Help with Strokes (HD Vid)

[MarinaHighTennis]

So my friend has picked up tennis last year (he quit varsity basketball and baseball to play tennis). Any places of improvement?

Also, this is his college recruiting video for CalTech/MIT. He hopes tennis will help show his versatility to get him in, instead of solely relying on his grades. Did we make the video alright?

The Table of Contents is interactive so you can skip around the video too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axG7...kiwh_A&index=1

Match vs 5-star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgK5...e_gdata_player

[luvforty]

that FH footwork is wrong.

[Cheetah]

balance is not great.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by luvforty

that FH footwork is wrong.

Wrong? If so how...and what would you suggest to improve it?

[luvforty]

Originally Posted by Ash_Smith

Wrong? If so how...and what would you suggest to improve it?

load RIGHT, yank left

[Ash_Smith]

^^^Gonna have to work on my sarcasm filter - can never tell whether you are serious or not!

[luvforty]

just saying stepping in like that should not be the basic fh.

[MarinaHighTennis]

Originally Posted by luvforty

load RIGHT, yank left

Can you elaborate? Is that the thing federer does a lot against hard shots. Where he loads on his right and pulls the left foot back?

[Rafa4Ever]

FH footwork is not wrong. HE is just hitting with a closed/neutral stance instead of open. closed is better, it just takes more time to setup. Don't listen to these guys, half of them can't play for their lives.

[Cheetah]

closed is better? yea... ok.

How about him spinning like a top on every fh? Is that better too?

[rkelley]

Originally Posted by MarinaHighTennis

So my friend has picked up tennis last year (he quit varsity basketball and baseball to play tennis). Any places of improvement?

Also, this is his college recruiting video for CalTech/MIT. He hopes tennis will help show his versatility to get him in, instead of solely relying on his grades. Did we make the video alright?

The Table of Contents is interactive so you can skip around the video too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axG7...kiwh_A&index=1

The video is fine, but I don't know if anyone will look at it. It's a ten minute video showing that he's well rounded. A ten minute video of his walking, talking, sentient robot might get looked at, but I doubt the admission officials will have time to view a video that just shows he's well rounded. It would be sufficient to say that he got on the varsity tennis team, or he played USTA junior tournaments and list some results. Your friend is applying to the college based on his academics. He's not going out for the tennis team. MIT and CalTech don't even have tennis teams, do they?

But you made it already. You might want to talk to someone knowledgeable about the admissions processes at these schools and ask whether or not you should include it.

On forehand, it would be better if his basic footwork was to set-up semi-open to open with the weight on the outside/back leg. You certainly can hit from neutral and swing your back leg around (as he does in the video), but that footwork doesn't take maximum advantage of the power your legs can put into the shot. I use that neutral stance/swing leg when the ball is short and I can't get to the preferred set-up or if I set-up short and then need to step in. Basically I think this is what everyone else is saying.

[treblings]

Originally Posted by luvforty

load RIGHT, yank left

thank you for that post

[luvforty]

Originally Posted by MarinaHighTennis

Can you elaborate? Is that the thing federer does a lot against hard shots. Where he loads on his right and pulls the left foot back?

that's not what he's doing in the video though... he is stepping into the left, into a closed stance.

semi open should be the basic fh.

[pvaudio]

I can tell you that this video will make no difference to either school. Playing tennis is not as important as how well you play tennis. Admissions people, especially for extremely selective schools, look mainly to outstanding extracurriculars. What that means is instead of being in Spanish club, Latin club, German club, French club, math club, science olympics, brain game, and being able to play tennis, the violin, piano and be in pep band, you should be president of German club, a top state tennis player AND captain of your school's team and also be a concert pianist. The saying quality not quantity is what counts because everyone has great grades and will swarm to extracurricular activities just to put them on their resume. Excelling in a few is what gets you noticed. Been here and done that 4 times now (HS, undergrad, grad and career).

To whomever asked, yes, both schools have tennis teams. Cal Tech is actually quite a solid one for what they are.

[MarinaHighTennis]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

I can tell you that this video will make no difference to either school. Playing tennis is not as important as how well you play tennis. Admissions people, especially for extremely selective schools, look mainly to outstanding extracurriculars. What that means is instead of being in Spanish club, Latin club, German club, French club, math club, science olympics, brain game, and being able to play tennis, the violin, piano and be in pep band, you should be president of German club, a top state tennis player AND captain of your school's team and also be a concert pianist. The saying quality not quantity is what counts because everyone has great grades and will swarm to extracurricular activities just to put them on their resume. Excelling in a few is what gets you noticed. Been here and done that 4 times now (HS, undergrad, grad and career).

To whomever asked, yes, both schools have tennis teams. Cal Tech is actually quite a solid one for what they are.

Thanks for that. He is apllying based on academics (4.8-5.0 gpa), but for those extracurricular actv: varsity baseball, basketball, captain of robotics team, etc. Should i list that in the video?

@rkelley: hes only going to send it to the schools he apllied to

[sunof tennis]

Originally Posted by MarinaHighTennis

So my friend has picked up tennis last year (he quit varsity basketball and baseball to play tennis). Any places of improvement?

Also, this is his college recruiting video for CalTech/MIT. He hopes tennis will help show his versatility to get him in, instead of solely relying on his grades. Did we make the video alright?

The Table of Contents is interactive so you can skip around the video too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axG7...kiwh_A&index=1

First of all, if your friend has only been playing tennis for a year, his game is quite developed. The form on both of his groundstrokes looks pretty solid(yes, loading on the right leg with a generally open stance wil help with consistent power-from the video, it looks like he is not extremely tall-I can relate-so any additional power will come in handy). Volleys need the most work. * Too much backwsing on the forehand side. He should turn shoulder more and work on cupping/slicing the volley.
*I am on a fairly small screen on a laptop so I couldn't tell what he was using for for sure, but volleys need to be made with a continental grip.

Good luck to your friend on his college career.

[Cheetah]

He's only been playing for a year? Pretty good. Good luck.

[MarinaHighTennis]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

He's only been playing for a year? Pretty good. Good luck.

Yeah he played basketball and baseball before. I'm not even sure how he found out about tennis but he really got into it

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by MarinaHighTennis

Thanks for that. He is apllying based on academics (4.8-5.0 gpa), but for those extracurricular actv: varsity baseball, basketball, captain of robotics team, etc. Should i list that in the video?

@rkelley: hes only going to send it to the schools he apllied to

If you're going to school for academics, it comes down to whether or not you can put it on paper. Admissions will not look at the video. Athletics MIGHT if they're looking to recruit. He isn't, however, going there to play tennis as you said. He's going there to get one of the best educations in the world. Having done a spell in my schools admission's office, I can tell you (and specifically for first-year engineering which happens to be applicable to this situation) that they look at 3 things.

First is your transcript just to make sure. You won't be applying to MIT without stellar grades, so that's not an issue. Next is your resume. They want to see something that pops, and hopefully is related to what you're applying for. Something like being captain of the robotics team AND also won design awards for independent work in robotics is an example. That's applicable and shows you're very passionate about it. Finally is your extracurricular background. What sports did you play and where did you fall? If you can get varsity in his sports and have him work his *** off this spring and summer in tennis to make the top 5 on the varsity tennis team, that shows an incredibly well rounded person. Most importantly, it shows that you are driven to excel in everything instead of driven to just be a member of everything.

That's my pvaudio to rising-senior-in-high-school advice for the day regarding tennis. He has a very strong background already, so if he wants to play tennis, now is definitely the time to put in the hours and come out blazing in the fall. Best of luck

(note: I did not forget about test scores. For this caliber of school, they are absolutely meaningless and are simply a formality. GPA trumps all test scores.)

[rkelley]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

(note: I did not forget about test scores. For this caliber of school, they are absolutely meaningless and are simply a formality. GPA trumps all test scores.)

There are relatively a lot of kids with 4.crazy GPAs. I'm not trying to diminish the achievement, but a high +4.0 GPA is only one piece of the puzzle. Just for background, high school AP classes are usually graded on a 5.0 scale. Different schools have different offerings of AP classes. Most colleges will recalculate the GPA based on their interpretation of whether a class should be a 5.0 or a 4.0 class anyway. Basically, the transcript needs to be a sea of A's in tough, college prep/honors/AP classes.

The high school that this GPA was earned in matters too. The high schools are ranked.

The average SAT test scores for these types of colleges are over 2300 (2400 is max). A 2300 on the SAT is a lot tougher to do than a high GPA. If you're SATs are not up in that neighborhood, admission will be very, very unlikely.

The test scores matter.

But pvaudio's point is still valid. These schools have their pick of the very best students. You have to stand out among a very elite crowd. You have to have done high quality stuff that shows passion and excellence. Good grades, decent test scores, and just showing up to Spanish club isn't sufficient. And you have to do it in way that's reasonably easy for an admissions person to get their head around without spending an eternity reviewing your application.

Back to tennis, for only playing a year the kid is really doing well. Get him to plant that outside foot and set-up open on that forehand. I agree with the volley comments too.