[tennisbiz] Re: Stopping student from leaning in too early on serve

With regards to the 13 year old that leans forward too early, try teaching
through exaggerations.

Have the player serve from the service line first to take away the actual
"target". In other words, get his agenda aimed toward technique rather than the
end result.

Second, have the player serve with his right knee on the ground. He'll laugh
at this and its your job to make it a fun process, but the benefit is that he
will filter out excess movements from his body.

After a few serves, then have him serve while standing up but have him keep
his right heel on the ground as he serves (no weight transfer).

After that, have him serve and follow through, and THEN lift his heel. In
other words, you are breaking up his serve and his weight transfer
intentionally.

As he does this last step, then have him gradually lift the heel as he serves
to promote a proper weight transfer.

This should give him an idea as to when the weight should move forward.

But remember the two important points: have him serve and practice while at
the service line AND have him follow the steps exactly as you prescribe
without moving to the next step until he performs the previous step perfectly.

Good luck,

John Robinson

  
Received on Tue Oct 21 2003 - 14:25:44 CDT