Improving Footspeed

[Jinzui]

when rallying wit my friend i hav difficulty getting to the ball in time. i can barely reach it sumtimes or hit it but not as powerful as i wanted. So im asking any advice on improving my footspeed so i can reach to the ball faster? Note that the ball im trying to get is always hitting the outside singles line. Basicly my friend is good lol. thx :confused:

[HyperHorse]

You are posting in the wrong section.
Can't you read?

[AlpineCadet]

He's a new member, if you can read/see his post count. Give him a break. ;)

[CityHeightsTennis]

I don't have good footspeed myself but maybe if you're hitting close stance obviously you can hit open stance.
If you do hit open stance, try to improve your reactions. You can do "sudden jumps" (not sure what they are called) to get ready and get to the ball early. Keep moving your feet!
sorry i can't be a help man

[HyperHorse]

Act like a lion is after you.
Drink 10 cups of coffee before you play.
Run faster?

[CityHeightsTennis]

lol that's nice gotta try that
mental is important too

[CAM178]

There's a drill I do against the wall that I learned from Bolletierri's. The drill is an on-court drill that can be transferred to the wall. You can thank Seles for the drill, as she made it famous there.

What you do is stand about 8 feet from the wall. You stand in the middle, and you slice the ball to each side. Basically it replicates an instructor feeding you short balls to your FH and then to your BH. The drill continues on-court until the grocery cart is empty. After the drill, you should be just about wheezing.

To better explain: stand in the middle to start. Then slice to the BH side. As you run to your BH side to retrieve it, you then have to slice it all the way to your FH side on the wall. In essence, you are running like a madman for however long you want. I used to do several 3 minute stints when training heavily.

If this doesn't help your footwork, nothing will. It will also greatly improve your slice, touch, and accuracy, as well.

[Jinzui]

thx for the info. accuracy too? sweet....i hav trouble sumtimes hitting where i want to sumtimes u good tell by the curve of my racquet head. i use a Prince O3 Steam OS lol

[mel56]

Try footwork drills with ankle weights. Most people do not practice their footwork, separate from playing or hitting balls. So they never really totally 100% focus on what their legs and body are doing. If you go out and do a footwork routine similar to a point, with the ankle weights you should start gradually moving better. For example, when you turn from your ready position to lets say hit a forehand if you try to really lean forward with your upper body, so that your center of gravity is top heavy (think controlled fall) towards the direction your moving towards you should notice a much faster first step. It also helps if you take shorter steps as well when you first start out. The idea is you experiment around, and by trial and error, see what works best for you. (Where you feel like your moving quicker) Keep in mind, in order to be able to actually make changes that you use when playing, your going to need to really practice it a lot. (Lots of reps, until it is so over-learned you just do it without even needing to think about it) The weights should help you to gain more strength specifically to the muscles you use when your playing a point out.

[lolsmash]

Try footwork drills with ankle weights. Most people do not practice their footwork, separate from playing or hitting balls. So they never really totally 100% focus on what their legs and body are doing. If you go out and do a footwork routine similar to a point, with the ankle weights you should start gradually moving better. For example, when you turn from your ready position to lets say hit a forehand if you try to really lean forward with your upper body, so that your center of gravity is top heavy (think controlled fall) towards the direction your moving towards you should notice a much faster first step. It also helps if you take shorter steps as well when you first start out. The idea is you experiment around, and by trial and error, see what works best for you. (Where you feel like your moving quicker) Keep in mind, in order to be able to actually make changes that you use when playing, your going to need to really practice it a lot. (Lots of reps, until it is so over-learned you just do it without even needing to think about it) The weights should help you to gain more strength specifically to the muscles you use when your playing a point out.

The problem with ankle weights though is that they will degenerate the cartilage in your joints faster. For footspeed drills, do some ladder drills, maybe some sprints, etc. Footwork drills can also help your cause because footspeed is nothing unless you have proper footwork.

[quicken]

Are you using split steps to heighten your reaction time?

[Bagumbawalla]

Jinzui, there are things you can to to increase foot speed-- to an extent, there are also things you can do that will help you get to the ball that do not involve mere speed.

Second part first.

When you are just starting to play tennis, just gettiing to the ball and having a decent practice session can be challenging.

So, when you are hitting with a practice partner, don't try to belt the ball overly hard. Hit at a medium pace and strive for control and placement rather than power. If you can do that, you will end up hitting a lot more balls and improving your consistancy (both of you) so that, eventually, you can begin hittiing harder with more control.

The next thing you can do is WATCH THE BALL. Watch it as it leaves your racket and crosses the net to the opposite side. Watch as the parctice partner gets to the ball. Notice how he lines up with the ball and where he most likely will hit it and start moving in that directon- early- where it will most likely go.

Watch the ball come off his racket and make further adjustments so you are there waiting for the ball when it arrives- and then make small mincing adjustments so you can hit the ball with your weight moving through it. Watch the ball right onto your racket-- then repeat, over and over.

Getting a "court sense" and "anticipating the ball's direction is often more important than speed.

As far as increasiing speed, if you can find a tall building or stadium make use of the stairs. Run up, skipping every other step- then walk down and run back up taking every step, then mix it up- stepping from the far right of one riser (with your right foot) to the far left of the next riser with your left foot.

Make up other variations just to keep it interesting.

[vndesu]

to improve footspeed try doing a workout rutine like ddr or ladder drill to help improve footwork and to give you stamina.

i play ddr about 2-4 a day depending on sched and it has helped me improve on my footwork

[Babb]

Really? That works?! Sounds good to me!!! :D

[Koaske]

i play ddr about 2-4 a day depending on sched and it has helped me improve on my footwork

Are you serious!? :D I guess I'll have to play it more :)

[AlpineCadet]

to improve footspeed try doing a workout rutine like ddr or ladder drill to help improve footwork and to give you stamina.

i play ddr about 2-4 a day depending on sched and it has helped me improve on my footwork
Give me a few days, I need to try this out... ;)

[ROFLingpanda]

to improve footspeed try doing a workout rutine like ddr or ladder drill to help improve footwork and to give you stamina.

i play ddr about 2-4 a day depending on sched and it has helped me improve on my footwork

what about jump roping!! ddr is hard >.> halfway through the songs unconsciously move a little bit to the side, so when i think im hitting the right buttons it doesn't register

[ROFLingpanda]

err subconsciously** 0:]

[SystemicAnomaly]

Is your reaction time in response to your opponent's shot a significant factor in getting to the ball in time? As previously mentioned, a well-timed split step can be one of the most important footwork elements for responding to your opponent's shot.

Another way to develop your reaction time and other visual/cognitive skills is thru vision training with a behavioral optometrist = one who specializes in sports vision training.

For a cheaper option, you can try specialized software designed for this purpose. This type of software often employs ECTs, elementary cognitive tasks. Examples of this can be found at MyBrainTrainer (http://www.mybraintrainer.com/about/) as well as a few of the exercises at the Cognitive Labs (http://www.cognitivecare.com/ui/swf/ngtests/Test_02.htm) site. I've not tried it but Flash Focus (http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/jzDLc7ECGsrBaBRV9Ujs06hEWV-wJsj7#overview) for Nintendo DS might also be worth checking out.

List of MBT brain exercises (ECTs) (http://www.mybraintrainer.com/exercise/)