The Secret to Efficient Tennis Volleys | RCW Athletic Club Tennis Drill Series

We're going to take what we were just doing, like body position with the volley. We're going to work on some closing high volleys, okay? All right, so you're attacking, hitting one side, then the court's open, you hit it and you go, right? I'm going to start you like three feet behind the service line. I want you to focus on making sure like your racket's up and like not focusing so much on turning forward, but running in, loading like the, loading your right foot and then pushing in on the volley, okay? And when you hit the high volley, the tendency is going to want to do this, right? You need to keep the ball, the hand leading, even though you're going into the ball. You might bring it down slightly, but you're really focusing on staying up there and staying aggressive just as if you're hitting a regular volley, okay? All right, so you're going to start like three or four feet behind the service line. I'm going to float it. I want you to close and let's go line so the ball follows our body weight, okay? Ready? Go. Good. Let's do it again. Two or three steps back, two or four, like midway. Yep. Ready? Go. Close. Okay. Good. So when you take those big steps, like I love that for you, but the thing about it is, is there's not, it's very hard to adjust with a large step. So you want to sprint and then you want to get set up as best you can behind the ball. This is, this is offense. This is not, I'm struggling and in trouble, so I should feel like, okay, I'm sprinting and then I have some adjustment and then I lock in and hit it. I don't want to feel as if I'm like just taking these, these two humongous steps. Okay. So like, what I want you to do is I want you to take five or six steps and then load your right foot. Ready? Go. That's better. Like see that, that's more of what I'm looking for. Let's do that again. Ready? Go. Steps. Good. That's a little lower. That's my fault. Ready? And again, close. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. That's it. That's it. And the biggest thing, right, we just talked about it before, is like not getting head, like, like over your toes. Like run, like when you watch pros run on TV, right? Their center is always, they're always over their feet because they need to be able to change direction. So just make sure you're not over cooking like the lean, right? Use your center of mass to hit that ball. Go. That's it. Good, good, good. Ready? And again. Now that last one was much better. And I'll tell you why I was just having this thought. You're coming in and like body parts were kind of a little bit spread out. That last one, you were very concentrated in effort. So you're running, this hand was over, you were under control and it was very, it was very clean. Like when, when you're running, right? Everything needs to be tight, right? Like a sports car. Like I got to make sure everything's under control. Arms are in the right spot so that I can move as efficiently as possible. That last ball, you did exactly that. Okay. So let's see a couple more of those where you, you focus on that good control moving in. Good. Nice. Sorry. That's a little low. Ready? Close on it. Close on it. Close on it. Good. Excellent. Good control of the body. Ready? Go. Move, move, move. Good. And your body weight is going to give you the steam. You don't need to feel as if you've got to overcook it. You've got the steam. That's it. Your goal is locking that in. A lot of times it's just simply finishing that shot. Go. Steady. Control. Let's do one more. Okay. Feel your load. Run. Feel the load. That's it. Like you, at some point, like you're not going to turn sideways, but you are going to load, like turn that foot so you can load and push, right? You got to be on the inside of that foot to make that drive. So now this is a harder one. We're going to go backhand side. You're instantly going to go on to do this big guy. Instantly. You've got to stay in front. You've got to then same thing. I'm going to load the left and then I'm going to push into the ball, but I cannot turn sideways there because it's, you're on a full sprint. You turn sideways. You're going to like fumble. All right. Keep those hands in front. Move in. Okay. Ready? Go. See, I got the back shoulder. Like, so you got, I got this, right? Watch how I'm running. Like you can see my, you can see the RCW, right? So I want to see the RCW on your shirt. When you're closing in, you turn. I can't see it. So how are we going to put our hands? Not, so look, look, my hands in front of my center. Yes. And now push it out in front of you. Yes. I want to see you running right there. Ready? Close. That's better. See how you're able to move through that nicely, right? So you've got to keep, you got to make sure you don't pull too far across where it's, it hurts your running. Good, good, good. A little higher. Sorry. My bad. Okay. Ready? Close. Good. We lose power because you're still moving, right? Read the ball, then feel the center on that left foot. So you have power. There you go. Good. Again, doesn't have to be amazing. It has to just be rock solid. Okay. Go. Good. Awesome. Ready? Moving quick. Good. Way to keep, way to keep the hands up there, right? Like that's the biggest thing is like a lot of people, when they go up here, they want to go like this, right? You're still going out. You have to clear the net. You have to push. Take the hands in a little behind you. No problem. Here we go. Run straight at it. Go hard, hard, run, sprint. Especially when you sense it dropping, you've got to pick up speed, right? You've got to get on that ball, right? Too many people let this ball drop. Good. All right. One more time. Great work. Ready? Go. Good. Okay. We're going to go back to the baseline. You're going to hit a forehand and you're going to charge. Now the thing, right? Like we talked a little bit about this is like being ahead of like my thought process, right? So I'm stepping into this ball with the idea that I want to come in and then I'm going to read for the shot, right? Like we have to know when the ball comes off the strings, like that's going to hurt them because I want to take the time away, right? So, and I see them kind of reaching, stretching, racket face open. You know, that's going to float. You've got to be on top of the net already. You don't want to wait until you see it all happen. And then like, Oh, I'll start running now. Cause you'll be late. Right? So you're behind the baseline. You're hitting this ball. Like you probably, you're probably, you're going to be stepping in. Right. But then you're going to step, hit it. And then you're like, I know I hit a good one and I'm going to close for a ball. Okay. All right. Out of the basket on the feet. Just one. You're practicing like that feeling of like I hit this good and I go forward. Okay. I appreciate that so much because that's the example of like what I don't want. So you lined up like a regular grounding. Like you have to already have the intention. Like, okay. I see that this ball is a little softer. I'm going to set up like I'm hitting this. If I don't, I'm hitting it aggressive. And then in the back of my head, I'm thinking, I want to probably go in behind this. So like for me, if I'm doing this, I see that it falls a little foot. I'm going to set up. I'm going to hit it. And I'm going to be thinking, take steps. Like I'm already ahead of it. What I don't want to do is set up like a ground stroke, hit it. And then be like, Oh, I have to go in because then I'm probably going to be late. Okay. Ready? So back up, give yourself a little space. You're stepping in close. That's it. That's it. So you're practicing like a hit and I'm hitting this with the intention of going in. Okay. So let's talk about this. A couple of different ways to play offense, right? Take the ball early, right? Move my opponent, hit the ball faster, right? Hit the ball with more spin, like a bunch of different ways, right? What way are you, what are you doing to play offense right here? Power? Could it be, could it be placement and, and time taking time away and not power? Right? I think sometimes like this is what happens. Like people get excited. Like you get excited when you were going to hit aggressive or you're, you're doing something offensive. And then that's what we tend to over, overdo the swing, right? If I get set quick, I take the ball early. I step in and I'm thinking forward. That's plenty of offense. Most of the time to take time away from your opponent. Get in because remember you're okay. Hitting the ball. It's not, you don't want to hit the ball, right? So it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to make sure you're, you're hurting your opponent. Okay. Really good turn here. Turn step step. So this is, this is good for us because this is something we can use this weekend, right? Like, look, I have to step with the, like that step down that we do. Like I'm thinking about that right here. You're as soon as I feed, you're, you're receiving in more of an open stance. Okay. Ready? Step. Go. Close. Good. Okay. Back up one step. You're stepping in. Go. You're seeing it. Go. Close. That's it. That's better. Like you want that momentum going into that ball. You don't want to feel like you're hitting it from a dead stop. Like you're playing two feet behind the baseline. You see that like, okay, like I can take that, be aggressive. Go. Good. Close. Nice. That's better. Now you've got the idea, right? It's like, look, I'm hitting this with the intention of trying to make a move. I'm hitting it with a move. Good. Close. Good. Awesome. Really good challenge for you here. Can you make those two or three steps faster and not try to line up? Like, I feel like you're still kind of measuring pretty like extra, like try to be like, how fast can I get feet going and hit through that shot? How fast can I do that? Without, without feeling sloppy. Okay. Ready? Go. Good. Good. Now you moved your feet. Unbelievable. But we don't need just to move them. Right? Well, I'm saying is like, like I want like in, see that? Like I want in, like, I don't want just at the top. I want right, left. And I'm going like, that's more of what I'm looking for. Okay. So like quick set up, quick go, quick set up, quick go. Ready? Quick set up and go. Good. Go. Because see, again, like that's how you're going to hurt people. You're going to hurt people with your feet. Like how fast you get up and set for the ball and take it, take it. That's more hurtful than hitting it hard because you're, you're able to take time away with your feet and preparation where all of a sudden you're hurting somebody without feeling like you've got to just be flat out hitting the ball hard. Right? It's your understanding that time is important, even just getting prepared. Okay. Go. Quick set up. Go. Come on. Good. Good. There's still, and again, you're doing phenomenal. It's so much better. You're still, you're still measuring a little in your head. You know what I mean? Like soon as you see that it's bouncing, just take, try to go no governor, just take off and just see what we got. Go, go. That's it. That's so much better. Like don't measure it so much. Measure it while you're moving. Like there's, there's a skill, right? The skill is, is like, can I, can I move to the ball incredibly fast, but still measure how I, how much I need to get set up? A lot of people, they, they, they have to measure, but they take some time to kind of like get set up. I have to be able to kind of grab and go. You know what I mean? It can't be like, you know, like you ever go to like a restaurant where you can like, they have like the pre-made meals or you can like sit down and have a meal, right? You need to grab and go like grab and go. Like, it's not, let me see like the menu. It's like, I need that. Let's get out. Like we got to keep moving. Like it's gotta be pretty quick. Grab and go. Come on bud. That's it. Close. Sorry. Good. How fast? Get up to it. Come on. Good. Close. Close. Quick. Nice. Good. That's it. Fast. Fast feet. Good. That's it. That's it. That's it. Ready? Grab and go. Good. Nice. Forward. So now, ah, this is good because this is what happens. And what, what I find, and I see this with a lot of people, I tell them move faster. Things go wild. Like racket starts to move crazy. I start to feel rushed. I start to feel like, have you ever been late running somewhere? Right. You coming out of the house, you forget something because you're rushed and you're not able to think about it. Right. Like, that's the thing. If I, if I can start to practice being like pushing myself to move fast and like, then what I'll start to do is I'll start to learn to be able to think in that scenario. But a lot of times, as soon as I get people moving quickly, the brain just gets like mushy because they it's like, whoa, this is all moving way faster than normal. And it's, it's, and you're, and so what I'm saying is let's not be frustrated or like mess up mess. If you mess up, it's okay. But focus on like, can I push myself and still think in this situation? So the same thing on the backhand side, a couple. Okay. Ready? Set quick. Move the feet. Good. Close. That's it. The best players in the world move super fast, but their body's so under control. Just like that one. That was very good. Right? You're moving quick, but you're set. You're setting, you're moving. Good. Close. See it. Like understanding that your feet moving fast does not mean that your body and your swing have to move fast, right? Like, or out of control. See it. You're stepping in. Likes it. Close. That's it. That's it. Good, good, good. Two steps back. Yep. Right there. Ready? See this ball. You can attack it. Move up quick. Yes. Beautiful. Go, go, that's it bud. It's outstanding. You see it. You like it. Let's go. Good. Close. That's it, man. That's it. And see if you moving fast, that volley doesn't have to be as hard. You just pop the ball over here, cross court, and then you're in for a closing volley. Steady Eddie. Boom. Done. Points over. And you kill them with the speed, not with the ball speed. You know what I mean? Like you're hurting somebody with your, now what happened there? And that's okay. We just got to know that because that hesitation and weight, I immediately felt from my side, like I had way more time and I'm not, all I'm doing is feeding, but I just felt like I had way more time. Good. Close. Beautiful. Outstanding. Last two. Okay. Great job, man. Quick set. Get on it. Good. That's okay. Close. You might need to take one or two extra adjustment steps though, big guy. Doesn't need to just be two steps. Measure it. See it. Yes. That's unbelievable. Volley, dude. I love that. Let's make the backhand. Finish the swing. Your feet moving fast does not mean your swing necessarily gets adjusted. Come on. Finish. Beautiful. Close. Outstanding. Much better. Quick sip of water. Great job, man. Really nice.