Lob *1min video on offensive lob added 4/28*

 



Use a lob, cause it is a very simple, important and effective shot to have in your tennis skills repertoire.  We need to remember how important it is to have a good defense when you need to summon it in a match.  We always practice in a very offensively inclined way, in drills and like games, so practicing our defense with that self feed ball drill is replicating the arm motion, racquet head speed and thus feel for hitting the lob in the correct way. I assure you this practice drill, done many times now, will show up as invaluable to winning points and possibly changing momentum during  your match play experiences going forward this season and beyond.

Use your new and improved lob, practiced with Coach Bo, not only when your in a defensive position, but as an offensive weapon, wherein it is a set up shot for an easier next shot.   A 'singles tactic' can be to hit a very short ball, maybe by mistake, and then LOB the next one over their head. Key point is to use it and not forget too. You may use it more in doubles, but it can be VERY effective to use in singles also.  *please watch the 1 min clip below that explains well the why, where and how to use the lob as an offensive shot in doubles, but really this same lob can be as an offensive tactic in singles.*  Jimmy Connors, one of the all time great singles players, is well known for successfully using this ploy off a second serve return or even during a baseline rally on a ball not short enough to hit as an approach shot.

The objective is to hit it deep enough as deep as a defensive lob,  but not as high as said lob.  While the ball is spending time in the air, you have afforded yourself more than enough time to sneak-in straight ahead & in-line with the path of your lob, toward the net.  This well hit offensive lob, returned from your opponent(s), with a high degree of probability, will be an opportunity for you to then hit an easy cross court volley, essentially splitting the two players, in a one up one back doubles formation. 
Think of this targeted area as your swinging your tennis racquet gently toward the sky. Your actually lifting the ball high over the net(10-12 ft) and carefully placing over a an imaginary secondary net, which is the service line, and into this yellow targeted area.

Its a great tactic to change the height(low, medium and high) of your ball during a rally, in singles and doubles. You don't want you opponent to get a comfortable groove with the same pace and height. Most of the time you'll use medium height cross court shots, 3-5 feet over the net, for most of your balls.

Its a great shot to use when you sense the opponent(s) do not like to hit overheads and or to confuse the same, by giving him something to break his rhythm/timing, and maybe even sneak into net under it.  It is also how you warm-up your opponents overhead during warm-ups for match play. 

The Hawks had been flying above and around our home courts since the start of the season, wherein today they landed on the courts, They also barely escaped with a 3-2 win and I hope left everyone with a new perspective, but surely hungry for more.

Each time we play a tennis match as a team and as individuals, I feel it is a sort of celebration of the sport and our hard work to then arrive at that moment and compete. These pictures are reminder of such an experience but also a story which speaks to that, in a visual sense of course.  You know I wanted to have these same pictures have a winning flavor to them, but we'll have to settle for we're hungry for more, and a ever so close 3-2 loss to the Hawks of Haddon Twp.  Enjoy, Coach Bo.

We've been working on making this subtle grip adjustment, the eastern forehand to the continental on the volleys, serves and overheads, with many of you, since the beginning of the season.  Here it is further described, but very much the same as I've communicated to many of you.  See in this scan directly below where it shows how and when the grip change is made and or advised by your instructor and or coach. specifically the serve, in that the adjustment is made, as you develop as a player.   Everyone starts learning the sport by hitting all the strokes with an eastern forehand grip.  Don't worry about terms such as strong or weak, just worry about continental and eastern forehand grips, as keeping this simple is important.  This information on grips is an excerpt from a book by one of the all time best teachers of the sport, Nick Bollettieri.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bollettieri

See in the picture below where two parts of the hand are noted.  That area where it says base knuckle of the index finger should be held a little bit firmly, while your heel pad and hand are somewhat loose while your serving, volleying and overheads.  Another key point is switching your grip in play by simply rotating up or down, kinda like a grip on a bike to change gears, using the base knuckle of the index finger as the pressure point to pivot.  

We Got In a Yellow School bus and drove toward a thundering herd, and when we were finished taming them with our tennis racquets we got back in the bus to go home and tussle with some bulldogs. BUT first, 2 quick 2 minute video tips on the overhead and singles & doubles strategy.

 Watch this quick 2 minute video tip from the 'Tennis Channel' on the overhead.

Singles players and doubles players strategy tip videos seen here at this link, don't mind the spelling error or look away quickly  ... 

http://paulvitennis.blogspot.com/2010/04/doubles-and-singles-stradegy.html

 The first three pictures here a from our match on Friday at Woodbury.   All the pictures are moments during the team match play, varsity and junior varsity play are both featured.

This was our pre-game music, 'Sinatra At The Sands, with The Count Basie Orchestra,' March 1966  -  Luck Be A Lady Tonight ... Be cool like Frank, when you play such a match with a quality opponent,  and sharpen and grow your match skills.  It is hard to look at it as nothing but a quality experience, and no matter the result.  I forgot, Count is pretty cool himself.  Luck is when hard work meets opportunity, lets keep staying in that neighborhood and know that an even better and more surprising moment is very possible and those odds we can help increase everyday.