Attack With Your Forehand Volley

If you want to finish more points, the volley is the way to go. Hit a low setup, keeping it low over the ground. We're going to work on the volley with a 5.0 Playtomic level female player here in the US at this beautiful Paddle 9 club.

So the timing is that 1, 2. It's that waiting that extra— you have to hit the ball so far in front of you, um, wait for the ball to get that extra second back. So I've got all this stuff going through my head I'm trying to put together.

Yeah. All I want you to think about now is to get brush, and with your nocks, is brush it through the face of your nocks. Yeah, that's all. Like, forget holding your head and distance from ball and all the other advice for now. Like, I'm coaching you in the moment.

Okay.

Right, they've coached you like in other sessions from what they've seen. Let's just— we're doing the now.

Okay.

So keep that racket head up. You're gonna turn. Keep doing what you're doing with your feet. That's working really well. And all we're going to go through is here and push, like push to brush down that ball.

Okay, good.

And again. Good. That's good though, I like that.

Good.

I'm liking these. I don't care about the result, we got spin now. Okay, sorry, a bit higher.

Yep.

Good.

Yes, yes, okay. I like that. It's consistent.

Yeah.

Go on.

No, I was gonna say they still seem a little flat, some of them, but they are staying lower.

They're staying lower.

Yeah.

And importantly, they're like, of the 10, 9 were almost exactly the same. So when we make a change, we're fixing something that is already consistent. Whereas before it would be like, Like one bouncy, one fast, one to the side, one here. So, so I feel like now we're in a good, good position with the foot, the feet, like keeping this racket head up. Like keep that simple, whatever.

It's not there, it's there.

Yeah, and, and whatever the teaching point is for you, like if it helps to hold it by your head and it's a great shot, then great, like that's fine. But, but for me, it's keeping the racket head up so that we can brush down. And sometimes I use the, the through the racket face, whatever It is for you.

And when you brush down, you're not— you're brushing this, it's that chop.

Yeah, you're trying to, but because you're turning and stepping in, you can kind of control the hand. Like, do you see how you curled a few into the corner? Like, with the same thing, you can do that. Yeah, because you're turning and stepping in. So that's what we're going for. The only thing that I would change now off those last 10 is just to have your— like, you slightly more compact and slightly more explosive. Yeah, explosive on the ball because it like— and that will bring slice, right? So keep doing the slice, but the body a little bit more explosive on the impact. Yes, that's the one! Okay, and again.

Good, good.

Push with the leg. Push, spin, remember, remember spin first, like, like we're increasing explosivity but explosivity on the, on the spin.

Good!

That one, like those last 2, for me you, you hit that, that point in the spectrum perfectly.

Okay.

Like it wasn't too fast and flat and it wasn't too much spin and it was in that, it was in that nice zone. Like, if that doesn't— isn't a winner, then, then the next ball for you is very easy. Yeah, and it might be a tap out or whatever it might be, right? Because remember, this, this shot is at the level you play. You play a good level, so this is a setup still, right? Like, it's a setup volley. It's not necessarily a, a winner. Yeah, I think the hard thing is, like, if I think of— so that last session with Sandy, she hasn't had, like, loads of lessons So it's like, it's quite easy to make a change, right?

Right. And no, it's very subtle with me. I know it is, but it makes a huge difference.

Yeah, but this is the really hard thing with coaching, and I feel like you've had loads of, like, lots of advice, and then other players who are not even coaches probably give you advice, right? And then it's like, it's a difficult one.

It is the same advice. It's The racket high, but it's, it's sometimes the way it's taught that sticks, you know what I mean?

But, but I think that the key is to find something that sticks. Originally I was talking about like the wedge, but that wasn't sticking. Do you know what I mean?

It makes me think too much about— yeah, it's like change my grip.

But it doesn't matter. But, but it doesn't work for you, so then I'm thinking about, right, the, the face maybe doesn't work for you. Like, can we keep the racket head up? Like, does that Yeah. It's finding something as a coach like that works for you, that, that gets the result that you're wanting. Because then when we finish the lesson, it's like, great, that's your takeaway, that's what you focus on the next time you play. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to keep this rally going. Okay, so now imagine that we're in a match and you're playing this ball, but you're playing it like— I don't want to say sensibly, but you're, you're playing with, with intention, but now not necessarily trying to hit winners on it. Yeah, so I'm going to feed it in and you, you're going to win the point by putting me under loads and loads of pressure with this spin. Good, lovely, perfect. Yeah, on those toes, pushing.

Good, Sandy! Nice!

Ah, yeah, that's the one! It doesn't need more than that.

Yeah.

That, that first one, I don't think it needs the power.

It didn't need— I know, as I hit it I realized.

Because I'm, I'm here and I'm playing it like this. Yeah, there, that's so much more effective. Yeah. Okay, keep moving those feet. Good, great volley. That, that's the one for me, is like that, that, that balance on the spectrum of like enough spin, enough spin that you can keep the ball low, but, but enough power that there's, there's still a bit of like bite on it, right?

And enough consistency that I'm not making a mistake on the easy ball. Yeah, I just—

it's repetitive because all of those were Like, yeah, just past the service. Like, they were so effective. Like, and they got, got me down low, they got a weak ball from me, which is what, what you're looking for, right? And then that's, that's how you, you end up building the point.

Perfect.

And I think the takeaways is like the footwork, which, which is everything, right? Footwork is, is, you know, turning, pushing off this back toe, like really scrunching the toes, pushing into the contact. And then for you, I think that was helpful thinking racket above hand.

Yeah, yeah.

Anything else you're taking from that, Andy?

Um, and slow it down a little. It doesn't need to be so hard. Yeah, definitely.

Perfect. That's, that's paddle advice for the world, that is, Andy. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Very good, very nice.