Tweet
I really liked Jeff's article on getting control of your emotions and allowing yourself to deal with all those negative or at least alternative focuses that we all have a way of bringing up.
But I have a question about his final drill for starting the serve. All the steps seem excellent to me, except that I want a pause at a distinct starting point from which to start the actual service motion. The process of bouncing the ball and going immediately into the service motion is one that is certainly practiced by many world class players. My problem is: where does the service motion start. I think his starts when he begins bouncing the ball.
The ball is in my hand. I have complete control of the situation and I don't want to relinquish any of that control. I want to make it as easy as possible to put that toss in exactly the same place as often as possible so that I can have repeatable successful results, not just getting the ball in, but getting it to my target as well. When a player goes immediately from the ball bounce into the serve, he/she makes that ball bounce routine part of the service motion. In the extreme, the ball bouncing a little right or left off a piece of dirt or clay on the court means the toss starts from a different position. This means that bit of dirt or a bump or crack in the court has some influence on the service toss. Probably a small influence (not if you've seen some of the clay courts I used to play on), but an influence nevertheless.
Now granted, the continuous flow from the ball bounce to the service motion allows better access to that right-brained non-deliberate kind of action you need to be consistent. But imagine the whole service motion and you have to include the ball bounce. That is simply too complicated a motion. Golf has a longer history of dealing with these kinds of issues and they seem to be more obvious. Golfers learn to use a small forward press or grip press to help them start a putting swing or any swing for that matter. Sometimes they even use a waggle for feel as they address a shot (think Sergio Garcia, was that ever irritating!); but they always return to a distinct spot and pause before they go into the swing, always from the exact same spot... at least on the tee shot.
On a completely separate issue, I am really eager to see if I can use Jeff's concept of MINDFULNESS to get my players to change habits. I am constantly working with players who want to change "bad" habits. Good, bad or indifferent, they are habits. I can get these players to execute their shots better with the corrections I show them, but it takes so many reps to get them to actually change their habits. It's kind of an accepted axiom in tennis that it "takes a lot of reps". Perhaps this concept of mindfulness is another way to reduce the number of reps. Invariably, the player is not "mindful" of his return to his previous habit. The more the player moves, the faster the ball, the more difficult the shot and the more the player is pushed back to a reactive mode, the more the habit tends to return. Hopefully, a little passive "mindfulness" is a way to reduce that tendency.
Thoughts, anyone?
don brosseau
But I have a question about his final drill for starting the serve. All the steps seem excellent to me, except that I want a pause at a distinct starting point from which to start the actual service motion. The process of bouncing the ball and going immediately into the service motion is one that is certainly practiced by many world class players. My problem is: where does the service motion start. I think his starts when he begins bouncing the ball.
The ball is in my hand. I have complete control of the situation and I don't want to relinquish any of that control. I want to make it as easy as possible to put that toss in exactly the same place as often as possible so that I can have repeatable successful results, not just getting the ball in, but getting it to my target as well. When a player goes immediately from the ball bounce into the serve, he/she makes that ball bounce routine part of the service motion. In the extreme, the ball bouncing a little right or left off a piece of dirt or clay on the court means the toss starts from a different position. This means that bit of dirt or a bump or crack in the court has some influence on the service toss. Probably a small influence (not if you've seen some of the clay courts I used to play on), but an influence nevertheless.
Now granted, the continuous flow from the ball bounce to the service motion allows better access to that right-brained non-deliberate kind of action you need to be consistent. But imagine the whole service motion and you have to include the ball bounce. That is simply too complicated a motion. Golf has a longer history of dealing with these kinds of issues and they seem to be more obvious. Golfers learn to use a small forward press or grip press to help them start a putting swing or any swing for that matter. Sometimes they even use a waggle for feel as they address a shot (think Sergio Garcia, was that ever irritating!); but they always return to a distinct spot and pause before they go into the swing, always from the exact same spot... at least on the tee shot.
On a completely separate issue, I am really eager to see if I can use Jeff's concept of MINDFULNESS to get my players to change habits. I am constantly working with players who want to change "bad" habits. Good, bad or indifferent, they are habits. I can get these players to execute their shots better with the corrections I show them, but it takes so many reps to get them to actually change their habits. It's kind of an accepted axiom in tennis that it "takes a lot of reps". Perhaps this concept of mindfulness is another way to reduce the number of reps. Invariably, the player is not "mindful" of his return to his previous habit. The more the player moves, the faster the ball, the more difficult the shot and the more the player is pushed back to a reactive mode, the more the habit tends to return. Hopefully, a little passive "mindfulness" is a way to reduce that tendency.
Thoughts, anyone?
don brosseau
Comment