Weight forward or backward during service toss?

I had a tennis clinic today and one of my coaches said that I will probably get back problems from my toss because I begin tossing the ball while my weight is on my heels and and then I release the ball as my weight is moving forward.

He also doesn't like me throwing the ball at around 11 o'clock for the kick serve since one of my school's captains has back pains from throwing the ball at around 11 o'clock. He says that the captain started to do this at around 15 (my age) and is 18 now with that back problem. He recommends I stop these habits.

I know that kick serves do have a tendency to cause back problems, but I don't know how to change the service motion because it feels natural and another coach does say it looks graceful and smooth.

Right when I toss it I think my weight is dead center, but then it slowly creeps foward.

dave333 said:

I had a tennis clinic today and one of my coaches said that I will probably get back problems from my toss because I begin tossing the ball while my weight is on my heels and and then I release the ball as my weight is moving forward.

He also doesn't like me throwing the ball at around 11 o'clock for the kick serve

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As you toss the ball, your weight should be on your back foot. The rest depends on the height of your toss, the type of serve, and your own style.

Where does your coach want you to toss the ball for your kick serve?

My favorite serve video, which might answer the toss question for you->

http://www.hi-techtennis.com/video_sample/index.php?movie=dj_side_serve.swf&size=vertical

My main coach would like me to be able to hit a kicker at around 12 or even 1 since he knows a lot of kids that, even though they have nasty kick serves, throw them around 11 as well and complain about back pain.

ChocolatePie said:

Right when I toss it I think my weight is dead center, but then it slowly creeps foward.

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my weight moves around depending on how much i'm attacking the serve but i think it's mostly dead center during the toss like ChocolatePie....hmmmm