02/10/2023 12:26pm 3 minute read

🎾Join in on our Backhand Volley Challenge! Challenge yourself and grow your skills. Part 1 of 11.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION: Hi, Brian Teacher and welcome to Full Court Tennis, the fastest growing tennis community. Today at FCT we're going to be doing an eleven step Backhand Volley Challenge to work on your fundamentals. Every week I'm going to be giving you a new challenge in which to master. You know, your volleys need to be as strong as your groundstrokes. If not, it limits your options in which to win points. On this first step today, without doing anything else with your body, we're just going to be working on your forearm, punching through the hit with the wrist laid back, nice firm hit, staying on the ball as long as possible for maximum penetration. For the sake of being simplistic we will not even move our feet in this Step 1 of the Backhand Challenge as the ball is coming at the same spot every time and I want you to isolate the feeling of the hit. Let’s start with a continental grip and we're just going to learn how to punch through the hit. Because if you can't punch through the hit, you're not going to be able to volley well at all. 

From the ready position with the hands comfortably away from your body set and cock the wrist back as Nick does with the racquet head elevated and do a nice little unit turn. That's all we're focusing on right now. See how Nick sets the wrist and does this little unit turn and the hand is in front and then he kind of rotates his torso and shoulders together as a unit turn a tiny bit right there. Racquet goes backwards but still way in front of his body (racquet head is slightly past his left shoulder) and then he's going to press down through the hit straighten the forearm with the wrist locked back and then stretch through with the shoulder while keeping the wrist locked back as he presses  through the hit. You can also see his right shoulder stretch through the hit as he is pressing through the ball and staying on the ball as long as we can. That is the goal of this drill, learning to press and stay through the hit and stay on the ball. And we're just going to keep repeating this over and over till we have the feel of pressing and staying through the ball with the hit nice and in front with that forearms extended and the shoulder through the hip each and every time. Practice at least 15 minutes a day until you master each step. Post your progress to the Full Court feed and or hire a coach in App for a virtual lesson. Stay focused, enjoy the process and always listen to your body.

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