your stroke

[airforce1]

Jeff did a real nice job in recognizing the power problem on the Newest vid FH, that was caused due to a late or deeper Contact point. The big ball drill looks to be a super aid for teaching a new contact point. I often use the soft toss with a bounce (baseball hitters drill but with the bounce added in) to instill a better contact point, along with insisting that students work on CP when dropping to hit to start a drop hit rally. I believe that where you drop to hit, is a message about how you perceive your contact point.

The towel drill looks to be helpful for adding power as well, but I disagree with connecting it and further shoulder turn, with the problem contact point. Less shoulder turn is vital to success in certain FHs, such as returning serve, but the good contact point can be constant.

Also, even with the excellent improvement on his contact point, it still seemed it could be moved 4-6 inches more out front. After referencing the stroke archives of Nadal and Federer, I'm convinced of this. This is only mentioned due to the new contact point being labeled as a Pro Contact Point. Despite the huge improvement and excellent approach to this work, this label could be a little misleading for newer readers.

This is a very nice job of improving a FH's power and helping a player. I'm sure with his new awareness on the CP's importance, he will continue to improve even more in the months to come.

[jeffreycounts]

Jeff did a real nice job in recognizing the power problem on the Newest vid FH, that was caused due to a late or deeper Contact point. The big ball drill looks to be a super aid for teaching a new contact point. I often use the soft toss with a bounce (baseball hitters drill but with the bounce added in) to instill a better contact point, along with insisting that students work on CP when dropping to hit to start a drop hit rally. I believe that where you drop to hit, is a message about how you perceive your contact point.

The towel drill looks to be helpful for adding power as well, but I disagree with connecting it and further shoulder turn, with the problem contact point. Less shoulder turn is vital to success in certain FHs, such as returning serve, but the good contact point can be constant.

Also, even with the excellent improvement on his contact point, it still seemed it could be moved 4-6 inches more out front. After referencing the stroke archives of Nadal and Federer, I'm convinced of this. This is only mentioned due to the new contact point being labeled as a Pro Contact Point. Despite the huge improvement and excellent approach to this work, this label could be a little misleading for newer readers.

This is a very nice job of improving a FH's power and helping a player. I'm sure with his new awareness on the CP's importance, he will continue to improve even more in the months to come.

Thanks for the great comments. I really like your idea of stressing the contact point even when you drop to hit. It reenforces the habit of contact in front of the body. I'll be using that tip when I teach!

As for a "pro" contact point, my observation has been that if the elbow is in front of the side of the body on contact, it is consistent with what the best players achieve. I think Nadal, Federer, and Verdasco get their tremendous contact points from straightening the arm more (Verdasco and Nadal completely straighten the arm). John has a pretty significant bend in the arm, which does differ from those players.

Jeff

[airforce1]

Thanks for the great comments. I really like your idea of stressing the contact point even when you drop to hit. It reenforces the habit of contact in front of the body. I'll be using that tip when I teach!

As for a "pro" contact point, my observation has been that if the elbow is in front of the side of the body on contact, it is consistent with what the best players achieve. I think Nadal, Federer, and Verdasco get their tremendous contact points from straightening the arm more (Verdasco and Nadal completely straighten the arm). John has a pretty significant bend in the arm, which does differ from those players.

Jeff

Excellent point, as I did look at straight arm FHs in the archive, didn't I.