A New Year's Serve

[tpatennis]

Serving Blind

What are your thoughts about learning to serve with your eyes closed? It seems pointless to many, but I feel it helps quite a lot; you can't just throw it up and smack it, you must know your own motion and understand where the ball will be. Therefore your serve must stay consistent and not change your technique every 5 minutes.

To have a great serve, unless you are massive and strong, you need rhythm and I think if you are able to serve with your eyes closed you definitely need rhythm.

My attempt... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1UcTnwLSdI

Tom Allsopp

https://www.tpatennis.net

[bottle]

Scapular Retraction on One Side Only

The more rotorded the server, the more important that he or she obtain a good leftward lean, especially when a high-kicking serve is the goal.

This advice applies to most of the servers in the world, since very few of them are as flexible as Sampras, Isner, or Roddick.

So tell me, Dr. Bottle, just where in my body, after your examination, have you decided that I am most inflexible?

"I term your specific type of inflexibility 'rotordedness,' which refers to the axle-like properties of your upper arm, which simply won't twist backward far enough. So I'm recommending parallel feet, a big cantilever, a sideways orientation for this serve. But you must be careful not to exacerbate your sciatica, which improperly applied leftward lean inflicted in the first place, after all, years ago, when through a combination of ignorance and foolhardiness, you failed to maintain proper muscular support to your lower lumbar region.

"You need the longest possible runway up to the leftward placed ball, and if, as your hips go out toward the right fence, your shoulders go out toward the left fence and your knees go down down down, you turn your hitting shoulder gradually backward, it, too, will go down because of the increasing body tilt. You can do this in two different ways, sir: First, as I said, turn your shoulders but not from too far down in your body; second, perform scapular retraction on the right side of your body.

"This latter revolutionary idea comes from Mark Papas at the Revolutionary Tennis website, and is attractive in that it allows left arm to remain relaxed as it points upward."

[bottle]

I was just finishing my incarnation as an art colony bum and was teaching advanced composition for the University of Massachusetts Higher Education in Prisons Program at Norfolk and Walpole. My real miss-behavior, however, didn't begin until 1997, when I ran away from my marriage in the United States to live with a beautiful Hungarian in Budapest.

Although that didn't work out, partly because I was straight and she was a priestess of psychedelics, I would not change anything. Mistakes are how we learn-- if we do learn.

[don_budge]

bottle? 1975?

So what were you up to in 1975...just curious? Seeing that it is a rain delay and all of that.

[bottle]

More on Roger-Chop (See # 782)

See how the ball is hit way out front. So the strings fly downward only a little to put themselves on the ball. The chop part is in how the strings come off of the ball-- down and sideways and backward! Contact then is at the prow of the shot.

Does anything else happen at the prow? Some wrist action perhaps? Backward for absorption? Forward to generate extra spin? Is there a pulled punch effect? Are these questions bad?

Only if you believe in the loftiness of Roger's genius over the hard work he put in, work which is available to anyone.

[bottle]

Three-Slice Review

Send barrel slowly toward net as oncoming ball passes over it toward strings.
Change direction of the movement (a right turn) by clenching shoulder-blades hard. Loose arm can straighten passively. If ball is going too high, is not skimming net, is not therefore ready to skid, you can lower elbow a little during the rip to close upper edge, with upper edge the part of the racket from which you want ball to depart. Another good cue is to set racket initially in such a way that if you had a ring on your middle finger you would just see it (Oscar Wegner).

Marinate/myelinize this stroke for seven years. Then try preparing farther back so that the right-angled change of direction ends up hitting through the ball rather than crossing it so much. The concept is different but the performance and structure of the stroke are the same! You'll get more underspin than the sidespin you've grown to like. But the clenching shoulder-blades may whack the ball too much when you'd prefer, that, instead of racket head zinging around, it slice past the ball like a butter knife. Just pull racket butt rim out toward net a bit so as to compensate for the clench. You get power from the clench in other words without letting racket fully follow the direction of that clench.

So, now we're using the same stroke in two different ways. Add a third, chop,
by watching video of what everybody calls "Roger Federer's slice." That's okay since chop is primarily a downward form of slice (rather than across or through or partially across and through).

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/Backhand_Slice/RF_BH_Slice_Arm_Action/RF_BH_Slice_Arm_Action.html?RF%20BHSlice%20ArmAction%20Side3%20250fps%20.mov

[bottle]

Hysterian Serve

On the double-barreled kicker we have been discussing, we are now starting our cantilevered body bend very early as part of a gravity drop.

As the arms fall down, in other words, the knees begin their compression on flat feet.

As the arms go up (one at 4 mph, the other at 2 mph), the knees continue their compression on flat feet.

As the hooked toss descends over the body, the knees continue this cantilevering with the help of one's ankles. The heels rise up on both sets of toes, and the shoulders appear to be frightened of the dropping ball, hence they descend even more to try to get away.

The rear shoulder, in fact, is a hysterian and a security guard whose entire existence is predicated on avoiding the next 9/11-- a shoulder of limited interests and understanding, as well as a scaredy-cat and fear-biting dog, and so it turns itself even farther down toward the ground at this time, as well, and can go even farther in this direction if you add some scapular retraction on the hitting side of the body.

The hitting hand can have turned inward as part of the initial racket drop. Can I say and can I mean. Or wrist can have stayed straight and relaxed, ready to bend outward pretty much the way servers everywhere do it.

If hand does choose a contrarian's turn inside, however, the way the arm bends up will be affected, and so will the way the racket approaches the ball, and another option will suddenly occur-- preserve inwardness or turn wrist out just from a more extreme position.

The inward wrist option can produce edge on look or even more, with back side of strings coming briefly at ball. Edginess may now be possible from a same stance that contributed to opening of the racket too soon before.

Inside out release will take immediate follow-through off of ball farther to the right.

[bottle]

Early Deceleration in a One Hand Backhand

Sounds terrible, doesn't it, this idea of decelerating right after one hits the ball.

Don't be fooled. And stop myelinizing inferior designs.

Instead, consider this venerable description of a running backhand follow-through on page 64 of TENNIS by Pancho Gonzalez and Dick Hawk: "7. This is the end of the follow-through. The racket head points to the top of my opponent's fence."

To achieve that happy goal, I submit, there can be no excess of energy in either the racket head or the body.

So there we are, frozen in perfect balance and pointing at top of opponent's fence-- no farther and no higher. Hold this pose for 120 seconds. Say, "I am a statue."

Then ask, "What just happened?" Well, both ends of the racket rose at the same speed, decelerating. Before that, both ends of the racket rose at the same speed, accelerating. (That was precisely when you came off of the ball.)

Before that, the racket tip pivoted around level from a starting point in close.

Before that, your strings fell in close to your body behind you, which free drop from the shoulder was helped by your hips gliding out and also by straightening of arm at the elbow.

Drop in such a way as to maximize the subsequent round-a-bout, nifty prying action. From drop to end of follow-through is a single motion. Freeze! Best margin of error at end of the follow-through is with strings facing top of opposite fence a little rather than being flipped over. Perfect is tip of racket frame pointing there? The Gonzalez/Hawk language is a bit ambiguous on this POINT, but maybe it should be? Regardless of what's pointing at top of the fence, this feels like a snappy yet smooth backhand to me.

[bottle]

Cantilevers, Fresh from the Vine, Only a Dime

Same arrangement of feet orchestrates nicely the first serve, second serve difference, but I've got to have some suppositions. Life just isn't fun without suppositions.

I suppose, that, with knees perfectly parallel to one another and pointing like two flashlights toward side fence, that, the player is basing his overall service presentation on second serve, whereas someone betting on a lot of aces might splay his feet in different directions.

From parallel knees and feet one can bow one's body in the traditional first serve manner, with hip thrusting toward net and weight loading over front foot.

On second serve, as knees compress, weight can load on both feet. Will opponent be able to read the difference? Probably. And if this is a big consideration for you, maybe you'd better splay your feet on first and second serves.

If however you are going with parallelism, you might consider, on your second serve, not raising your heels too soon. Hips and knees definitely go one way while shoulders and head go the opposite. But heels can stay down until the end, or rather the bottom, of this process.

[bottle]

Re-consideration II

For a few days this excellent model looked as if it were going to work like gangbusters. I had a history of not very dissimilar motion (along with other histories), a myelinized circuit therefore to build upon? Be careful of this idea? Better to start an entirely new circuit?

About the third or fourth day I got wild. That made me think I'd better return to the more gravity-driven pattern I'd developed (or re-developed) just this summer-- it's very solid and something to rely on under pressure.

I can do that, but bring across at the same time some of the ideas such as cantilevering toward opposite side fences. Just use a more revolved initial stance, and if I want to then try driving evenly off both legs, on this second serve, go ahead.

To be unaffected by all of my recent reading, video watching and thinking about myelin seems impossible. But to be over-affected by it seems probable, too. One should always remember how much is unknown. The practical lesson is to value long range development above all. You're getting there! Don't despair. Have faith. My eight-oared crew didn't know much technique but won three Dad Vail national championships and started a rich, annual rivalry with Harvard. We did it one way-- by rowing more miles than anybody else.

Discussion then goes against quick fix while realizing, a bit mindblowingly, that improvised, ad hoc response is crucial to the long range enterprise. You
try hard with enthusiasm and passion, you ignite. Whoops, made a mistake!

That's when you learn or you don't.

[bottle]

Re-consideration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQSd3lYxvak&feature=related

I tend to be overly enthusiastic sometimes, but have to say this is the best of a hundred videos on the same topic, at least for some one who constantly has had trouble in producing ball trajectory and kick as powerful as that of Tom.

To try to answer my own question-- how do you get your shoulders properly sloped in this model?-- on re-watching this video, I see that almost all of the first half positioning is spread out and simultaneous, and the shoulders end by sloping up at a point directly above the target, and hips have gone out toward the right fence rather than toward the net.

[bottle]

Yesterday (wish I had some musical notation on my computer)

Two days ago, between hitting serves, I dropped a few balls and hit some backhands, and noticed several members of the South High School tennis team in Grosse Pointe, Michigan watching me closely.

That certainly doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I was hitting one-handers, and I was dropping elbow to start the forward stroke in a way I hadn't for a long time, as I tried to imitate Emira Stafford (to find Emira see earlier video in this thread or go to tpatennis).

Yesterday, between hitting serves, I dropped and hit three forehands: a Ferrerfore, a Federfore and a Ziegenfuss.

The Federfore is the most myelinated (practiced) of my forehands. But the way I hit it is flawed, as if a prehistoric bug is frozen in amber somewhere. I get good pace but not enough topspin, and have often wondered if this was due to right hand not hinging backward far enough due to a broken arm at fourteen.

The Ziegenfuss is most fun because it is so opposite to what most people do: arm first then body completing the stroke. Gradually closing the wrist as I slowly swing forward has made it "free-wristed" in the classical definition of that term given by Paul Metzler of Australia. Wrist then gets to go backward for a second time as ball pushes against it.

But the Ferrerfore remains my most promising choice even though I've made a small change in it within the last week. Elbow gets a little high in preparation. After all, we were given free tickets for the Tigers game last night. In all simplicity, I say to myself, "This shot shall be a sidearm throw, like Ben Hogan's right arm in a golf swing, with elbow coming into the hip and palm then facing down."

The palm facing down forms what others choose to call a windshield wiper but is less metallic and more organic and leads to a natural finish around the left upper arm.

I hit just one yesterday, but the guy playing singles on the adjacent court was coming my way between points and said, "Nice shot."

Not that this means anything, again. I don't even know yet how this revised shot will play in a hit or a match, but am certainly curious.

I like this sidearm throw idea-- to describe what the arm does-- and plan to postulate it, i.e., make body take a more subordinate role so as to support it all the way, like a baseball infielder's throw to first.

[bottle]

It's pretty humbling stuff when you consider that we human beings are apt to think that we actually know something. Me, I must confess, that, until right now, I didn't even make the distinction that you and all chiropracters and the videos make between CNS (central nervous system) and PNS (peripheral nervous system).

About ordering books: I'm much too cheap ever to buy a Kindle, Nook, etc., and don't know the various promotions ("If you stay at our hotel, you get a free...", etc.), but my partner Hope (I do invoke her name whenever possible) purchased one and has never seen it since. I'm in the middle of BOUNCE, by Matthew Syed, who syed it isn't just the 10,000 hours of reps but the good coach (that would be you) and the circumstance (that would be California). Anyway, it just takes seconds to order and receive any book, and then you can adjust the size of the print.

One of Daniel Coyle's other central terms, besides myelin, seems highly important: the word "ignite." How much latent scientist is there in a kid or anyone else? And how can we turn it on? A tennis instructor, actually, might be in unique position to do so.

Thanks.

[tennis_chiro]

Thanks, Bottle

http://www.youtube.com/v/d9pGc2BeVvE...uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/E9IRrtptjAQ&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/XgIaAs_ONG4&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/mOgHC5G8LuI&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/tMdW8lFw5VY&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/IgDuW4RsluE&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

"Finding and fixing is at the core of the process." -- Daniel Coyle

Thanks, Bottle
You really made my day. Honest. I feel ready to go back to work again getting the little beasties to do it over and over and over and over again...nicely, of course!

First, I thought, OMG! These people today are so lucky to have all this in detailed animation and video. I had to go through this and so much more trying to get it clear in chiropractic school (almost 5000 hours of class). It's much harder trying to read or follow a chalk board lecture. Then I realized I was doomed. If I start looking up all these things and learning them on youtube, I'll never have time to go out and do anything.

You have to understand, chiropractors are all about the central and peripheral nervous system. The underlying theory is the central nervous system is always right (the brain - INNATE), but the message gets messed up as it is passed down the PNS through various junctions and through all kinds of spaces that get pulled and pinched and compressed by various forces that create an exitation/inhibition of the nerve in question and the message it is transmitting. It can get a lot more technical than that, but that was at the core of D.D. Palmer's original theory.

I ordered The Talent Code last week, but it hasn't arrived. How do you think I am ever going to get around to finishing TLWORH!!?

But it is great to see something so concrete (I guess myelin is a lot softer than concrete, but it's natural strength is like that of spider silk). My former student, little Angela Kulikov's father was a Russian boxer. On a trip to Moscow about three years ago, they sought out that tennis school in the middle of the park in Moscow and took a lesson. Many kids lined up perfecting the motion before they ever got to hit a ball. Kids waiting in line practicing dry strokes while the other kids were hitting. Repetition.

But it's very hard to get American kids in the 21st century to make enough repetitions for it to matter. It should be fun, but it is still a lot of work. Progress is only briefly mercurial. You don't see the results until much later. I tell them it is my job to be a Nit Picker. But it's not a lot of fun to be Nit Picked!

I've had a number of students who didn't complete the path I had them on, but in the year after they left me they suddenly started to do very well. I think they had just gotten to the point where there was enough myelin to make a difference. But I haven't been able to convince them to stick around long enough for them to let me finish the job.

But after that Nightline video, I promise to keep trying.

don

[bottle]

Best Movies of Myelin Found So Far

http://www.youtube.com/v/d9pGc2BeVvE&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/E9IRrtptjAQ&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/XgIaAs_ONG4&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/mOgHC5G8LuI&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/tMdW8lFw5VY&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/IgDuW4RsluE&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1

"Finding and fixing is at the core of the process." -- Daniel Coyle