okay Karla let's take a couple of volleys what I like to do a lot of times is start with volleys
is the first thing to get your hands going and just come yeah just come back to me here we go
not too hard we're gonna hit hard in a second we're just warming up nice and easy
good all right now I'm going to move you side to side you put these away down the line okay
come on Carla come on Carla go again go again come on come on come on come on go
again come on K couple more it's a warm-up drill trying to get your body
going come on and one more all right all right now you can stay there we're gonna
rally I'm gonna be at the Baseline so you need a little bit more depth on your volley
okay Carla here's the problem especially when the ball starts coming a little bit quicker
to you the first instinct that you have and it's not just you that's pretty much
anyone it's to turn and make themselves small so they don't get hit by the ball
so the ball comes and I just go like this because obviously if you're just standing here it's scary
the ball's coming kind of right at you you might get hit so naturally people will turn this way to
make themselves smaller so they don't get hit by the ball so this is an instinct that a lot
of players have and what happens naturally is as you turn this arm gets further behind the body
and now you're making contact somewhere back here and it happens often on your forehand volley the
back of Volley doesn't have that same problem because the arm can stay in front independent
of what body position you have so the backhand Volley is a lot easier than a forehand volley the
problem with the backhand volley is stability where people are weak with this side of their
arm and the racket just kind of collapses but bio mechanically speaking it's a more simple shot it's
not as complex as the forehand Volley the wrist is in a straight position where the forehand Volley
requires a bending of the wrist and an angle position of the wrist what I call the L shape
so the most important thing on the forehand Volley is making contact in front because that's where
you have the most most stability because you gotta understand that the volley is a deflective shot
so what you need to understand is the following first of all you have to be
in a ready position where there's a little bit of a space between your elbows and your body
and now all you got to really do is deflect the ball by putting the racket
on this side of the body making the wrist into an L shape and getting this position
we're going to use a couple of props today to make this easier okay and we're going to
start we're going to use two props and I'm normally not the type of guy to use a lot
of props in his videos or in tennis practice in general but when it comes to the volley
they're actually even some gadgets that are useful and they can help you visualize this concept of
volleyiing everything from here as opposed to from here and tucking this elbow in because
that's your that's your problem even independent of this turn is that sometimes even when you
don't turn that much is that the elbow kind of tucks in and now you're volleying from back here
you have less stability there's more of a likelihood that you're going to take a little
swings at the ball from back here here we have a piece of wood that you're going to be holding
with two hands and I want you to have the arms bent like this don't straight them out all the
way it's going to be weird slightly bent but at all times you're going to keep the elbows in front
of you and now when you're holding something with two hands it's a lot easier to control the elbows
and you focus on keeping this in front of your body and you're gonna volley with this thing
with a piece of wood okay go ahead and hold it now put tape around the edges so you're safe
from splinters okay elbows in front more more yes that's it elbows in front of it there you go
and now Volley here we go again you aim right here at the basket okay that's your target
come on backhand what do you mean it doesn't have aim it's just it's a it's a straight piece of wood
look how clean that is Carla look how clean that is it's insane keep the elbows more in
front elbows more in front don't get it to the habit now come on elbows more in front
good Carla you've never volleyed this well in your life seriously look how clean these volleys
are you ever missed a single one why because you're controlling this part you're in control
right here this is the key now another thing that helps I've already told you if you're down
with the upper body slightly like this and all you do is control this part and that's how you
get a clean contact okay so now let's go one step further and try to rally back and forth with each
other okay go back to the wood elbows in front what do you think about playing with the wood
Carla do you know how to aim in tennis
how does it work tell me well how do you aim in tennis what do you change what do you change I
feel like you can move how do you aim in tennis when you make contact with the ball how do you aim
like no you don't aim like that where you're like pushing towards the target it's the angle of the
racket face at the moment of contact if it's like this the ball is going to go that way if it's like
this it's going to go that way if it's like this is going to go straight the same with a piece of
wood come on a little closer piece of wood is like this it's gonna go straight piece of wood is like
this it's going to go here and it's going over here if you open it up ball is going to pop up
if you close it it's going to go down it's just like a racket all right come on let's rally you
know how to do this elbows in front look at this this is I'm telling you these are the best volleys
I've ever seen you hit here we go okay come on you got this excellent hey you closed the wood
okay so what do you do when it's low you tell me there you go you bend and what else do you
do when it's low open the wood here we go come on come on elbows in front Okay elbows in front
all right now Carla not only is this wood gonna protect you from the ball because now I'm gonna
go hard at you we're going to work on that instinct that I told you about where people
turn sideways like this so now that you have this wood in front of you it's going to be more of a
safe feeling because you can protect yourself from the ball with a piece of wood and you're going to
hold your ground you're not going to go like this when the ball comes fast you're going to hold your
ground and you're going to go like that elbows are going to be in front all right here we go come on
here we go come on get down in a ready position though don't stand straight up come on hold your
ground The Wider your base is the less likely you're going to fall backwards come on wide base
you're closing the wood open it up a little bit come on wide base
best volley I've ever seen you hit in your life come again look at that Volley how crisp is that
Carla's is unbelievable you understand what's happening right here you have completely gotten
rid of that instinct where you're going like this and being scared of the ball all right now
the next progression is we're going to actually use the racket but we're still going to control
the elbows from going back like this okay okay here's your racket don't you stand right here
in a ready position and now here's what you're going to do we're going to take this
it's actually part of a paddle okay I'm going to place this underneath the elbows like this and I
see they can't go back even if you wanted to go back they won't be able to and now you're still
gonna hopefully have some muscle memory from the piece of wood where you were holding your
ground you weren't turning like this and now the elbows are going to be under control as well this
is second progression and we're going to volley like this you see this forehand and backhand same
thing that you can try to get the elbow back but you won't be able to do it all right here you go
Carla I've never seen you volley like this is text book
beautiful job and a couple more come on excellent forehead Volley this is amazing you see what I'm
saying no more this where you're popping the elbow back everything's under control so now give me the
paddle back and let's volley without any props and let's see if the muscle memory worked just
imagine you still have that elbow separation from the paddle and keep that in mind there you turned
a little too much okay yeah all right we'll go again Carla this is clean volleys come again this
is super crisp Carla this is insane what's happening right here look at that and last one play it out
oh when I say play it out when I said play it out the first thing you did is you went like
this and all of a sudden the contact was further back keep in mind that the progressions that we
did today this is the most important thing control your elbows the elbow is the biggest culprit on
the volley okay keep the elbows in front play it out much better all right very good Carla what
do you think good progressions right you have a better feel on the volley now yeah yeah it's
turning way too much okay yeah it's something that even I do sometimes it's just natural
instinct that we have so these progressions uh they help a lot great work here get the
basket next here you started rifling feeds at me basket on your left tennis coach lesson number
one always your basket on your left if you're right-handed Wow Let's play out the point come on
oh no I missed it let's try another one oh how clean was that Carla you saw that control
oh come on