The teacher and talent trainer of the Argentine Tennis Association, Gonzalo Pressonbrings five exercises to enhance the projection skill in the two-handed backhand. The idea is to show you different variants of exercises and stimuli to develop specific skills in this shot, in a new edition of Learn tennis with AAT.
1- Understanding that the beginning of the coordination chain begins in the feet, generating energy through the pressure they exert against the ground (*principle of action and reaction), we focus on developing the stimuli to generate this through step. initial action for the hit. It should be noted that this is one of the many variants that we can enhance.
2- Then we begin to enhance and stimulate the non-dominant hand, we understand that the two-handed backhand is a forehand with the non-dominant hand, this arm describes the same gesture as a Drive. In this case, we use a medicine ball one kilo with a handle, another variant can be a dumbbell. We must understand that the chosen load will always depend on the student who is receiving the exercise. (*Principle of individuality)
3- Continuing with the progression, we focus on an exercise that involves both hands, in this case we will perform movements to stimulate the basic structure of the blow (back – forward / down – up / short – long / slow fast) and thereby acquire the necessary timing.
4-A) Now with a racket without a ball, stimulating the shadow of the blow with a non-dominant hand and with two hands, we develop the drawing of the movement, accentuating its rhythm, slow and fast.
B) Then we add ball to start with the sensation of impact and the tempo-spatial adjustment. It should be noted that on other occasions we will show various ways of feeding and basket ball (modifying time, distance and effects, among other key issues, so that students receive various stimuli to which to respond).
5- Finally, and with the desire to enhance the speed of gesture and the weight of the blow, we make baskets where the player must hit the air ball trying to quickly pass the hands and the rim of the racket to accelerate. Then let’s try to perform the backhand in a backcourt rally.
*Principle of Action and Reaction
Every action is opposed by a reaction of equal magnitude and in the opposite direction. In tennis, a very clear example is at the beginning of any shot: by exerting pressure on the ground so that it returns in significant magnitudes and developing rapid reactive force to intense stimuli such as the response of a ball coming from the other side of the court. court sent by a rival.
*Principle of Individuality.
Every teacher, trainer or coach must take this principle into account and apply it when teaching. Each player is unique and unrepeatable; think, feel, train and compete with different nuances specific to each personality. When developing our task, it is essential to apply training loads, think about game patterns, and encourage certain habits to compete that are specific to each individual. By keeping this principle in mind we will find success for empathy and trust with the players.
Each athlete feels and thinks about tennis in a different way and we must respect and accompany by letting it be.
Gonzalo Presson is a key member of the AAT training and development team, and joins the collaboration agreement between Infobae and the Association to offer the reader tennis fan a learning space. In the next installments, we will delve into the effectiveness and efficiency applied in other shots.
