How to work on volleys? For junior players

[rogerroger917]

My son is 16 and needs some help getting his volleys and transition to net more solid. He is a big kid. 6'2 and some change. Unlike a lot of the other kids who are grinders he likes to attack and finish at net. For the coaches here (or anyone else that has trained juniors kids) what is a good drill to help this aspect of the game. I can feed balls and I have a ball machine and can get him practice partners and hitters etc... just need some real life practice drills for this for tournament playing juniors.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

My son is 16 and needs some help getting his volleys and transition to net more solid. He is a big kid. 6'2 and some change. Unlike a lot of the other kids who are grinders he likes to attack and finish at net. For the coaches here (or anyone else that has trained juniors kids) what is a good drill to help this aspect of the game. I can feed balls and I have a ball machine and can get him practice partners and hitters etc... just need some real life practice drills for this for tournament playing juniors.

I would think the advice you receive would be applicable to anyone, not just juniors.

So, while I'm no coach, I attack the net a lot [as evidenced by my username] so here's what I suggest:

- split step: critical for being in balance, especially for that first volley which might well occur in NML. It's not a matter of *where* to split so much as *when*.

- patience: not every volley will be a putaway opportunity. HVs at one's shoelaces should be blocked back deep unless he has extremely good touch and even then I'd still advise to get good at the deep HV.

- remember that some % of the points will simply end in an opponent error. Just the fact that he's coming to the net will put a certain amount of pressure on the opponent. He needs to be solid enough that he can take advantage of those errors [by not making an error himself on the approach].

Similarly, remember that some % of the points will be clean passers. That's just part of the game.

- OH: closing is great but he'd better be good at moving back and smashing that lob.

- serve: don't focus just on the hard, flat serve. A loopier, spinnier serve can also work very well because it gives him more time to close.

- return: have him practice C&C also. What better way to apply pressure to the opponent's first serve when he knows that if he misses, his 2nd will be attacked and your son will be coming into the net? That alone could make him more conservative on the 1st serve.


AO 2017, Murray v Zverev: great example of how effective the deep volley and a slower serve can be:

 

[LeeD]

Gotta play doubles, even if it's against 3.5-4.0 level player's. That how you learn to use the volley and intergrate it into your game.
Bud of mine is 16, No.3 for his high school. He's 6'8" tall, so playing net allows him to use his height and reach. He plays with the old fart 3.5 crowd, just to work on second serves and volley/overheads.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Gotta play doubles, even if it's against 3.5-4.0 level player's. That how you learn to use the volley and intergrate it into your game.
Bud of mine is 16, No.3 for his high school. He's 6'8" tall, so playing net allows him to use his height and reach. He plays with the old fart 3.5 crowd, just to work on second serves and volley/overheads.

I'd argue that initially, the singles volley drills will yield better results. For one, he'll get a lot more practice vs playing doubles where he may go entire games without volleying.

Second, the types of volleys one uses in doubles can be different from singles, ranging from reflex volleys to wider angle volleys to "attack the net man" volleys, etc.

I'm not saying playing doubles is without merit [far from it, as I play both], just that I think the drills will do more initially.

 

[LeeD]

Drills can be boring for juniors.
This was true for the 16 year old I"m talking about. A natural athlete, alternate first baseman for the US Junior National baseball team that went to Cuba in Feb., his attention span is not particularly great.
Beating old farts was fun for him, and he still shows up this summer to pummel the old farts and the 4.0's who are just going thru motions, instead of thinking.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Drills can be boring for juniors.

If he's serious about improving, he'll accept that not everything is exciting. However, point taken. Maybe a mix of dubs and drills? A good coach would know how to find the right balance.

 

[rogerroger917]

Thanks for the ideas. It seems the top players he faces are all finishing at net much more. We have been incorporating it into his game past year and he really likes it. We are changing clubs due to some disagreement with the direction of the head coach and also costs. I have been just working with my kid past 6 months with some help and he is actually playing better. I took him to the club that has the highest ranked kids in our area and so now he gets to play and practice against them much more. As well my friend is one of the coaches at the full time academy there. So he helps. For free. Basically we get 3 hours of free lessons a week. And play against the academy kids. I just need to put in the hours on court to help drill him. His UTR is 9.2 now. But the kids winning the tougher tournaments are UTR 11 in the 16s.

We all feel he can make it to one of the better players in the Eastern section.
He needs to force the issue and pressure more. These kids can grind all day.

He is not adverse to drilling. He plays 4 hours a day 6 days a week during the summer. Drills with me morning and matches after lunch. I'm able because of my job to manage his tennis every day. He also started late in tennis. So he is playing a bit of catch up.




Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Thanks for the ideas. It seems the top players he faces are all finishing at net much more. We have been incorporating it into his game. We are changing clubs due to some disagreement with the direction of the head coach and also costs. I have been just working with my kid past 6 months with some help and he is actually playing better. I took him to the club that has the highest ranked kids in our area and so now he gets to play and practice against them much more. As well my friend is one of the coaches at the full time academy there. So he helps. For free. Basically we get 3 hours of free lessons a week. And play against the academy kids. I just need to put in the hours on court to help drill him. His UTR is 9.2 now. But the kids winning the tougher tournaments are UTR 11 in the 16s.

We all feel he can make it to one of the better players in the Eastern section.
He needs to force the issue and pressure more. These kids can grind all day.

He is not adverse to drilling. He plays 4 hours a day 6 days a week during the summer. Drills with me morning and matches after lunch. I'm able because of my job to manage his tennis every day. He also started late in tennis. So he is playing a bit of catch up.

Well, all the best to you and your son. Hopefully some others with coaching experience can chime in.