Bender
G.O.A.T.
So lately my volleying skills have regressed badly and I'm either framing the ball, or hitting the volley too soft, or hitting the volley hard but too short.
The main problem that I have identified is that when I'm playing doubles (and doubles specifically), when I'm the netman, as a righty, I step backwards with my right foot as I hit the volley rather than stepping forwards with my left foot, therefore dumping the volley into the net or hitting it way long. Similar story with my BH volley, where my body leans backwards instead of forwards, which causes the volley to have too much slice and sail out. I don't step backwards on my BH volleys though...my feet just end up being anchored to the floor.
The funny thing is that when I'm practising volleys (ie hitting partner on the baseline, I'm volleying), my technique is actually mostly fine. I'm doing my split steps, I'm stepping into the shots (mostly), my takebacks start and finish in front of my body, etc etc. My BH volleys are a little suspect--still slicing down too much and not moving into the ball as much as I should (but I'm beginning to suspect that this may have to do with a shoulder injury that I can't seem to get rid of), but I'm working on that separately. I might switch to a 2H BH volley to fix this for the time being, since I always move forwards out of habit on my 2HBHs, and I don't have to use my right shoulder as much.
But the moment I play an actual set, I'm leaning backwards on almost all my volleys, as if I'm somehow surprised that the ball is coming my way--even when I am expecting the ball to come my way. I can see the attempted pass from a million miles away, and yet I'm still somehow finding myself reacting to the pass instead of being proactive. One other thing I've noticed is that I have some serious issues being able to track the ball at net during doubles, which just doesn't happen during practice. I'm guessing this is because during practice, I know the balls will always be hit my way, whereas during a set, there's a lot more guesswork involved, and I have to track my opponents as well. Certainly doesn't help that I've been clocked in the face more than once by my overzealous opponents, but no issue there since they don't actually mean to hit me, and it's part of the game.
So my question is this: does anyone have advice on how to get out of this nasty habit / utter lack of confidence when at the net? I just need to be able to force myself into stepping forwards into all my volleys first and foremost. I feel like once I can do that, then the other issues might become easier.
The crazy thing is that I actually was doing pretty well at net just a month or two ago, making most of my volleys, covering the net well, stepping into most of my shots, and then suddenly, this...
The main problem that I have identified is that when I'm playing doubles (and doubles specifically), when I'm the netman, as a righty, I step backwards with my right foot as I hit the volley rather than stepping forwards with my left foot, therefore dumping the volley into the net or hitting it way long. Similar story with my BH volley, where my body leans backwards instead of forwards, which causes the volley to have too much slice and sail out. I don't step backwards on my BH volleys though...my feet just end up being anchored to the floor.
The funny thing is that when I'm practising volleys (ie hitting partner on the baseline, I'm volleying), my technique is actually mostly fine. I'm doing my split steps, I'm stepping into the shots (mostly), my takebacks start and finish in front of my body, etc etc. My BH volleys are a little suspect--still slicing down too much and not moving into the ball as much as I should (but I'm beginning to suspect that this may have to do with a shoulder injury that I can't seem to get rid of), but I'm working on that separately. I might switch to a 2H BH volley to fix this for the time being, since I always move forwards out of habit on my 2HBHs, and I don't have to use my right shoulder as much.
But the moment I play an actual set, I'm leaning backwards on almost all my volleys, as if I'm somehow surprised that the ball is coming my way--even when I am expecting the ball to come my way. I can see the attempted pass from a million miles away, and yet I'm still somehow finding myself reacting to the pass instead of being proactive. One other thing I've noticed is that I have some serious issues being able to track the ball at net during doubles, which just doesn't happen during practice. I'm guessing this is because during practice, I know the balls will always be hit my way, whereas during a set, there's a lot more guesswork involved, and I have to track my opponents as well. Certainly doesn't help that I've been clocked in the face more than once by my overzealous opponents, but no issue there since they don't actually mean to hit me, and it's part of the game.
So my question is this: does anyone have advice on how to get out of this nasty habit / utter lack of confidence when at the net? I just need to be able to force myself into stepping forwards into all my volleys first and foremost. I feel like once I can do that, then the other issues might become easier.
The crazy thing is that I actually was doing pretty well at net just a month or two ago, making most of my volleys, covering the net well, stepping into most of my shots, and then suddenly, this...