Bailey's footwork program

[airforce1]

Hey, anybody worked with his stuff? Looks pretty good to me and I like the drills I could see.
Does he give tennisplayer.net members and discount? haha

Like to hear from anyone who has tried his program or DVDs.

[johnyandell]

I think it's a must--fundamentally at the level of comprehension and also with training applications. It's not that every player will have to train every contact move--although David does work that way to great effect-but it also gives you an idea of what the movement pattern should really look like on a given ball when it just seems "off."

[airforce1]

thanks

thanks John for confirming my initial instincts on seeing his work. I will really enjoy getting to know more about his methods.

[johnyandell]

There are about 20 contact moves and I'll agree that some of them David may emphasize certain elements strongly. The real contribution of his work is identifying this complexity. But if you see footage of the players he works with you can also see that his players have incorporated all these incredibly sophisticated patterns.

[amar]

It is one thing to identify but to teach compensatory techniques as a foundational method is not enlightening to me!

[johnyandell]

If you look at all the contact moves David starts with the basic neutral stance moves and goes from there. It's not what I would call compensatory. Like I said there is a descriptive and a proscriptive component.

Personally I still like the Bob Hansen articles as the simplest patterns for basic footwork. Even if they may not accurately reflect everything that happens.

The issue is what you teach versus what you leave to the student. I tend to believe that you don't get into the complexities unless there are problems. But if you watch the players David works with the moves seem perfect.