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TennisOne Lessons Feeling Your Way Through a Game-Based Approach – part 2 Wayne Elderton We have started a new series to emphasize that it is the ‘feelings’ of a stroke more than the movements themselves that players need in order to learn technique.
There is a great body of research that shows the importance of visual learning. Humans are wired to copy others' movements. There is plenty of visual learning information and help out there. From endless DVD’s to online resources, we get videos and pictures of the movements top players perform. I am going to go against the grain a bit and assert that, while visual learning is unparalleled at the very beginning of the learning process, it is kinesthetic learning that is the critical element to master a skill. Utilizing the visual only is an incomplete process. This series is designed to help unlock the power of kinesthetic learning. Of course, we are limited in that this article is coming to you through visual and auditory avenues. However, it is still helpful to give clues as to how technical movements should feel. Everyone is an individual (does my attacking inside-out forehand feel like yours?), however, we all share many common feeling experiences. These can be imparted to help players along the path to feeling their own successful shots. In the last article (“Sensational Tennis: Unlocking the Power of Kinesthetic Learning”) we outlined three main bodies of sensations. Each one was connected to the neutral phase of a stroke family:
Let’s expand our repertoire and add some different feelings. We will focus on the volleys to illustrate the concepts. What Is Involved in a Shot ’Sensation’? It was mentioned in the first article that these ‘tricks’ are used all the time by good coaches and creative players. Many of these concepts may be ‘old hat’ to you. If so, it is the systematic application that you should focus on (“How can I learn, or help others to learn this way more frequently?). Each shot in tennis has a set of elements that describe how the shot feels. Shot sensations are comprised of three main elements: Swing Scale: Sensations include how much the racquet travels before, or after the impact. For example, a defensive shot may have little racquet work prior to, and after the impact. An attack shot may have more racquet preparation before, and a big finish after the impact. Since 1988, we have used a scale in our Canadian Coaching system that goes from the biggest backswing (10) to the biggest follow-through (10). For example, a full attacking groundstroke may be a 10/10. A defensive block may be a 2/2 (2 backswing with a 2 follow-through), etc. Racquet Rhythm: This is where the racquet moves slower or faster through the motion prior to, during, and after the impact point. For example, good serves often have a slow-fast rhythm. A ‘touch’ shot may have the racquet decelerate (fast-slow) to take pace off. Every shot has a rhythm that makes it more effective. Linkage: Sensations also include which, and how many body segments are used in a shot (e.g. using shoulder, elbow, and wrist links to add pace on a forehand or, minimizing the links used for a block volley). All these elements are combined to produce the feel of a shot. To make all this complicated theory easier to remember, sensations can be grouped around specific key words. For example we learned about ‘catch’ and ‘throw’ sensations in the first article of the series. Since you can’t place me inside your body to feel a shot, we are left with pictures and words to convey the message to others. When we describe a sensation we can improve the accuracy of the description by using these categories. Volley Sensations We started with a neutral catch sensation as the main (and first) one to learn. However, once a player starts competing, more types of volleys are needed. Let's look at a few and how to learn them. To categorize sensations we can fit them into three groups:
We will spend the rest of the article looking at ‘Taking Pace Off Sensations’. Since intentions drive our movements, no explanation about stroke feelings is complete without the tactics the actions are intended to perform. Therefore, we will start each section with a tactic. Touch: the feeling of “absorbing” the pace of the ball received.
Have you ever seen or experienced the trick of throwing a tennis ball high in the air and catching it on the racquet? Typically, the player will slow the racquet down quickly. This same concept is used for a ‘touch’ volley with one key difference. To impact the ball in front and control the racquet angle, the only segment doing the ‘shock absorbing’ is the wrist. Using our description elements, it is described as this:
Block: Although this is often the type of volley many beginners are taught first, it is one that is not used that often.
Conclusion By getting players to feel the shot, they can make the ball do what is required to steal points from their opponent. Not only that, but they can adapt and modify the shots as their ability to feel becomes more sensitive. Learning and adapting shots makes winning more points (or losing less) far easier than just copying movements and far more effective than having a coach simply tell you to, “follow-through more.” In the next installment, we will explore additional feelings needed to make the ball do what we want. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Wayne Elderton's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
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Wayne Elderton