The Half Volley

2-9-11--Lesson With J.


First let me document my discussion with John...  I asked about poaching.  John said that the poach needs to incorporate the intention of finishing out the point.  He said that you may not always be successful in finishing the point, but if you are going to poach, you should be in the position where you have a good chance that you can close out the point or you shouldn't poach.

J. said that I need to follow through on my forehand groundies with my whole arm, not just my wrist.


With regard to the half volley, the shot requires a closed stance (with good footwork) and low, bent knees.  The ideal half volley is not a strong offensive shot, but rather a low medium pace ball.  Typically, a half volley will land short.  If the opponent is on the baseline and sees the half volley-er getting down to take that shot, he/she should start working up to the net to be in a position to make the return.  It is a good probability that half volley is not going to be a deep shot.  The return of the half volley should be a shot where you are taking it really early.


On the serve, I need to toss as I am lean forward, not leaning backward and I probably need to toss the ball higher.

Pivotal Lesson Today

2-2-11 Lesson With J.


And no, we did not work on pivoting.  This is going to be very good for my game.


We worked on taking a short, low ball.  There are two choices: chip the shot back (but this could float too high and be an easy put away shot) or use a closed stance and bend knees getting quite low.  Brush up on the back of the ball like a regular groundie except less force.  The less your knees are bent, the faster your arm.  You don't want a really fast arm because the ball will smack into the net.  I should already know this from experience, but I never figured it out before.  The closed stance is really important so that you can get down low on the ball.  When taking a shot right at the baseline, the procedure is really the same--closed stance and get low.