Serve Tip: More Power With The Power Loop Concept
Summary
TLDRIn this instructional tennis video, coach James explains how to achieve a better racket drop on serves to generate more power. He advises feeling a loop motion, letting the racket head drop down and away from the body. James demonstrates shadow swings with eyes closed to feel the natural loop before progressing to dummy ball tosses without striking to practice integrating the mechanics. He emphasizes working slowly, allowing the loop before swinging up to contact. James closes by touting the serve clinic offerings for players seeking to develop stronger serves through video analysis and technique fixes.
Takeaways
- 🎾 Racket drop is a common area for improvement among tennis players in serve clinics.
- 🚫 Never force the racket drop position as it can cause unnecessary stress on the shoulders.
- 👀 The ideal racket drop involves the racket looping down and away from the body after passing over the head.
- 🔄 Many players cut their serve motion short, missing out on the crucial looping action.
- 🧘♂️ Begin improving by starting in the 'salute position' and practicing the loop motion with eyes closed.
- 🤔 Visualize the racket looping down and away, especially for right-handed players, to enhance muscle memory.
- 🏐 Introduce a ball to the practice without hitting it to integrate visual tracking with serve mechanics.
- 📈 Progress to hitting balls, focusing on maintaining the loop before the swing to contact.
- 📊 Use deliberate practice and slow, controlled movements to integrate the new mechanics into the serve.
- 💡 Achieving a better 'power loop' can result in increased racket head speed and more effortless power on serves.
- 📚 One-day serve clinics are available for personalized training and video analysis to improve serve technique.
Q & A
Why does James emphasize caution when practicing the racket drop in tennis?
-James emphasizes caution because forcing the racket drop position can put a lot of unnecessary stress on the shoulders. He advises to stay within one's own range of motion and not to force any positions.
What is the ideal position James describes for achieving a better racket drop?
-The ideal position involves the racket passing the player's head and beginning to move over the head, then looping down and away from the body. This loop is crucial for optimizing the racket drop.
What common mistake do players make regarding the racket drop, according to James?
-Many players miss out on creating a loop with the racket. Instead of allowing it to loop down and away from the body, they cut the motion short and swing directly at the ball, thinking they don't have enough time.
What initial exercise does James recommend for practicing the racket drop?
-James recommends starting in the 'salute position', with the racket just above the head, then closing the eyes and letting the weight of the racket head take over to feel the loop down and away from the body.
How does James suggest incorporating the ball into racket drop practice?
-James suggests tossing the ball up without intending to hit it, to train the brain to include the ball in the equation while focusing on the mechanics of the racket drop.
What is the purpose of tossing the ball a little further to the right during practice, as mentioned by James?
-Tossing the ball a little further to the right helps isolate the swing and focus on the mechanics rather than hitting the ball, allowing the player to work on the loop and swing up motion effectively.
What progression does James mention after practicing the racket drop with shadow swings and dummy tosses?
-After practicing with shadow swings and dummy tosses, James mentions progressing to hitting actual balls, starting slowly and focusing on allowing the loop before swinging up to contact.
Why does James recommend practicing the serve technique with old balls?
-James suggests that practicing with old balls is fine and can be good for working on technique, as it allows players to focus on the mechanics of the serve without worrying about the quality of the equipment.
What is the ultimate goal of achieving a better racket drop according to James?
-The ultimate goal is to get more racket head speed on the serve, leading to more effortless power, as explained by instructor Greg Laser's concept of a better 'power loop'.
What additional training opportunity does James offer for players struggling with their serve?
-James mentions offering one-day serve clinics that include breaking down the player's serve with video analysis to show what elements need to be fixed for hitting powerful serves.
Outlines
🎾 Improving Your Serve with a Better Racket Drop
James from the OTI Coaching Team addresses a common issue observed during serve clinics: the need for a better racket drop for a more effective serve. He emphasizes the importance of not forcing the racket drop, as it can cause shoulder stress. The ideal racket drop involves the racket looping down and away from the body after passing over the head, a motion many players miss, leading to a shortened swing. James suggests starting with the 'salute' position to feel the weight of the racket head and encourages practicing this loop with eyes closed to visualize the motion. To integrate this into a serve, he recommends beginning without a ball, focusing on the loop before completing the swing, and then gradually incorporating the ball, emphasizing the mechanics over hitting the ball. He concludes by demonstrating the progression from shadow swings to hitting actual balls, highlighting the importance of slow, controlled practice to embed the technique.
🚀 Elevating Serve Power through Deliberate Practice
The second part of the video script underscores the significance of deliberate practice in mastering the loop technique for a powerful serve, as advocated by instructor Greg Laser. Achieving a 'power loop' leads to increased racket head speed and, consequently, more effortless power in serves. James advises viewers to work progressively on the technique, starting slowly and within their range of motion. He also promotes the OTI Coaching Team's one-day serve clinics, which offer personalized serve improvement through video analysis and targeted coaching, aiming to help players achieve a powerful serve. The video wraps up with encouragement for viewers to try the suggested progressions, subscribe to the channel, like the video, and attend the serve clinics for in-depth serve training.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Racket Drop
💡Serve Clinics
💡Arm Action
💡Salute Position
💡Loop
💡Shadow Swing
💡Dummy Toss
💡Half Serve Position
💡Effortless Power
💡Video Analysis
Highlights
Achieving a better racket drop can optimize serves
Don't force the racket drop position, avoid injury
Let the racket weight create a loop down and away
Visualize the racket loop to ingrain the motion
Feel the loop before initiating the swing
Start with shadow swings eyes closed to feel loop
Toss ball but don't hit to train brain and mechanics
Deliberately practice mechanics before hitting ball
Achieve more effortless power from better loop
Slowly build progressions within your range
Old balls are good for practicing technique
Focus on mechanics not hitting ball initially
Develop powerful serves with specialized clinics
Weak serves hold many players back
Video analysis identifies areas to fix serves
Transcripts
hey everyone it's James here from the
oti coaching Team Hope doing well today
I'm coming to you with a serve video and
this is specifically going to be about
achieving a better racket drop and the
reason I want to talk about this today
I've had held several serve clinics now
over the last couple of weeks and I
found that this is a occurring theme for
many players they may be getting a good
right to left arm action but they can
really do with optimizing their racket
drop a little bit further now a word of
caution for everyone watching don't ever
Force this racket drop position because
it can put a lot of unnecessary stress
on your shoulders so make sure that you
go within your own range of motion and
never Force any of these positions but
now let's get into the racket drop in
general
what do you want to do that's the first
question what's the ideal position
essentially what you want to feel as the
racket passes your head and begins to
move over your head the racket will now
Loop down and away from the body into
this racket drop but do you see that
Loop see how it Loops down and away from
the body many players miss out on this
Loop what ends up happening happening
they get to this point they've now
released the ball they're initiating the
right to left and now as the racket
reaches this part right here where it's
above the head they now simply swing
directly after contact with the hand
so they're cutting the motion short
because they think they haven't got any
time and they have to make contact with
the ball
but what I started to have players do
first
I want you to start to feel that Loop
and the best way to do it initially
start in what we call the salute
position so the racket right here is
approximately just above the head like
this and now what I want you to do close
your eyes and let the weight of the
racket head take over and what you'll
find is when you let the weight of the
racket head take over you'll feel that
Loop down and away from the body so just
do that a few times with your eyes
closed close close your eyes and feel
the loop and when you're closing your
eyes try to visualize it to visualize
and see the bracket looping down and out
to the right side for a right-handed
player and just do that a few times
looping down and away
and now what you can do start in here
Loop down and away and then complete the
swing but what I want you to feel
allow the loop first before you swing up
the contact so feel that Loop before you
swing up there we go so Loop and then
strip
and again
I'm starting in what we call a salute
position
Loop then swing
one more time
close your eyes Loop then swing up
and now after you've done that a few
times in the shadow swing obviously the
next stage
start adding a ball to the equation
now when you first do this you can work
with what we call a dummy baltus what
does that mean
basically means you're going to toss the
ball up but you're not going to hit it
all this is designed to do is train your
brain to see the ball in the equation
whilst executing the mechanics so let me
demonstrate a couple here I'm going to
start in what we call the half serve
position just like this so I isolate the
swing I'm going to toss the ball up and
I'm going to purposely toss the ball a
little bit further to the right so it's
outside of my Strike Zone let me just
show you toss and swim
so see how I am tossing the ball I'm
adding the ball to the equation but I'm
not focusing on hitting it I'm just
focusing on the mechanics
so see again I reset
toss Loop swing up
do one more time
toss Loop swing up and really
feel that Loop first before you initiate
the swing up the contact you can even do
this progression with your eyes closed
so toss Loop spin up
and then obviously the next step now
would be start hitting some balls now
very very cold here in Wales at the
moment and these balls have gone a
little bit dead as a result I believe so
let's just see what I can do with them
but
as we always say doesn't matter what
kind of equipment you have even if you
have old balls is fine that's actually
good for working on technique so let's
see a couple here starting in the half
serve whole Focus Point allow that Loop
first before you swing up to contact
I'm just focusing I'll do one Shadow
swing again now allowing the loop down
and away and then complete
now I'll add the ball
[Applause]
one more
Shadow swing again
Loop complete
now add the ball
complete as you can see I'm going very
slow and controlled the next stage what
you do you go back behind the bass line
doing the same thing I'll just show you
one
Shadow Loop complete and once again
before you go into hitting the ball make
sure you're deliberate practice so give
yourself a moment to think about what
you have to do
and now just solely focus on allowing
the loop first
[Applause]
just like that and yeah that's pretty
much the basis for today's video It's
All About achieving a better Loop and
what you'll find is if you get a better
power Loopers O2 instructor Greg laser
calls it
you're going to get more racket head
speed on your serve and as a result
you'll get more effortless power so go
ahead give this a try work on it through
the progressions first slowly build it
up and work within your own range of
motion and please let us know in the
comments below if you enjoyed this video
go ahead and subscribe to the channel
give the video a like and I look forward
to seeing you in the next video
the serve is of course the most
important shot in tennis and because so
many players struggle with it we now
started offering one day serve clinics
in these surf clinics will break down
your serve with video analysis and show
you exactly what elements need to be
fixed so that you can hit powerful
serves
so if you're interested in finally
developing a powerful serve with one of
our serve clinics click the link inside
this video right now for all the details
on upcoming serve clinics
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