Geoff Williams

[hockeyscout]

Geoff:

I like your tape idea (in the sweet spot). Can you tell me how I would string a racket now just to have that sweet spot on the racket head. Its for an eight year old, and she can practice with soft balls. If she misses the sweet spot the ball will die or it won't even hit. What do you think? Could it work?

[GeoffWilliams]

Leave out the crosses, all except for the area she hits most into, but this will put stress on the frame, so the sweet spot will sound and feel different to her. This won't work if she is a hard hitter very well. Will break the frame. The ball won't die, but it will feel better when she hits into the sweet spot. Some tape makes more noise than other tape in contact with soft balls as well, such as painter's blue tape. Other tape to try: duct, masking, athletic, etc. Teach her to hit into the spot I shwed, as that's the pro hitting zone.

[hockeyscout]

Hello, we're going to work at this Geoff. Actually, we looked at the strings and darn it if her hitting spot wasn't exactly where you said it was. Interestingly enough none of the coaches, hitting partners or players knew where the sweet spot was, with the exception of one of the guys who works as a hitting partner for me. Good deal.

[GeoffWilliams]

That means she is hitting where the pros hit naturally, a great sign for an 8 yr. old! Teach her the atp snap back fh, and how to serve: Back to the net, racquet path is parallel to the baseline, shoulder cocked all the way back, but frame lagged before drop, leg drive up, then frame drop, speed of hand towards the underside of her head, towards the rear left fence post, toss in front, shoulder rotation from parallel to baseline, towards net, like a coin in a parking meter, left hip way out before leg drive up, shoulders lined up 90 degrees to the ground before leg drive up, and a total exchange of shoulder position, pronated forearm. Serving well is the separat\ing factor for women. I can make a video if you want.

[hockeyscout]

Cool

That means she is hitting where the pros hit naturally, a great sign for an 8 yr. old! Teach her the atp snap back fh, and how to serve: Back to the net, racquet path is parallel to the baseline, shoulder cocked all the way back, but frame lagged before drop, leg drive up, then frame drop, speed of hand towards the underside of her head, towards the rear left fence post, toss in front, shoulder rotation from parallel to baseline, towards net, like a coin in a parking meter, left hip way out before leg drive up, shoulders lined up 90 degrees to the ground before leg drive up, and a total exchange of shoulder position, pronated forearm. Serving well is the separating factor for women. I can make a video if you want.

Geoff:

The sport of tennis has so many YouTube Instructors and Coaches who are completely baffle peoples brains with bullshit. You're definitely the real deal

Geoff, and you've superbly thought every detail out.

We will get the racket done up properly tomorrow with the tape, and encourage Milana to feel it out, memorize, play, experiment and get back to you on what she felt.

I will gladly take you up on the offer of video!

Can you do me a favor and show me what you are thinking on video if you don't mind?

1.

Can you show me what you mean by the ATP snap-back forehand, how you personally see it?

2.

Can you show me what you mean on the video with regards to the serve?

YOUR HELP IS APPRECIATED HERE, and we value you're QUALIFIED world-class advice.

By the way, thanks for the photos on the racket.

Regards
worldsworsttennismentorwhoknowsnothingaboutgripsan dwillhaveahardtimeretainingcoachingrelationships

[GeoffWilliams]

Re: atp snap back fh, look at Henin's fh online and show it to her. Henin had a man's game, with all her shots. Very large coil on the bh. Good leg drive/lagged serve. And above all else, the snap back atp male fh. Stosur also has a snap back, but her path way is too spinny.

[hockeyscout]

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[hockeyscout]

The position is a big problem

I will quote her:

She just watched it and said she did not like the racket going behind the right ear. Says it buckles her shoulder out and stops momentum. She also said the edge of her racket never should never go beyond her cheekbone. I'd love to video her right now so she could demonstrate and show. You guys would get a kick out of her "coaching."

Geoff, how do I upload photos to show?

[hockeyscout]

.

[hockeyscout]

Martina Hingis -- I am an idiot, we looked at the wrong player. Now we know what she thinks of Hengis, now we try Henin LOL.

[hockeyscout]

She likes Henin much much better, however, to quote the eight year old the elbow is a bit to high for her liking, she's hopping a bit to much, feet aren't wide enough apart and looks like she's landing to high and in the wrong spot on the toe like a kangaroo whatever the hell that means. And she also mentions she's in very problematic court position at the end of the ball strike, and buckles her ankle something terribly (supinates) herself on that right ankle. I think that ended her career actually, ankle issues.

Ain't tennis wonderful -- even an eight year old is a critic!

But, yes, that is pretty darned close to a man! I guess her technical game needed to be awe inspiring with her lack of physical tools (size).

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...tanceSide1.mov

The elbow is in nice position for the most part in my opinion, its a major issue with the girls, and something we've worked so hard on here. The racket stays on the proper side of her body, which again, is very important for the girls, and something we are so focused on. I notice when my young one is trying to impress that discipline gets chaotic. I wonder why that is so prevalent in the woman's game with the million dollars they all must have invested into coaching to get to the pro level in the first place?

For us this is our starting point, which we want to replicate, and maybe improve apon, see this clip at the 14 second mark on the forehand, a nice classic step into the ball and fire the hip. Grigor Dimitriev. The only difference is we are playing a hell of a lot more aggressively, and taking it off the rise in utter desperation! He's backed up quite a bit and playing for control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhjzBoPoTJg

I will throw up a forehand video of my young one hitting some balls this week on the forehand Geoff and you can tell me if we are somewhat in the right ball park for developing a woman player, and what needs to be rectified. The young one will be very interested, and of course, whatever you explain she'll understand the technics at a high level as she just lives and breathes this stuff anyways.

[GeoffWilliams]

One of the main things to teach a junior is the body fly fh. Load up on a slower ball or short ball, and throw the whole body into the hitting foot off plant foot, flying into the shot. Too many juniors are taught to hit while still and not on the move. You are always on the move in a match, never still, and anyone taught to hit while still will always have trouble as a match player. The serve is crucial to any aspiring player, and this has to be practiced a lot more than most do, while they hit down the middle for an hour and a half. Top men practice even now for an hour a day on serving, such as Lubijic did. Part of Henin's problem was she did not wear ankle braces such as the ASO. The reason Henin was so good on the move was her body flying into the shots was natural to her.

[hockeyscout]

One of the main things to teach a junior is the body fly fh. Load up on a slower ball or short ball, and throw the whole body into the hitting foot off plant foot, flying into the shot. Too many juniors are taught to hit while still and not on the move. You are always on the move in a match, never still, and anyone taught to hit while still will always have trouble as a match player. The serve is crucial to any aspiring player, and this has to be practiced a lot more than most do, while they hit down the middle for an hour and a half. Top men practice even now for an hour a day on serving, such as Lubijic did. Part of Henin's problem was she did not wear ankle braces such as the ASO.

And, I like this vision Geoff. We mapped out woman's tennis, and its unbelievable how many short balls are hit! So, we are building our program around that, holding the line, stepping in and not being afraid. Mind you, when you train that way their are lots of errors, it takes a long time, and it is unforgiving, however, I got a young one with patience who'll do it till she gets it right.

I am not happy with our consistency, however, I am to blame for that, yet, I am thinking long run.

Their is no glory in doing it this way, and its a big time long term approach as their is so much intense set up to it. For many rallying, staying behind the baseline and building success by how many balls you keep in play is the basis for success, however, I feel its important to build timing, not being afraid, aggressiveness and pushing the limits is the best way to go at a young age, and for us it is funner, and challenging, and suits our focus level, energy and propensity to get a bit bored with conventional tennis lessons per say.

I will upload our forehands on here this week, and see if it matches your vision Geoff. If not, I am sure we will get to where we need to go!

[hockeyscout]

Part of Henin's problem was she did not wear ankle braces such as the ASO. The reason Henin was so good on the move was her body flying into the shots was natural to her.

That's for another thread Geoff. This is an area of expertise for me. I would never, ever, use that brace. And, I'd never touch orthopedics either. Anyways, the ankle supination isn't caused by the ankle, it caused by the rib cage, hip alignment and many other causes. I had huge ankle issues until I got myself properly aligned in my abdominal region.

I see Henin is good in that area, however, for us, what we do is we flow into that shot like a NFL player flows into a hit, or a hockey player hits someone in open ice. Body checking is HARD to teach, however, its an area I am working to bring into a tennis players game. It takes timing, tracking and body placement, all of which is the same in tennis.

As well we're working a lot on taking less steps which is a big key to speed, and spending a hell of a lot of time just working on getting to balls under a controlled pace instead of stopping, or making adjustment steps (which cause a loss of power) and under all circumstances avoiding the heel to toe method.

Basically we works hard on taking the breaks off the car.

People tell me NHL fundamentals won't work in tennis, and well, I guess we will see in ten years, but your body shot is basically a NFL - NHL move to get to position.

What you say is how tennis should be played Geoff, however, everyone is concerned about the rally and building consistency, where as I want to build in consistency in challenging "body shots" as you call them!

You're sweet spot idea is so frigging cool. I am pumped up now about trying it all week, and posting a video here with our findings!

One thing Geoff; "Load up on a slower ball or short ball, and throw the whole body into the hitting foot off plant foot, flying into the shot. Too many juniors are taught to hit while still and not on the move. You are always on the move in a match, never still, and anyone taught to hit while still will always have trouble as a match player.

Great, but we load up on return to serves coming from 20 feet high, air balls to the moon, ground strokes, you name it, we load up on fast balls. We even hit ground balls and have the person move into them hard. Its funny when you miss because it's a big miss, and its just funny as hell cause it looks SOOOOO bad.

But, why not practice loading up on a hard, fast, high, missile or whatever type of ball. I know my kid has a blast trying to hit when we practice this way all the time!

I share your belief, don't stop when you get to a ball, man, that's bad, go to the ball a little slower, keep moving into it, explode and then use the momentum to get back to your next position. To fast to the ball is as bad as to slow to the ball. If you ain't got timing, aren't able to take gas off your running without stomping adjustment steps ad all the rest, eventually you'll get eaten up!

The problem I see is adjustment steps which to me are just insane, I like turning the gas on and off, not stomping the brake pedal. Most injuries occur anyways because of stopping and starting, and not knowing how to take the pedal off the metal so to speak! You never get hurt running your first three steps, its what happens after that that causes the issues!

[GeoffWilliams]

Uncle Tony taught Rafa based on Jack Nicklaus saying, "First learn to hit the ball long, and then learn to place it." Or: teach her to kill the ball first, and then learn to move it line to line. Those who can reliably kill the ball on the run, what I call body fly shots, all the weight moving into the shot, learn to kill on the run. Not many are natural born ball killers. Henin was one. Have her study Henin for that trait alone. It's a lot easier to learn on a junior, than when you're 58! I know, because I was taught to stop, plant, still myself, and not throw my body into the hitting foot off plant. My whole generation was taught that. Not one male pro does not have a body fly fh, although, there a lot of them like Chardy, and Florian Mayer, who have female type fhs: large, stiff back swings, with a more rigid wrist on follow through, who hit flatter with less rpms than snap back fh. At first it takes a lot of courage to develop large coils on the run. Then it becomes second nature, and you won't even remember not being able to do it. It becomes natural and allows more consistency with more threat. Safe and aggressive wins matches, and that can't be done without a large safe coil on the run. A fast hand and a large coil, and drill that into her and it will become more consistent than pushing the ball.

I am currently learning it and it's a blast and fun to learn something I was taught not to learn.