February 22, 2009 
|
Quality lighting is a big differentiator for a tennis facility. It’s not difficult to assess your lighting system’s performance and it should be done annually using a light meter to take foot-candle readings. These can then be compared with USTA recommendations for nighttime play to see how your system is holding up. And it is worth checking out the latest innovations in tennis court lighting. New technology has led to the development energy efficient, high performance systems that may save you money while improving performance. Click here to learn more.
Two-Handed Forehand: Reworking a Flawed Forehand David W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne For those of you who are TennisOne members, last issue I wrote a feature piece called “Extreme Makeover: Forehand Topspin,” the last of a series of articles addressing common problems and potential solutions for a particular shot. There is a common problem when players try to “makeover” any shot: the new patterns are usually fairly close to the flawed patterns and the tendency is for players to inevitably revert back to their old methods, usually without even realizing it. The “muscle memory” infused in players after they have established various stroke patterns makes it very difficult to maintain new patterns long enough for them to become the dominant “muscle memorized” shot. As a teaching pro, I often recommend extreme measures to “over-ride” the muscle memory enough to learn a more desirable stroke pattern. With volleys I often use extreme angles to help players gain comfort with the continental grip; with serves, I emphasize a much bigger closed stance when a player is learning to slice the ball with the continental grip. When teaching groundstrokes, I often use a two-handed backhand to rework a flawed one-hander. Well, what about learning a two-handed forehand for the same reason? For most pros, those that have never taught the shot, the answer is “huh?” This is because few understand the shot, and fewer still believe what it is capable of. Until the last fifteen years, there were virtually no pros on tour using a two-handed forehand. Unfortunately, it fell outside the realm of what was orthodoxy, much as the two-handed backhand did forty years ago! (Connors, taught by his grandmother was labeled as having a “women’s backhand” and Borg, after winning the French Open was asked when he was going to learn a one-hander!)
When Monica Seles showed it could be taken to the highest level on the women’s tour, people took notice. Like the two-handed backhand, it would take a good ten years before enough pros recognized the stroke, taught the stroke to enough potentially skilled players, and enough of those made it to the pros. Of those of you old enough to remember, beyond Connors, Borg, Chris Evert, and Tracy Austin, few will be able to name more than a couple two-handed backhand players that came after them for about ten years! (Some might remember a guy by the name of Harold Solomon, one of the few two-handed backhanders to emerge during that transition period.) But what value does the two-handed forehand offer to the typical recreational, club, and tournament player? Stroke Dynamics I often label any good tennis stroke as one that is repeatable, reliable, and with an effective swing pattern. However, the biggest problem I see when I teach large groups of players is that very few create this good stroke pattern. A few days ago, I was asked to speak at a contingent of senior players at a retirement community. When we worked on forehands, the strokes ran the gamut: rolling the racquet, flipping the racquet, decelerating the racquet, slapping the ball with the racquet, etc. The only thing that every player had in common was that they all hit with a one-handed swing! I introduced the two-handed forehand to the group and within five minutes, every player had a very repeatable swing pattern. Of course, when each went to hit topspin forehands, most didn’t hit these first few balls over the net. However, within ten minutes, most had figured out where they now needed to aim, (since most were aiming where their old stroke used to go!), and each and every player hit with topspin, (some for the first time!), and each hit with a stroke that the group could all readily recognize as congruent and repeatable. Another time to introduce the two-handed forehand is when a player has really tried everything but failed to develop this repeatable, reliable, and effective swing pattern. I have a very athletic 70-year old man who looks about 45, and has all the talent in the world. Unfortunately, he learned the game a few years back using a very flawed swing. Within one lesson of teaching the two-handed stroke, the player was able to execute the swing with far more progressive and consistent form. This, again, was because the two-handed forehand was different enough from his one-handed form that he could more easily employ the stroke elements that were advantageous for him to improve. While I don’t believe every player is suited for a two-handed forehand, it can open many eyes as to how to stroke differently from the old, familiar swing pattern TennisOne Lesson Library It was just about a week ago that I received an e-mail from a newsletter subscriber commenting on why we don’t talk about the value of the two-handed forehand, (one of the reasons which prompted this particular topic today!). Because she was not a member of TennisOne, (only a newsletter subscriber), she wasn't aware that there are three in-depth articles on the two-handed forehand which are always available in the TennisOne Lesson Library. (TennisOne is the only site to discuss the two-handed forehand in such depth.)
This made me stop to think that among the thousands of newsletter subscribers we have at TennisOne, many have never considered spending the small amount of money to gain an annual subscription to the site. For the price of one private tennis lesson, a student of the game can gain about 700 articles on tennis; about 6000 video clips of pros hitting every shot imaginable, from every angle imaginable; and gain information on such topics as the two-handed forehand, rounding out drills, or Parallel Mode Processing, all unique to TennisOne and all extraordinarily valuable to anyone who wants to become the best tennis player they can be! So, my final thoughts to you are this: Take up the free one-month trial subscription to TennisOne and spend ten or fifteen minutes a day reading one or two articles and looking at two or three video clips. I challenge you to discover something new every single day and in the process become a far better tennis player than you probably ever thought you could be! I could have only dreamed of having something so valuable to learn from when I was growing up! (Yes, I’m that old!) As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
If you wish to be removed from our newsletter list, please send an email to newsletter-unsubscribe@tennisonedev.com and leave the subject line blank. A confirmation email will be sent to you, and you will be removed from our newsletter list once you reply to that confirmation.
|
||||||
