Drew Forehand

[johnyandell]

God wish I saw more left arms sticking out! Sad when I watch at my club! But students who learn this full turn I tell to just relax the left arm as the swing starts and the left arm usually folds beautifully...

[stotty]

Good article. Drew is clearly a good player and can no doubt achieve what is being asked.

At a lower level, for me, it's always a decision of whether a club player can achieve a left arm stretch and a deep turn. For juniors it's a given, but for adult club players it can be a challenge and one has to weigh up whether they will be able to do it effectively. Indoor centres here are full of club players with left arms stuck out like traffic cops with no clue how to retract the left arm properly after contact.

Verbal cues are always necessary in my view and can nicely compliment imagery once the player is on the right track.

[johnyandell]

Doc,
As usual I appreciate it!

[doctorhl]

Great article,! Many don’t understand the depth of the teaching process John administered to get a 10 mph increase in speed,

1.Video review by John quickly determined that there were two critical checkpoints that just needed tweaking. John was able to retrieve those checkpoints and choose appropriate pro models from his vast mental image library.
2.He was able to fast track buy-in by Drew to compare and contrast his performance with the selected pro models.
3. Drew was willing to try to visually retain the pro images and reinforce those images with kinesthetic shadowing incrementally, both with and without a ball feed.
4.Improvement was verified by a measurable result of ball speed.

All in two hours with minimal verbal explanation!!! Why on earth would a player or coach resist video feedback and subsequent mental imaging, especially if verified with a measurable result? Not everyone has a mental image library like John and his ability to retrieve, compare and contrast checkpoints and their subtleties. But everyone should at least see the simplicity and power of the process and be willing to integrate it into their coaching.

It will be interesting to see if the increase in Drew’s forehand speed can somehow be associated in some fashion with match analysis.

[johnyandell]

Would love your thoughts on my latest "Your Strokes" article, "Drew Forehand"