What is ISR? The Forehand Volley

[johnyandell]

Would love to hear your thoughts on my latest article, "What is ISR? The Forehand Volley"

[jeremy93]

So fun to read. I love teaching the volley. I agree with everything in the article. Really great fundamental stuff all around. Gives me more confidence that I am teaching a lot of things the right way.

[stotty]

I always think if you teach the fundamentals well then the bells and whistles will take care of themselves. I think this applies to John's article too. The volley is perhaps the most interesting stroke of the lot. On the face of it, the volley is simplest shot technically of all the strokes, yet it isn't.

For me the volley is about simplicity, timing, and weight transfer. Seems easy yet somehow it isn't.

[ten1050]

Hello John,
I enjoyed your article on the volley. I especially liked your description of the rotation of the entire arm structure at the shoulder. This is very similar to the way Pat Cash volleys. Over the years, I have greatly benefited from your tennis magazine. I am happy to say that next month I am going to Turkey to play for Team USA in the World Team Championships for Seniors. I am on the Men’s 70 team, and we will be competing for the Jack Crawford Cup against 18 other nations. I want to thank you for all of your hard work in creating this outstanding magazine.

Sincerely,

Norman Ashbrooke

[doctorhl]

Great article! I always thought the hand was doing this and was wondering about hand tension, but I now see that it is a subconscious timed tension of the shoulder that allows rotation in the esr/isr unit at point of contact. Trying to reproduce it consciously can really be disastrous as you point out.

[johnyandell]

Guys thank you all for the support and great comments. Norm good luck in Turkey. Let us know how it went!

[carlpro]

The position of the elbow relative to the body on the forehand volley has a big impact on the amount of ESR and subsequent path of the racquet through impact. If the elbow is too close to the body it increases the size of the back swing because it serves as a hinge laying the racquet back to far. When the elbow moves away from the body the movement initiates from the shoulder.

[johnyandell]

I could see that!