The Inspiration to Serve and Volley

[johnyandell]

Let's discuss Kyle LaCroix's article, "The Inspiration to Serve and Volley"

[bottle]

Priceless.

[GeoffWilliams]

Fluid flow and natural voice style. NIce to see a piece by someone loyal to the forum! Almost none of the authors are.

[klacr]

Thanks Bottle and Geoff...more to come.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Let's see if you are as much of a killer with a keyboard as you are in the ring.

[bottle]

Serve and Volley into a Bangboard

What a great new sport, I said, until I got one right in the nuts.

I've recovered however and still say this is a great sport, and I can't see how this practice especially at handling a first fast volley is going to hurt anyone's game.

Also, I remembered something. No matter which configuration of serve I was using, rhythm has always improved if I hit a few into a K-Mart (once the people came running out!) or synthetic materials backboard or even old plywood although there one could make holes.

Why should this be true? Something to do with the sound produced? Whatever the case, I don't need to know the why of it.

[stotty]

Thanks, Kyle!

You seemed to have developed the "Jim Loehr" attitude all by yourself. I did too. I relied on self-development and was never coached either. Discovering the game for myself probably hindered my progress but the love of the game and self-reliance it gave me became priceless. This is where Jim is so right. Very few make world-class tennis players. Better to keep things in perspective and diligently operate at your own level and see what develops. The game can teach you so much if you approach it in the right way. What a journey it can take you on.

I love the clip. Two stunning volleys the like of which we haven't seen for years. You can almost forget how well players could volley back then.

Great article, Kyle. I appreciated reading it immensely. And I absolutely loved the clip.

[klacr]

Guys,

Thanks for the compliments and support. The emails and private messages I've received have been truly humbling. Maybe you guys are being overly nice to me because its my first article. who knows? I'll gladly take it.

This article is is just an introduction into a series that will talk about serve and volley. I don't want to give too much away about my future articles out of respect to John, his website and for the element of suspense. But I will tell you that the work I have done on the series and will share with tennisplayer.net is one of the proudest achievements of my career.

I'll leave it at that.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[kwilkinson]

We are a dying breed- I often feel like a dinosaur when all I read are articles on the forehand, backhand etc. nobody talks much about the volley any more so thanks for opening my pre-Cambrian lair. I look forward to your future articles.
Crash

[klacr]

Serve and volley still has a place in the game. It's a gorgeous 1-2 or 1-2-3 punch. Tennis has evolved to such a point that it has forced many players and coaches to assume the S&V sky is falling, hit the panic button and abandon that style, but it is still an effective when done right and is given the time to be understood. It takes a special breed to serve and volley today but we all have traces of that breed within us, it's just about understanding the dynamics which few players and coaches want to recognize. More on this later...

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Edberg and Rafter still win with it, so does Mac, but they are playing the seniors! No one likes to return vicious kick/twists on the ad side bh against a sv player.

[jryle1]

Wow, I really enjoyed reading this article, probably because I can relate to it in places. Similarly, I taught myself how to play tennis through use of mainly Tennis Player, watching it on tv religiously and playing against anyone and everyone who would play with me.

And likewise, I'm now a coach, and yes my coaching career has thus far been far better than my playing career. Also, yes when I was like 13 I did have ambitions to win Wimbledon in 2009 at the age of 17 but unfortunately reality hit and some guy called Roger Federer beat me to it.

Probably why I enjoyed this article so much and it's exceptionally well written. Good job dude.

[xradtpb]

Well Done

I see a career unfolding!

Intimate piece without being maudlin, taking a personal story and weaving in a specific piece of tennis history, obviously designed to foretell articles to come, which I look forward to reading.

It takes big feet indeed to start with this kind of narrative; it would have been easier to stutter through the data or argue a position in a less personal way.

This author has a chance to talk tennis to us is a different way, and I am eager to follow up. I think you have made it new.

Congratulations.

[klacr]

jryle1 and xradtpb,

Thanks for reading and the kind posts. Greatly appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed it.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

xr,

You got it. Tennisplayer as I try to make it. Let's see if Kyle can keep it up. Think so.