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PRODUCING CHANGE/IMPROVEMENTS
Why is it so hard to make permanent technical changes? Nobody can get inside your body and know what or how you feel. If you have been playing and competing for some time you have created your own muscle memory,
which is very hard to change. There is no cookie cutter approach that works for everyone. Some players will crumble with too much information, while some will excel through visual demos, etc. I took a golf lesson the other day to get some help with my swing. The beginning of my swing always feels different day to day so my instincts tell me that if the beginning feels bad the swing will be bad. The “Golf Pro” was breaking down my swing saying in this position you need to be like this and at the top you need to be like this. I thought “this is the same problem with tennis” teachers trying to break down segments of the swing. Breaking down the chain link is dangerous and often counterproductive.
So how do you make real changes? First of all, making changes is very difficult, tricky and time consuming. How much time are you willing to put in to making a permanent change? How are you going to get the right advice? When should you make the change? These questions should be considered before you jump into making technical changes.
Lets start with an example of a player whose stroke is inconsistent and needs adjusting. What has the player been taught and what are the rules that are attached to producing the stroke. The issues must be uncovered before an accurate assessment can be made of the complications that affect the stroke. Nobody can get inside a players body and feel what they feel so without this information it is very difficult to make any long lasting adjustments. The mistake often made is trying to make adjustments in the stroke during the backswing and follow-through. The problem can start before you take the first step to the ball. As soon as the opponent hits the ball we react instinctively with whatever we have learned up to that point. This is where the problem can really begin. For those of you that often feel clumsy or awkward this should make sense because from the first step things don’t feel right.
Here in America we are consumed with getting there early, getting set, and going forward. This is the platform for many of the technical problems and reasons that players struggle to improve and make changes. You see, this method of teaching has become part of the initial production of the stroke.
Here’s how:
An example of a player I coached:
This player was taught to use forward momentum by stepping in or thrusting forward on every shot. The player was also taught to hit the ball out in front. The symptoms were easy to see; off balance, off center hits, set too early, big backswings, ball position cramped, poor defense, etc. If you break down the chain link, typical solutions might be: shorten you backswing, you’re late prepare earlier, extend through contact, get your hip around, etc. And if this doesn’t work, time to change the stroke. You may change the stroke but still have the same issues, like this player did. In many cases, changing the stroke is the last resort. In my own experience when I changed the rules my strokes changed.
This is what we did:
Slowed down his movement from the first step. Practiced walking to the ball. Limiting the amount of steps aloud to take. This immediately change the swing because he relaxed and didn’t take the racket back so early. He had to practice waiting for the ball, which is pretty painful for players that are in hyper-speed. He wasn’t allowed to step into the ball, had to generate pace without forward momentum. Forward momentum had become part of the stroke and they often need to be separate. (How does a player slide to a shot on clay and hit amazing shots with no forward momentum?) Everything in his stroke from start to finish was affected by forward momentum. It is not possible to have forward momentum if you need to move backwards or sideways. How does a player like Federer hit such an offensive shot falling backwards way behind the baseline. To be clear, sometimes you go forward, backward and sideways. Sorry for the simplicity. These drills are done at a very easy level, almost beginner like in order to help the player develop the feel of what it could feel like to swing naturally. To feel it is priceless. As simple as this is, it is very hard to master because it requires the player to change their ingrained habits. How the player reacts to the ball when it leaves the opponents racket is connected to these changes. It took this player a solid 4-6 months to implement these changes. It will take another 3-6 months to master them. One way to speed up the process is to play on clay for 6 months or longer. Most of what I have been talking about is learned naturally for players that train on clay courts. Why? There are several reasons:
- Balance is at a premium
- You learn to generate your own pace
- You learn to wait for the ball because of bad bounces
- Movement around the court requires efficiency
- You must learn to work the point and be patient
- You must learn to play defense
Rules that should apply to changing a stroke or how a stroke should feel:
- It should feel easy
- It should have a sense of flow
- There should be a rhythm from start to finish
