zalive
Hall of Fame
...but obviously no one told that fact to this 6yo kid?
dominikk1985
Legend
Kids have hit one handers for decades until the 1990s and they even used wood rackets.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
As a coach who works with high performance juniors I’m not that impressed with his one hander. With red dot balls and kids rackets it’s totally doable.
What I am really impressed with is his focus, his movement and how balanced he is. At that age most kids last 30min of tennis floating in and out of focus and just wanna bang the ball around. To get his stroke to that level and how he moves his feet is no easy task, that’s what impressed me the most.
Technique at that age isn’t a number 1 priority. How good the players hand eye coordination is and his ability to focus on tasks is huge.
What I am really impressed with is his focus, his movement and how balanced he is. At that age most kids last 30min of tennis floating in and out of focus and just wanna bang the ball around. To get his stroke to that level and how he moves his feet is no easy task, that’s what impressed me the most.
Technique at that age isn’t a number 1 priority. How good the players hand eye coordination is and his ability to focus on tasks is huge.
Hmgraphite1
Hall of Fame
Future goat for sure
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
There are thousands of 6 yo's with 2hbh who hit better BH's than this kid. That's just reality. No need to use 1hbh unless all surfaces are converted to grass.
zalive
Hall of Fame
There's no 'need' to use onehander. There's no obstacle either. There's misconception about onehander being more demanding, hungry for core strength etc. but this video proves it's just a technique. There's no problem to teach kid onehander. There are only coaches who can't do it because they don't understand the onehander mechanics enough. So how could such teach kid a onehander when they don't understand it well themselves? But of course and it's logical that coaches will teach their students what they're good at - so if their natural stroke is a 2HBH, they better stick with it instead of messing things up.
This vid was interesting to me because the swing motion and the stroke on this kid is simply beautiful for (almost a) 6 yo kid. This kid does it the right way.
This vid was interesting to me because the swing motion and the stroke on this kid is simply beautiful for (almost a) 6 yo kid. This kid does it the right way.
Last edited:
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Exactly.
Pete Player
Hall of Fame
He is cheating! Plays a Babs right from the start!
When young, I tried to hit twohander, but from other sports got my back injured some, and could not do the ful shoulder turn a two-hander requires, so I started hitting onehanders. Slice was easy to learn, cause you never did that with two hands on the handle anyway, but topspin progression was really tough in the beginning.
Adopted then top player’s technics, who was Ivan Lendl. He however had quite poor topspin onehander, which I didn’t realize that time.
——————————
No more on pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter are still subject to disclaimer
When young, I tried to hit twohander, but from other sports got my back injured some, and could not do the ful shoulder turn a two-hander requires, so I started hitting onehanders. Slice was easy to learn, cause you never did that with two hands on the handle anyway, but topspin progression was really tough in the beginning.
Adopted then top player’s technics, who was Ivan Lendl. He however had quite poor topspin onehander, which I didn’t realize that time.
——————————
No more on pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter are still subject to disclaimer
Last edited:
Limited ceiling for the kid playing with a tweener. Future GOAT 6 year olds need to play with 13 oz woodies.
2hbh or 1hbh...hopefully it was the kid's choice. If so, that's great.
Maybe a 2hbh will give him greater chances for success. Maybe it won't. Anyway, at this age, who knows if Tennis will even be on his radar in a few years. Let him enjoy and play how he wants. If it ever gets to that point where he has a serious future in tennis, even pros at the highest level have shown that you can with either, even in this day and age where a 2hbh is presumed to be the safer bet.
Maybe a 2hbh will give him greater chances for success. Maybe it won't. Anyway, at this age, who knows if Tennis will even be on his radar in a few years. Let him enjoy and play how he wants. If it ever gets to that point where he has a serious future in tennis, even pros at the highest level have shown that you can with either, even in this day and age where a 2hbh is presumed to be the safer bet.
Wise one
Hall of Fame
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that kids were hitting one-handed backhands with wooden racquets!
PSC85
Semi-Pro
Pete Player
Hall of Fame
Two-handed?
——————————
No more on pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter are still subject to disclaimer
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Here is a kid I’m currently working with. He just turned 8, but he’s 7 years old in this video.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Those aren’t fed balls in my video.
Wise one
Hall of Fame
The balls are coming right to him, obviously.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Please stop commenting it’s embarrassing
Wise one
Hall of Fame
All I'm saying is that this video does not indicate that the child could play points or construct points, yet.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I was talking about the video I posted, not the original one in the first post.
Wise one
Hall of Fame
Yes, I know.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Yea you’ve never coached have you?
Wise one
Hall of Fame
Oh come now. I have helped many players over the 45 years I have played. Coaches today? What a bunch of morons! Look at young players today, and see what garbage they are taught! I happened to witness some young players in a small tournament at a local high school last fall. I was appalled! One girl bounced the ball about 40 times before she served, then hit a double fault. This was repeated over and over. High school boys who rip every shot, about 10% of which go in. It's beneath contempt!
Chas Tennis
G.O.A.T.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Ok so no real coaching background, never developed anyone and you saw a few high school players and based off of that you came to the conclusion that coaches today are a bunch of morons. Makes perfect sense.
Pete Player
Hall of Fame
Just maybe, maybe the requirements of the current game above the levels in high school requires that kind of hitting and their aim is beyond, what you saw.
I think It was Sharapova or someone of the same level once in a tournament close to my mrs’ place many, many years ago. They watched her stunned hitting every shot as hard as one can imagine and kept losing till halfway second set. But the rest of the game was going her way and she won the last set 6-0.
And look at where she’s now.
——————————
No more on pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter are still subject to disclaimer
navigator
Hall of Fame
In case you were unawares, Wise one has the most unintentionally ironic screen name on this site (a close second place goes to Nostradamus). He's a rambling gasbag of non-stop assh@ttery. I chalk it up to early-onset dementia - I think he's in his 70s.
zalive
Hall of Fame
I'm not sure why @tennis_balla didn't put a BH vid, since this was a BH thread...nice hitting though.
Last edited:
IowaGuy
Hall of Fame
Western grip?
IowaGuy
Hall of Fame
But he gives good advice if you're training for a woodies-only tournament
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
It’s normal for young kids to go more western on their forehand’s at that age because of their size and height of balls, even if they go through ROGY.
Things like this work themselves out and if they don’t it’s an easy fix by adjusting their contact point. He floats between western and semi.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
It’s the only video I have of him that I specifically asked (a while ago) his parents that I could share online. I posted it to show how movement is important and how technique is over emphasized here. This thread so far hasn’t disappointed.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
To comment on the original post. There are a lot of high balls in U10 green dot ball matches, which that kid with the one hander will play a lot of especially if he’s good and playing up in age category which is a given. 3/4 court orange dot is played more like regular tennis for adults in terms of shots, ball height etc just miniaturized for 3/4 court and speed.
Once the kids move to full court green dots, it’s a lot of high balls, moving back, lobs, weak serves and tons of service breaks. That is where he might struggle with the one hander because of the nature of the points played with green dots. The kids will pick up on it and eat up the one hander cause all balls will be above his head.
They could keep him out of competition till full court full pressure but that’s their decision.
Many coaches believed ROGY might bring back the one hander but it’s not happening. Green dots is a major road block and also the fact that you have at least 2 generations of coaches who mostly played with 2hbh and don’t know how to teach a one hander or don’t believe in it.
Once the kids move to full court green dots, it’s a lot of high balls, moving back, lobs, weak serves and tons of service breaks. That is where he might struggle with the one hander because of the nature of the points played with green dots. The kids will pick up on it and eat up the one hander cause all balls will be above his head.
They could keep him out of competition till full court full pressure but that’s their decision.
Many coaches believed ROGY might bring back the one hander but it’s not happening. Green dots is a major road block and also the fact that you have at least 2 generations of coaches who mostly played with 2hbh and don’t know how to teach a one hander or don’t believe in it.
zalive
Hall of Fame
I think this happens only to kids with less good OHBH technique. I'd bet this kid will not struggle with high balls.
There are lot of red clay courts in France I think, it's Mediterraneum. French players are usually good at all surfaces because they use all the surfaces there.
It should be similar to here where I am, outdoor season mainly red clay, indoor season mainly HC or similar.
There are lot of red clay courts in France I think, it's Mediterraneum. French players are usually good at all surfaces because they use all the surfaces there.
It should be similar to here where I am, outdoor season mainly red clay, indoor season mainly HC or similar.
Last edited:
Thiem, Tsitsipas, Shapaovalov...all pretty good. True they've not won the big one yet. But that's more to do with the greatness of the big 3. One of them is still having a 1hbh and not doing too bad even at age 37. Bottom line..no one can predict greatness or how far a kid will go. Let the kid gravitate to what he/she wants to do. Pros are certainly making tons of money even now with 1hbh just as there are a lot of folks with great 2hbh who are forever destined to never even sniff the pro ranks. 2hbh by itself is not going to advance you when it comes to moving on up.
Last edited:
zalive
Hall of Fame
IMO a OHBH technique that fares well with the ball height is the one which has a lot of verticality in a swing path and which naturally produces a loopier ball...grip should be fairly closed to compensate...guys at the ATP level who have technique as described are actually good when rallying with their onehanders against high balls.
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
Len D L
New User
Hi,
yet another whack tennis dad here.
I played some stage red tennis (he mostly plays orange and some green) with my seven year old son recently when all of a sudden he played a one handed backhand topspin. His two handed backhand was solid at this point and he was also hitting a decent slice backhand.
I asked him where his idea for playing one handed came from and he told me that Thiem and Federer came to his mind and that from now on he's playing one handed with the exception for the upcoming orange tournament where he wanted to say goodbye to his two handed bh. He played one handed at that tournament though which was good because it showed that there's self-confidence.
No arguing with him whether switching was good or bad because this boy is stubborn like hell and you can only teach him without him knowing that he's being taught. If, for instance, I ask him to hit high arc topspin he'll deliberately hit flat balls straight into the fence. The switch certainly makes things even more interesting because our (ok, my plan) was to make the transition to stage green this year but unless he'll be able to hit one handed backhand on the rise in green (which he was able to with the two hander) this doesn't make much sense. Considering tactics, footwork, etc sticking to orange is probably a good thing.
Well, yeah, "cool story, tennis dad" post so far but wtf is going on in those brains? It's crazy.
One of his first one handers:
yet another whack tennis dad here.
I played some stage red tennis (he mostly plays orange and some green) with my seven year old son recently when all of a sudden he played a one handed backhand topspin. His two handed backhand was solid at this point and he was also hitting a decent slice backhand.
I asked him where his idea for playing one handed came from and he told me that Thiem and Federer came to his mind and that from now on he's playing one handed with the exception for the upcoming orange tournament where he wanted to say goodbye to his two handed bh. He played one handed at that tournament though which was good because it showed that there's self-confidence.
No arguing with him whether switching was good or bad because this boy is stubborn like hell and you can only teach him without him knowing that he's being taught. If, for instance, I ask him to hit high arc topspin he'll deliberately hit flat balls straight into the fence. The switch certainly makes things even more interesting because our (ok, my plan) was to make the transition to stage green this year but unless he'll be able to hit one handed backhand on the rise in green (which he was able to with the two hander) this doesn't make much sense. Considering tactics, footwork, etc sticking to orange is probably a good thing.
Well, yeah, "cool story, tennis dad" post so far but wtf is going on in those brains? It's crazy.
One of his first one handers:
Moreover, one video is for BH, one for FH
rogerroger917
Hall of Fame
Wise one
Hall of Fame
I have taught informally for many decades.
Pete Player
Hall of Fame
The kid on the OP clip has it natural. Same thing happens with golfing kids, give them a ”heavy” club and they will use their body in the most effective way.
At the beginning the lot looks like wobbling worm, but quite fast it starts to build some sinewy rythm as seen on the clip. Timing is there and solid contact.
Kids that age learn really good by mimicing and with any athletic skills they find the proper muscle work and rythm within themselves.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
At the beginning the lot looks like wobbling worm, but quite fast it starts to build some sinewy rythm as seen on the clip. Timing is there and solid contact.
Kids that age learn really good by mimicing and with any athletic skills they find the proper muscle work and rythm within themselves.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited: