Junior Development:
A New Approach

Joe Dinoffer

For the past several years, I've been on a quest to learn as much as possible about how to develop young players. I've spoken with coaches all over the country, as well as in Europe and South America. I've questioned them on a wide range of issues. I've heard strong opinions, opposite opinions, and voiced some of my own.

I've listened, and I've engaged in some fascinating dialogues. I've tried hard to keep an open mind and an open ear. My goal has been to absorb and to synthesize what I've learned into a developmental approach that was as effective and efficient as possible. Some of the things I learned were shockingly simple. Other things were more complex and I struggled to make them easier to understand.

And yes, as many of you know, the process has been personal as well as professional, working with my own daughter Kalindi. We're now well into the fourth year of our program together. In these articles, you'll see how she developed her game, beginning from the age of ten.

We'll begin in this article with the most basic teaching progression on the serve. Keep in mind that this is the approach I found best, but not necessarily the absolute truth.

My suggestion is that you consider what I have to say in the context of the needs and nature of the individual tennis players with whom you are working. Even if you aren't a beginning junior or a coach, I think you'll find a simple, powerful demonstration of the central parts of this sometimes misunderstood motion.

Before I start, however, I want to talk about the beliefs and assumptions that underline my approach.

Belief #1: Advanced Fundamentals

First, this approach is based on teaching advanced technique from the beginning. This is in contrast to the transitional approach in which players learn different grips or techniques in the early stages and then must relearn them as their level improves.

I believe strongly in every player's desire to excel and reach their potential. I am also convinced that a more advanced technical approach facilitates this. With the right fundamentals your technique will never have to be changed. As we all know, change and relearning presents tremendous challenges for many players.

At the same time, it is true that transitional learning can sometimes offer immediate gratification. This is because it allows players to get the ball over the net in any way possible, regardless of grip and swing. However, this approach can lead to bad habits. It can also lead to frustration and even cause young players to give up the game.

This is why I believe it's better to build strokes you will use for a lifetime. This means starting with the very first ball, and staying focused on that goal, even if that means facing certain challenges sooner rather than later.

I have found this advanced approach allows players to develop faster. I want to make it clear, however, that this does not mean isolating one stroke and then working on it tediously for hours on end. The best coaches are innovators, with a large range of teaching tools that lead to rapid development, immediate gratification, and fun.

Belief #2: Games Based Approach

My second major assumption is that players are more motivated when they learn technique through what is now commonly known as the game-based method. This also means encouraging players to understand basic tactics and strategy right from the start, and also, to develop decision-making skills of where and when to hit each shot, since tennis is a game of constant decisions.

This does not necessarily mean that young children should immediately attempt to play singles matches on full size courts with regular balls. In fact, the opposite. It means creating and scaling fun, competitive, games and contests of all types to the developmental level of the players.

Belief #3: Seeing and Feeling

My third assumption is that rapid learning occurs when players are taught through the process of seeing and feeling. Research studies show that 98% of all tennis players learn predominantly visually and kinesthetically, as opposed to predominantly auditory learning.

Unfortunately, most lessons are taught through an unending series of verbal tips. Many tennis teachers frequently repeat the same instructions to the same students, over and over, year after year, without significant signs of improvement. It's an easy trap to fall into as I can attest over the course of my own teaching career.

The typical lesson involves a four-step process. First, the teacher gives a verbal instruction, like "Hit a wide slice serve in the deuce court." The second step is that student must understand the meaning of the instruction at the verbal level. The third step is that the player must create a mental image of the movement or action. Finally, to acquire the skill, the player must develop a feeling of what it is like to actually execute.

Throughout this series we'll minimize the first 2 steps whenever possible by presenting images and actions to demonstrate our technical progressions. In this respect, the multi-media approach used on Tennisplayer will help us facilitate the natural learning process.

We'll use the visual resources of the site to create imagery of the technical elements. My daughter Kalindi will also serve as example of this approach in action, with footage first filmed when she was 10 years old and playing for less than a year, as well as footage of other young junior players. We'll start with the serve.

Teaching the Serve

Before we start the teaching progression, consider this amazing statistic that demonstrates the importance of the serve at even the lower levels of junior tennis.

As I began developing my approach, I charted a series of matches at a novice junior tournament. Here is what I found. About 45% of all swings were serves! How could that be?

In the matches I charted, the average set consisted of 55 points. The average point lasted 3 hits. Counting first and second serves, an average of 45% of all balls hit by all players were serves. We think of the serve as being much more important at the higher levels. What my research showed was that the serve is the most prominent shot in the game from the very beginning.

So given the importance of the serve at even the beginning level, when should a new player learn how to hit it? How about right off the bat? And how should it be taught? My answer is with the serving grip from the beginning. Let's see why.

Let's see what happens when players start with "frying pan" grip. The goal seems innocent enough, just getting the ball into the court. However, my view is that this can be one of the single most limiting technical decisions made by players and coaches.

Why? Eventually a player may learn to hit the first serve with some power with the frying pan grip, but it's impossible to develop the right spins. This makes it very difficult to get the first serve in consistently. It also means the second serve remains a powder puff. Without the ability to hit spin, the player is reduced to tapping it over the net.

As junior players try to progress, they just can't get away with that serve. But after years of serving with the wrong grips, making the necessary changes can be painful at best.

Spin and Snap

Two key components to developing a high level serve are Spin and Snap. The first one, spin, offers variety and control, since spin affects the flight of the ball and helps bring it down into the box. This effectively allows us to hit higher over the net, creating a larger margin for error.

The second component is what I call Snap. This requires a relaxed wrist with a full range of motion. Biomechanical studies show that the wrist provides the final link in the chain of movement that accelerates the racquet.

Without a relaxed wrist there is little potential for snap and acceleration. But the wrist is part of a larger complex of movements in the upward swing, including the extension of the elbow, the internal rotation of the upper arm, and the pronation of the forearm.

The key to developing the full range of this motion is the grip--the position of the hand on the racket handle. There is a dramatic difference in the possible motion between a frying pan grip and a true service grip. Look closely at the animations. A frying pan grip restricts the freedom of motion in the wrist. But it virtually precludes the rotation of the upper arm and forearm.

A hammer or continental grip, increases the range of motion in the wrist. And it is a perquisite for developing the key rotational components. Take a look at the result in Kalindi's serve in the animations below. Her technique became solid enough to allow her to improve as much as her desire and potential will allow. Now let's demonstrate step by step how we got her there.

I believe that the starting point for learning the serve should be a throwing motion. Although practicing all throwing motions is good for learning the way the hand and arm move, throwing a football or simulating that motion is particularly effective.

One point to consider however is the actual position of the racket hand at contact on the serve. It's much higher than the release point when throwing a baseball or a football. For that reason a great drill is to have young players throw tennis balls with a much higher release. This correlates the throwing motion and the serving motion quite precisely.

To do this, simply give the player a tennis ball and ask them to throw it as high in the air as they possibly can. Developing this basic throwing motion is even more important for girls, and my daughter is a good example, as she had little previous experiences throwing balls in any sport.

When it comes to the actual teaching progression, I think the way to begin is with players sitting down, about halfway between the service line and the net. This gets them balanced and helps them concentrate on the feeling of the arm and the wrist. It also forces them to throw upward to get the ball over the net. The feeling of hitting up is essential in developing the full motion, and this process imbeds that kinesthetic feeling from the beginning.

Next we actually give the player the racket and go to a kneeling position, moving back to about the service line. From the beginning we start with a serving grip. Even at this early stage, the right grip will automatically give them a feel for creating a little side spin or slice.

I also believe it's best to start with an abbreviated windup with the hand already in the throwing position. Here the player starts to get a feeling for the toss, hitting up with the racket, and a loose wrist. We use the feelings developed in the throwing stage to reinforce the importance of the upward extension of the arm and the relaxed hand and wrist.

The next stage is to move the player to a standing position. We stick with the abbreviated windup, and gradually move the player back as he or she progresses.

Eventually you can go to the full wind up as the player shows mastery over the upward swing and also the ability to control the ball and get it into the box.

A great way to manage this process is to add a game based element. When the player serves the ball into the service box he or she gets to take one step backwards toward the baseline.

But if they miss two in a row, they have to kneel down until they again get a serve in the box. Then they can stand and start to work their way back again. It's a challenge that is age appropriate, and it gives the players an immediate feeling of accomplishment.

Many coaches will argue that a young child does not have enough wrist strength to hold a continental grip. I have found that often it's not really question of strength, but rather a question of getting the player to really relax the hand and arm and just execute the motion naturally.

In the case of a 3 or 4 year old I might modify the process by using hand racquets and foam balls. But, at 5 or 6 and older, I suggest giving these progressions a try. You'll be surprised at what happens if you give the kids a chance.

And if you're an adult player who has trouble generating spin or serving consistently, there may even be a benefit for you as well in looking at the foundation of the motion.

So that's it for our theory and part one on the serve. Stay tuned for part two and we'll look at the the set up, the stance, the toss, and the legs, as well as more on the motion, spin and ball control.