Volley in Relation to the Head

[ralph]

I remember the expression "get the eyes to ball level" for the volley. Also, I had my team take a group drill given by a player who played Davis Cup for a number of years. He said that it is very important to hit your volley so that the racquet head is in line with your head at contact frequently. He emphasized this point by saying that Navrotilova incorporated this aspect in her volley. Just checking to see if any one has any thoughts about this idea.

Ralph

[stotty]

Having looked in the archive at Tim Henman - who's about a good a volleyer as you can get - I would say it's a slight exaggeration. Though in coaching, instructing thru exaggerated terms sometimes achieves what is required. For example, I have often said, "get down to eye level with the ball when you volley", which is clearly almost impossible on very low volleys. Nevertheless, students get down to the ball more and it achieves a purpose and I've never yet seen the advice cause technique to become faulty.

On the whole I feel it is good advice and achieves a purpose even though it may not be factually true. Many age-old coaching tips are like this and rarely do any harm, only good. Watching the ball until it hits the strings is impossible, yet we all advise students to do it, with no ill affects - the student merely ends up watching the ball better.