The One Handed Backhand: Skill Progressions

[jeffreycounts]

Let's discuss John Craig's latest article, "The One Handed Backhand: Skill Progressions"

[klacr]

Good news and bad news on this video.
Good news is that this was an excellent video on learning the one-hander and actually seeing young student learn to develop it.
Bad news...this is the last video in the one-handed backhand series.

John Craig is a great teacher. Cool, calm and confident. If we all had a teacher like him I sense the world and all of its tennis players would be in a pretty awesome place.
Teaching the one-hander to juniors can lead to the self inflicted death of many teaching professionals, who then take the easy way out and settle for the two hander. teaching progressions are a necessary part of the learning and development process. Thank you John for your insights.

Any other coaches out there have there own teaching progressions for the one handed backhand? Would love to hear them.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[arturohernandez]

Wow! I was about to call the psychiatrist because I thought I was hallucinating. A girl being taught by a pro to hit a one handed backhand.

I love the progressions!

I really like the bouncing ball exercise. It can be done at home and it would definitely help to strengthen all the muscles needed for the one hander and work on balance and other things.

Just lifting a light weight or a heavy racket seems a bit too repetitive and boring. But trying to achieve a record in how many balls can be bounced off the racket is not.

Some thoughts:

1) In my own experience with two twelve year olds that decided they wanted to imitate their dad (me) and hit one handed I was always worried about the shot.

My son was a boy and so he suffered some until about 16 when people stopped hitting it to his backhand because it was actually more deceptive, reliable and had greater spin and variety than his forehand.

With my daughter I have been told by everyone (including my son) that I should switch my 12 year old daughter to two hands.

But she doesn't want to do it.

2) I like the self feeding idea. In fact, my daughter will regularly rip one handers when she self feeds.

The only suggestion is that I worry a bit if the stroke is too easy in practice all the time.

I like to have maybe 5 mins were I really challenge my daughter to hit difficult backhands. Most of the time I just volley from the net so that I can vary depth, height and speed.

My thinking is that even though she cannot hit all of them and sometimes glares back at me, she still gets used to seeing different balls and trying somehow to react to them.

I keep it short because too much frustration is not a good thing.

And a question.

3) Eva ( I believe its her name in the video) shows things that I tend to observe in one handers which is not to lower the shoulder but kind of to open up a bit too early and hit up.

My daughter also doesn't always get the shoulders turned entirely and hits up more. Most of this self corrects because she often hits the ball wide when she opens too early.

But I still have the sense that girls and women have to do something a little different in their one handers relative to boys and men.

Chris Lewitt address this a bit: https://www.tennisplayer.net/public/...ckhand_part_2/

I am curious if you think the issue of upper body strength which is well documented as a difference between men and women may be the reason that men and boys are more likely to have 1HBH.

Also, I am curious what people's observations are of girls that kept hitting one handed over time. It seems to me that unless one practices 7 hours a day and becomes a pro most amateur players would develop a more complete game with the one hander over time.

What does the one handed backhand look like if we see it progress over time in a girl?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!