forehand lesson

[bottle]

You guys live in an entirely different world from me. Be glad. On the other hand I think I sometimes succeed in robbing peoples' brains. What I robbed this time is a slower axle-like roll with the arm combined with sling-shotting of that arm. Something slow and something fast taken together, in other words. That is what I took away from the video and I certainly don't regret it. And for now I think my forehand is better, but I've only assessed it from self-feed. The first tennis social of the year is Friday night.

I think tennis players seeking tennis knowledge-- anything for an edge-- ought to be self-interested renegades. And if I have to analyze the philosophy of education of the barfly next to me who used to play high level tennis, I'll puke. And I'll try anybody's tennis idea, even that of Aunt Frieda, 103. If it doesn't work I'll move on to somebody else's idea.

Frankly, I despise great educational programs of all types, and esoteric comparisons of them, and this goes for social studies and ELA in high schools, not just the various bags of tennis instruction to which I've been exposed.

My sympathy is not with the teachers so much as the student trying to run the gamut and figure out a game he can be happy with for himself. In this quest, his most valuable discovery may come from himself or maybe the biggest dope in the world (assuming that is not one and the same person).

A complete idiot might have a very valuable tip to offer. I am very serious about this. Not that I think Ian is an idiot. I don't. In fact, he seems very bright. And I find it interesting that klacr, who knows him, ranks him as a good player.

I'd like to talk to good players, not just "established" tennis teachers. In all talk, it's the student or guy asking the question who most matters. In every tennis lesson, it's not the substance or even how well everything is put together but how the information is received.

Same thing in literary criticism: intention, thing itself and how it is received. Some great readers just go with category three, how something is received. Others mush categories two and three together, substance and how it is received. Some confuse good intentions with results.

Sorry if this seems high-fallutin. If you are an honest tennis teacher, however, you have to admit that you could be at your most brilliant and some kid might not get it at all. Make-up of the kid figures greatly. Some will march with little, others require a lot (of detail).

Forgive my rant. I've been teaching periods vs question marks and exclamation points all day. And some of the kids got hung up on the difference between an exclamation and an imperative. Enough maybe to drive any teacher nuts.

But there is a lesson here and I summarize it once again. It's not brilliance and wonderful presentation (strong suits for Tennis Player) but how the information is received.

[bottle]

Weird Phenomenon in Self-Feed Court

The cracks in the surface like cracks in a frozen lake are apt to go in any direction. Sometime however they coincide perfectly with a painted line.

[bottle]

To Try

Although this experiment could take one away from recently achieved efficacy, it well may justify itself.

Building on the finding of post # 16, one moves-- design-wise-- slow baton twirl backward from arm spring to the slow turning inside out of the bod.

Now at top dead center of one's outside loop (with word "outside" simply meaning that racket tip loops while pointed somewhat at right fence), one starts a famous inversion which includes:

.Bill Tilden's maxim to get one's heinie away from the ball.

.Roger Federer siting of the ball down the slope of his shoulders.

.mondo (flip)

.use of hand to pull racket butt to exactly where you want it while employing slow baton to conclude this deliberately controlled forward part of the stroke.

All this has clear purpose: to create uninhibited arm spring or BAM!

Warning: Set up with ball to the outside. The definition of "good extension" being used here is more to the side than straight ahead.

Preferred followthroughs: A) Classical over the shoulder yoke led by racket tip, or, B) Around the upper shoulder led by the racket tip.

[bottle]

But now I see the video that caused this discussion all over again. I've been working toward a baton twirl and arm rip. Whereas the video teaches an equal amount of baton twirl beneath and above the ball. The racket twirls to sky (out front) before coming back to shoulder. One simply tries to see what is and try it, before, I would submit, deciding anything.

On the other hand Stan Smith said, "The shot you practiced is the one you play with."

[bottle]

Well I forced myself to watch part of it--knew there was a reason I didn't want to. It suffers from The One Example Fallacy. The Roger clip has the racket at certain angles--those are not commonalities and vary substantially--and the variations include the angles that Westerman says the guy needs to change. I wonder what he paid for that "input"???

I have carefully reflected upon this discussion and decided to join in the contempt. Ian Westerman becomes a bit like Davidson Business Graduate Will Hamilton always going for the big sell. On the other hand, I believe that we as aspiring tennis players owe it to ourselves to rob the brain of anything that walks. That could mean standing up to the initial pitch and gleaning whatever one can from it but never purchasing the follow-up, not ever.

[bottle]

bot to bowt

What I am currently getting out of the original video that you posted.

Forehands hit this basic way are good for big margin or high clearance over the net. The emphasis is on slow baton twirl to administer clean topspin. But one ought to use this method too sometime for a fast-sinking pass.

I say "baton twirl" because of an exercise I know where you place two rackets end to end in your hand and then twirl them together like a propeller or baton.

What's really interesting happens just before this-- the pulling of racket butt into position. I see no reason this can't happen at same time the hips rotate to turn bod inside out and slope shoulders down to the ball.

And that can lead to an unwanted new forehand, one in which the racket only twirls partway, not all the way up to sky and then arm takes over in a quick Zen-like BAM!

This is a low fast-paced shot but still with a lot of topspin on it. I hit three of them last night down the line past the doubles netman-- all off of a short ball and successful.

I didn't ask for this shot, didn't want another flat forehand besides the one I've got.

It just happened.