footwork dilemma -- go simple or complex?

[ochi]

David Bailey's fascinating article on aggressive footwork in the April issue has me baffled. He goes beyond even Pat Etcheberry, it seems to me, and has devoted a large part of his life to the subject.

Then there is the highly regarded Oscar Wegner, a veteran coach who has worked with some of the top players in the world, including Gustavo Kuerten. Wegner was quoted in a recent interview in Tennis Week: "So many kids and beginners are taught about footwork, where to stand, how to step, but I teach moving naturally to the ball. Your body will always move naturally to the ball so I teach that you want to put all your focus on the ball and connecting your racquet to the ball and nothing else. If your eyes and hands lead, your body follows. Tennis is about eye-hand coordination rather than eye-foot-hand coordination. So it is learning about the discipline of waiting and focusing on your feel of each shot and the earlier you are the more you lose your feel."

How should a club player go about reconciling these two radically different views from two highly regarded students of the great game? And can they be reconciled? I, myself, will attempt to absorb much of what Bailey preaches, and hope to apply it to Wegner's approach. I think that most of us already do something like that, but occasionally are afflicted with lazy feet. Perhaps a hypnotist could help.

[DavidBailey]

The first thing I want to say and have learn't over the years is not everyone is going to be your disciple....everyone is going to have their own philosophies and beliefs.....if you have a method and you get good results with that then go for it! I have always found my method to work and more importantly the clients enjoy becoming students of the game and understanding footwork better.

The most important thing about the Bailey method is that it is a very tennis specific way of training and gives students something to practice at home and warm up before matches or practice on wet days as they can work on their shadow tennis of the particular footwork patterns and contact moves. Also, isn't it better to throw a medicine ball the way you strike the ball on the court and The Bailey Method supplies this specificity to you.

Just like the article has done is it also gives you a BIAS EYE That is now you can recognise the different foot steps,stances and contact moves when you watch tennis. For instance my students love to say I did the Serena williams 2 foot pivot or the Andre Aggasi step down!I also makes it fun to watch the players and name that move as it happens.

In my mind most importantly it brings a common language to the game and enables us as coaches to communicate and experiment on the court. You can feed a high floating ball to someone and get them to try a series of differnt ways of moving to the ball and contacting the ball and then you both decide what works for them.But, you can't compare and contrast if you don,t have different methods to experiment with.

I do agree that some players will play and move very naturally and I would never ever try and over complicate things for the truly gifted like Roger Federer but there will be the player that has 2 left feet and enjoys having some structure to there movement. In the end it is all about having fun but also the coach being as well educated as possible and having a bench mark of certain movement patterns is very important.

If you study the game and understand the athletic skills needed to move well i.e. pivoting the hips,spinning the hips.shifting the hips, hopping, transfering and lunging then we provided the skills needed from a young age and the students enjoy the challenge of becoming better athletes because they understand the athletic skills needed.We as a tennis community need to understand what skills are needed to move well because this give us some structured ways of developing programs.

I believe John Yandell fantastic site is great for the serious coach who believes in learning from the master players and it really really helped me convince people about my research as the proof is there for all to see. The research world is one where you contribute without exploiting others ....in other words take a little from what I say and take a little from what others say and come up with your own conclusions.Every coach is going to have there way and I really respect that...but if I can open some one eyes and make them SEE something thay havn't seen before then I have done my job.

There has always been the nature vrs nuture results and maybe the best is some where in between. I suppose the bailey method is really about giving the world of footwork the respect that it deserves and this means helping coaches find a better way of teaching and communicating instead of just saying 'move you feet'!

Thanks for the great question

Dave Bailey

[ochi]

What an excellent reply. I'm surely going to become a convert. I'm going to work on it. You're right, it is a way to get more out of practices. I'm also going to keep Wegner's thoughts in mind. If your lessons sink in, and stay there, I should get muscle memory going as I simultaneously continue to do what he preaches.

I realize that footwork instruction helps. If an instructor had not taught me the carioca steps for backhand approaches, I would never have picked up on it, even though I've seen it on TV many times.

Are you going to come out with a DVD?

[johnyandell]

ochi,

Dave has a DVD and you can get more info here:

http://www.thebaileymethod.com/
John Yandell