A New Year's Serve

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See See Completion of the Articulation

"Hit the ball out front and from the side," says veteran teaching pro Aggie Guastella (https://www.eastsidetennisfitness.com/staff) as she mimes the proper setup. The arm and racket are close into the body.

Well, if all that is true, the subject is footwork to establish a clear pathway to the target. We students are standing behind Aggie and a bit to the side, or rather she assumed the position that best reveals the pathway she's got us thinking about.

Tom serves from deuce court. Bill is at the net. Bottle receives. The first few returns go crosscourt but don't reach the alley. Then...three see sees in a row.

Next goal: four.

Value of this instruction: $1 million.

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Reflection on Hitting Three See See Service Return Winners in a Row

It's not a high percentage shot. Or at least it's not supposed to be. But if you can hit three in a row you can probably hit four.

Winners, all winners. The ball trajectory is high, thus creating the angle. Topspin brings the shot down. But how much topspin? How many RPMs? Is there distinction to be made between light quick topspin and slow, heavy topspin? For sure.

Then which is more reliable? Uh-huh.

I remember in some tennis book encountering the following viewpoint: "I can teach you the basics of forehand, backhand, serve, volley, half-volley, overhead, drop-shot and lob, but when it comes to a short angle crosscourt forehand you will have to work on that project on your own."

The author apparently shared my view of the complexity of this shot.

Well I want body in the lift but not body weight countering the arm and racket work by coming through.

The sit and hit forehand of Vic Braden's TENNIS FOR THE FUTURE offers a template even though I must reject the idea of step-out and one's racket lowering happening at the same time.

One steps, then turns one's hips to lower the racket still more than the amount one already achieved with clever arm work.

So the hips have fired. That leaves shoulders and legs to add weight to one's lift.

One should not hit this shot as intentional winner but rather should follow it into net and hit a volley to the exact same spot.

The Jensen brothers used this one-two ploy to win the French Open doubles, and I suspect without knowing that every player on Luke Jensen's women's tennis team at Syracuse University has learned it.

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The Ever Evolving See See

That is the greatest aspect to this unique stroke, greater even than the oohs and ahs it occasions when done to perfection, which drive you on of course to new attempts. It grows, it evolves, it transforms.

Using the McEnrueful rhythm works but today I reject that as too complex. In self-feed to celebrate mailing taxes, the variation that was better was see sees hit off of cast net forehand.

Opposite hand stays on racket but then racket goes down as opposite hand points across. (Not true on a regular cast net forehand, which I hope to make my staple forehand. This shot was absolutely singing several weeks ago.)

No down and up and then down again. That works perfectly on a McEnrueful but takes up too much time on a see see.

Down the racket goes and keeps going down from shoulder lowering thanks to forward hips turn.

From there the shot is the same as what has almost been inventing itself. Believe that squeeze at the elbow should be optional though. "Very relaxed arm" is perhaps a single phrase to cover every one of the movements that involve that arm.

Stotty advised as few moving parts as possible, and the evolution seems to counter that idea a bit. The thing of it though is that all the movement is in a single direction-- up. None of the movement goes through the ball.

Grip is on the cusp of strong eastern and semiwestern. Despite that fact there is no mondo-- the wrist stays straight. Not so on a reverse see see. There one wants later contact combined with a good mondo but with a similar eschewing of windshield wipe.

A windshield wiper is a thing. A person should not allow himself or herself to fall in love with it. Always striving for maximum rotations of the ball is counter-productive.

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Service Getting Clobbered

If you belong to a club, there probably are a couple of players there who can tell you when your serve is off. And tell it to you without words.

I had to do something. So during self-feed today I tried no body turn whatsoever during the down and up of both arms in a higher toss to start the motion.

Palm down to foster body turn and spaghetti arm relationship.

Body turn later now and synonymous with winding under ball so there will be double axles or multiple axles or coaxial cable like action when you go up for the ball.

Noticed more racket head speed right way. Will test this at the tennis social on Friday night.

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Elbowing Out

I certainly do think the Stanley Plagenhoff backhand-- short backswing with elbows thrust out-- makes more sense for me than the skunk tail of Petr Korda or the preparation of almost anybody else.

Here is the question however. Should I argue for others to stick out their elbows too?

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Volley Change of Direction through Fingers

Practice with a pencil. Start with BHV. No finger squeeze for DTL. Fingers squeeze for DTL if late.

Now FHV: Prefer the straight wrist of composite grip. Think laying back the wrist with continental or using eastern for DTL was a mistake. Make contact more to the side instead.

Watch the pencil. No squeeze for DTL. Squeeze for CC or emergency DTL if late.

Try hitting these shots by right ear just to see what happens.

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Turning the Chin Back

A magic move only if introduced in sequence. All other elements must be present and perfectly arranged first.

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Cast Net Forehand: All looseness comes from gradual if minuscule raising of racket tip through both elements of backswing.

Sequence one: Turning of bod backward with opposite hand on racket.

Sequence two: Turning of bod backward through opposite hand pointing across.

The two elements are a single though sequential move.

The shoulders next reverse direction without pause.

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Iterations for Sunday Self-Feed at Neighborhood Club (No Net)

1) Alternate McEnruefuls and see sees, working on the similarities and differences between them.

2) Standardize length of arm extension before arm roll in a one-hand backhand.

3) Standardize length of arm extension before arm roll (ISR) in all serves. Strive for same standard in this as for one-hand backhand. Which involves keeping racket edge-on to ball until very late (Oscar and Vic).

4) Return to gradual raise of racket tip through both preparation phases of cast net forehand. This is better than raising the tip during phase A then separating arms as separate function during phase B. Do both together.

5) Work on finger control vs. bangboard to dictate directional difference between DTL and CC volleys. Do this with one easy ground bounce-- easier.

6) Continue to work toward high hit shoulder on the toss. Explore every possible combination of shoulders tilt and compass setting of upper arm in shoulder socket.

7) If still haven't restored sufficient spin, hit some serves with eastern forehand grip.

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A Longer and Slower Rasp

I refer to ideas about how best to hit a see see, one of my favorite topics, maybe because I once witnessed a very old player who used one to take apart much stronger and younger opponents.

Recent iterations have left the shoulder, with racket under it, both very low.

In a McEnrueful, the shoulder banks right through the ball.

In a see see, however, should the shoulder rise on the same line as racket from independent movement of the arm? That is the question.

Trial proposal is for a double jointed rise of racket arm-- simultaneous rise from shoulder joint and from rise of the shoulder itself.

With any kind of a racket roll cut out (eschewed). Just as weight going through ball is cut out.

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Stop Using Your Oven’s Self-Cleaning Feature: It Does More Harm than Good


Alan Henry
8/17/12 7:00am
Filed to: CLEANING
356.5K
952
Most modern ovens come with a self-cleaning feature. The goal is to keep your oven in good shape, but the truth is those self-cleaning routines run upwards of 1000 degrees, and can actually do more damage to your oven than they're really worth.

According to The Kitchn, running the self-cleaning routine will scorch off any baked on goo on the inside, but most ovens today have heating elements hidden behind drip shields that make it difficult for anything to get on the element anyway. Plus, since those elements are hidden, they're difficult to ventilate—especially when the interior temps get so high. All that trapped heat winds up damaging your oven's internal components, popping fuses and burning out electronic components.

The Kitchn notes that manufacturers know this is a problem, but they include self-cleaners anyway because customers won't buy ovens without them. So what do you do? Go back to basics and give the inside of your oven a wipe down with your favorite cleaner when it gets dirty. Even if you use your oven's self cleaner without issue, they note it's important to be aware of the risk of damage to your oven when you run it.

Why You Should (Almost) Never Use Your Oven's Self-Cleaning Function | The Kitchn

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Trial Modification of Sit-and-Hit See See

The see see in its present iteration may still be a bit too idealized.

How do I know? From a Friday night cardio drill which is the perfect place to try out new things.

Marella, whose feeds are perfect, gives the player in the deuce court the chance to go sharply shallow and crosscourt in a doubles set-up.

Old: Straighten arm out of left hand as shoulders turn back a little. Combine step-out then with hips turn and double arm splay.

New: Straighten arm same way but splay arm for balance at bottom of the straightening. Then step and hit. The racket now will be in a better position to do this. It won't have to go backward since it already went backward. And the left hand can wait to splay until the step-out.

The backswing for the see see now appears closer to that of a McEnrueful where both arms go down and up. But the amounts for this are much less just as there is less backward turn of the bod.

The right hand left hand splay sequence now gives a free-form shot more structure.

But left hand splay, which comes solely from forward hips turn, is different from the left hand movement which may occur just before.

I am suggesting that one can bowl down and up same as in a McEnrueful but with lesser amounts of movement of each arm.

The down and up happens in count 1 of a 1-2 rhythm shot. Only when hitting arm "up" is abbreviated it's more of an "out" than an "up."

And maybe one should be less sure of when step-out ought to occur. Same time of step-out as in a McEnrueful may be the way to go. But step-out in a McEnrueful definitely precedes one's forward hips turn.

The idea here is to make something that is conceptually harsh less so.

We've got crossing left hand going down a small bit and then back up a small bit. That seems preferable to just leaving it in place-- more organic.

In miming this stroke with racket for the first time, one can see that a small underhand loop will be formed if step-out has preceded rotation of the hips.

That rotation will lower shoulder just as in a McEnrueful but with racket going down from a lower position.

The strict verticality of this small loop may be more than a curiosity.

It may add rhythm and precision to the shot.

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Can Special Advice Work Sheets Speed up one's Learning Process?

Probably.

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When and How should you Straighten your Arm on a One-Hand Backhand?

To me, an everlasting reconsideration of such questions is the stuff of life, the same as breathing in compared to holding your breath out all the time in which case you are dead.

I've listened to proponents of early arm straightening, have tried to implement their view for years.

Next I went with a more gradual straightening of the arm accomplished through most of the shot, also for years.

Now I'm reconsidering the backhand section of FUNDAMENTALS OF TENNIS by Stanley Plagenhoff, a book first brought to forum attention by gzhpcu.

Plagenhoff's words take one quite far toward a workable model. And, he refers quite explicitly to arm roll as one essential ingredient.

For explanation of how arm straightening relates to arm roll, however, one may have to extrapolate from the illustrations in the book.

In one frame the arm is straight and vertical to the court.

In the next frame the arm has rolled.

That is the sequence I want to try.

===========

And I did try it. And it worked pretty well. But could the arm still have the tiniest bit of bend in it when one starts the roll? Same as on a serve where the final roll is in the opposite direction?

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Tennis for the Future

Backhand, forehand-- am instituting a bit of breaststroke on the forehand but doing so as shoulders are turning back. The shoulders won't get still for this or for any other reason. They won't stop. They just will change direction.

Keep arm short for a longer time on one hand backhand. This brings racket tip around farther and closer into back. The motion that does this is a sharp roll but in lesser amount than one imagined to ensure proper height of the outgoing ball. Is there a "snap" in all of this? Probably. And if right arm is bent for longer so is left arm. Both arms then get to straighten gradually as hips apply long subtle effortless pressure on the ball.

I think about how Ken Rosewall's backhand slice evolved over the years from a skunk tail beginning toward end of the backswing (racket vertical) to racket more horizontal. The shot was terrific with the skunk tail but became more economical without it. I see the same progression enabled by the example of Petr Korda in a backhand drive. Petr was not about to change something that was working beautifully for him (the skunk tail). We who never had greatness thrust upon us, however, have the luxury to produce our drive either way. If one's slice done one way works well why not apply a similar pattern to the drive?

On forehand, I've already expressed what I want to try in the bolded section up above. Think though of the added control/power potential of a slight breaststroke as shoulders are still turning back. If one takes right elbow away from left elbow holding place, one is better prepared to hit down the line without changing bod much. For a neutral pace forehand one might move both elbows away from each other. For hardest hit crosscourt one might set up same as for the down the line but then push the elbow hard toward the crosscourt target as body pulls the whole complex mechanism of cast net opening out.

If one then interposes a sit-and-hit see see into this shot array, I believe it will surprise anyone, even Roger Federer.