Need help teaching Split Step

[S H O W S T O P P E R !]

As some of you may know, I volunteer as an assistant coach at the local RecPlex. The head coach usually takes a group to work on strokes and I take half to teach court coverage and strategy, etc etc. I have a kid who's got some good wheels off the court, but he's a tank on the field: not much speed, but really powerful strokes. He isn't split-stepping, and when he did split-step properly, he was speeding around the court with authority. So how do I get the split-step in his head without yelling it from the sideline and is there a good trick to make the split-step simpler to preform?

Thanks,
SHOW!

 

[mordecai]

Just have to drill it into their heads until it's automatic for them. Easiest way I've found is to have people say loudly 'split' whenever i hit the ball, and 'hit' when they hit it again and again. usually only takes a few hours for them to at least try to split step every single time.

 

[quicken]

What mordecai mentioned is the best way to do it..

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Just have to drill it into their heads until it's automatic for them. Easiest way I've found is to have people say loudly 'split' whenever i hit the ball, and 'hit' when they hit it again and again. usually only takes a few hours for them to at least try to split step every single time.

Excellent idea. I'll have to try it with my own students.

 

[oldhacker]

From my own experience of trying to get the split step automatic I can only endorse what others have said. I use a variation of Bungalo Bill's 'Hit Bounce Hit' cadence when I am hitting which is 'Split Bounce Hit' - the 'Split' being as my opponent hits the ball. Also you need to really concentrate on it in hitting sessions (rather than matchplay where everything not engrained tends to go out of the window) so I suggest just hitting with him at a pace he can comfortably handle and get him to use the cadence.

 

[split-step]

The first step to teaching the split-step is to have the student actively focus on the ball through it's entire flight path.
As someone has posted the hit-bounce-hit cadence is very good for this.

Ultimately though, it is up to the student to get into the habit of split-stepping when the opponent hits the ball by practising it.

 

[user92626]

Some good gems in this thread.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Explain the purpose of the split step. It is to use the Stretch-Shorten-Cycle for quicker and wider coverage positioning to the ball, by starting before the ball is hit.

The player learns to time the split step as a little jump where coming down pre-stretches leg muscles, and maybe body muscles, to be ready to go to the right or left - to be determined after the direction of the hit ball is seen. Search a video of an ATP player doing a split step and and see it has a downward landing that leaves some muscles pre-stretched and ready to go right or left, etc, after the ball has been hit. That advantage can result in a higher percentage of stronger returns by increasing the distance that the player can move after the ball is hit. In other words, it allows loading earlier that results in faster and wider coverage.

If the player does not understand the purpose, it's always a disadvantage for learning it.

With no prep, the player may have a straight knee and start from there,

Without Split Step - Bend knee & straighten knee with less pre-stretch = less speed and delayed start.

See videos of ATP players.