June- Mike's footwork

[nunziata]

I tried to look at the first video and imagine what John might say, and I was surprised to find that he didn't say anything about Mike's footwork. What I noticed about the video is that Mike's left foot crosses OVER his right so that he ends up in the opposite of an open stance. This makes it very difficult to get any hip and shoulder turn forward into the shot. It also seems like he's transfering his weight forward much sooner than the corresponding pro videos. He steps forward before the ball arrives whereas many pros step in after or as the ball arrives. They maintain the coil much longer.

To quote Kerry Mitchell's article on Open Stance this month:
"Unfortunately, once they bring the front or left foot across, many players learn to chase the incoming ball by leading with their front foot. This means they often reach the ball with a step across the body, and often actually hit with a closed stance. Ironically, they believe that are correctly "stepping into" the shot. Instead this blocks the the rotation of the torso and makes them feel jammed by the ball."

[johnyandell]

Excellent observations! I think we are dealing with the chicken and the egg. I just went at the issue from the point of view of the egg.
It's better in my view to focus on the components of the turn--which include the feet and put it into a positive--"do this"--instead of "don't do that." The timing of the turn has to be right before he can time the step to the ball, etc.

He definitely steps across too soon--my feeling is that if he completes the full turn first, there is a good chance the problem will self correct.

You go one step and see what happens. If the turn is complete and he's behind the ball, it'll be hard to cross step. But unitl the turn is solid, we don't know what is going to happen next. Make sense?