Teaching volleys to JR's

[andromeda]

My son has such a hard time with volleys. He refuses to turn his shoulder and move into the ball. It's like he's trying to hit a forehand at the net and it's driving his coach crazy. She's constantly working with him to step in and close his shoulders so that he can direct the ball more efficiently. He just doesn't get it and it's driving us all crazy, LOL! He's 12, by the way. His backhand volley is beautiful, though, and he naturally steps in and blocks the ball better.

Any suggestions, exercises on court, or tips we could use to get him to move to a more natural volley? He is a good listener and tries to apply what the coaches tell him but if they don't work on it day in and day out, he loses the technique and reverts back to what he was doing before. Again, drives us all crazy, haha!

 

[Djokolate]

Are you sure he really understands? Show him what you mean and, in a non-pushy way, you could tell him to play well but focus a lot on that forehand volley (not saying you're pushing him, just saying that if you tell him that, it might come across as pushy).

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

Sometimes you just have to give kids a goal and let them work it out on their own. For example, you want better forehand volleys. So set up targets and have him use his current technique to try and hit those targets with decent pace. Increase the rate of the feeds so he has to volley and get set up quickly for the next one.

Just explain the goal of the drill with zero instruction as to how to achieve it. Sometimes when you have exhausted all attempts at explaining a technique, this 'last resort' method works to get them through a sticking point. Kids many times make their own adjustments using this method.

Also, don't get totally caught up on dogma of technique. Some tennis tasks like the volley can be left open to interpretation a little. John Mac was an amazing volleyer, he had little quirks like his hop that might not be textbook.

 

[BSPE84]

My son has such a hard time with volleys. He refuses to turn his shoulder and move into the ball. It's like he's trying to hit a forehand at the net and it's driving his coach crazy. She's constantly working with him to step in and close his shoulders so that he can direct the ball more efficiently. He just doesn't get it and it's driving us all crazy, LOL! He's 12, by the way. His backhand volley is beautiful, though, and he naturally steps in and blocks the ball better.

Any suggestions, exercises on court, or tips we could use to get him to move to a more natural volley? He is a good listener and tries to apply what the coaches tell him but if they don't work on it day in and day out, he loses the technique and reverts back to what he was doing before. Again, drives us all crazy, haha!

Racquet out front, pivot shoulder, and lead with bottom edge of racquet. That's all you need to tell him and keep working at it. And play lots of doubles.

If your son can't help from taking a backswing, you could try having him tuck a ball under his arm pit while practicing volleys.

My kid at 10 hated to volley and like many, had a tendency to take a backswing. I reenforced the three things with him for years and I think he finally figured it out at 13. Now he routinely serves and volleys on the ad side (lefty) and plays great doubles.

 

[tennisdad65]

Forget about technique, footwork, stepping in, shoulder turn, underspin etc... etc..

Just volley back and forth with him in your backyard using a foam/low compression ball. Stand about 10-15 feet apart and block (flat) the volleys back and forth, without any emphasis on footwork, shoulder turn, underspin etc... When you guys can consistently do 300-500 volleys fairly quickly without much ball picking, move on to low compression and then regular balls.

Gotta make him a natural volleyer first.. kinda like Brazilian roadside soccer vs. US organized soccer

 

[Tennishacker]

Forget about technique, footwork, stepping in, shoulder turn, underspin etc... etc..

Just volley back and forth with him in your backyard using a foam/low compression ball. Stand about 10-15 feet apart and block (flat) the volleys back and forth, without any emphasis on footwork, shoulder turn, underspin etc... When you guys can consistently do 300-500 volleys fairly quickly without much ball picking, move on to low compression and then regular balls.

Gotta make him a natural volleyer first.. kinda like Brazilian roadside soccer vs. US organized soccer

Great idea, when I was learning to volley, my coach had me volley againist the wall.

 

[tennisdad65]

Great idea, when I was learning to volley, my coach had me volley againist the wall.

that's how I learned to volley too. The wall is good for low volleys, half volleys and reflexes (stand close, volley hard). not so great for high volleys and angled volleys etc..

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

Another trick to 'fool' a kid into less of a swing on the forehand volley....have him lead with his head and exaggerate it. Have him move his head towards the ball on every volley and he will naturally block the ball more than swinging at it.

 

[andfor]

Lots of good suggestions here. Another is to have him hold the racquet at the throat and volley closely with a partner or against the wall. It's real hard to swing when the players hand is choked up so high on the racquet. While using this method and the others suggested his form will start to come around.

 

[willshot]

Just tell him.... "if you swing, you get 2 spankings"

 

[slice bh compliment]

Just tell him.... "if you swing, you get 2 spankings"

Funny, this method yielded surprisingly poor results with my wife.

 

[BMC9670]

I was constantly on my son about less/no back swing and shoulder turn on volley's. This helped:

1. I first concentrated on the footwork, which helped foster shoulder turn and extended his reach. I made him to this naturally by tossing balls that he had to step and reach for.

2. After trying a few things, I asked him to draw an apostrophe in the air with his racket. This made sense to him and he started to "carve" his volley's nicely.

3. I played "catch" with him. Stand in the volley position and toss him the ball and he softly volleys it back to me. No time for back swing and teaches touch, control and soft hands.

Get creative. You never know what will click with them.