley player this is one of the most challenging hurdles I'm trying to overcome. The rest of the material on fitness is helpful but I'm curious what a focused volley training regimen would look like.

Thank you,

Aaron