The Volley grip is the same one we use to serve... Broken down here in pictures, along with an awesome USPTR 1min video.

Muy importante, por favor. Those who improve upon this important and necessary nuance (grip change) will benefit by seeing their tennis game improve, accompanied by the feeling we all love, winning more tennis matches.  The instructional points below are ones we've spoken about and worked on in practice, which is the most important place to work on this skill.  If you want you can click on the pictures below to read the captions,  but that isn't necessary, seeing the volley sequence in the picture below, and than the short video is most importante to understanding the grip for the serve and volley.  This first picture is where to hold the racquet properly for the Continental grip, you will also see it in the video clip below.




















MUY IMPORTANTE! NOTICE THE VOLLEY READY POSITION

 Don't forget to lower your head with your racquet's head, when going in for the volley, as this activates the knee bend.  This is a great phrase to remember and help improve your volley stroke, 'USE YOUR HEAD TO STEP FORWARD TO MET THE TENNIS BALL.'  A little bit of looseness in the wrist, but increased pressure on your grip with your forefinger and thumb, at the base knuckle (seen in picture above) same as with the serve. The serve grip is looser than the volley grip.  Keep your elbow firm, and lead with it and your front shoulder. When we play in the up position, during a doubles match, it is easiest to hold the racquet in Continental grip but while being in the volley ready position.  One of the many reasons we practice our serve a lot is to help adjust to this grip, moreover this is the same grip we use to hit overheads with, which is quite the same as a service motion. 



This grip is crucial to getting backspin on the ball, thus keeping the ball low as it bounces on our opponents side.  Remember that your forehand groundstroke grip feels and acts different, don't get a floppy wrist as you change between grips in real match time, keep your long follow thru.  If you are not yet comfortable with serving in a match with this grip, you can continue to use the Eastern Forehand Grip, however when you work on the serve in practice you should use the Continental Grip.  All that said this grip should be the only grip you use to properly volley, in practice or matches,

The Volley - A Short USPTR Video

And lastly because it's Friday, an old SNL skit which your coaches draw daily inspiration from. 

The Serve Statue. The technique of a very young Serena and Venus Williams, in a tape sent to a well known teaching pro.

A really simple activity you can do in your mirror, and never mind what it says about tight clothes or even if you have a racquet.  The main idea is to see yourself and all your little movements, as you transfer your weight from the start position of the service motion to the finish. Pay attention to your back shoulder and where it is in relation to your front shoulder when you release your service toss, and then where it lies in relation to the rest of your body at the finish position.   "Reach up and out...hip over hip & shoulder over shoulder.'

Tennis Pro Tom Avery on wrist action and the forehand groundstroke. A vital point reposted. The video clip is a minute long.

 

Bend your knees when you volley and bend even lower on your grounstrokes

This is a priceless tip, wherein how you bend your knees is vital.  "Sit to hit," should be applied to you groundstrokes too.

"The little things make the big things happen." Let's all be dilligent at each of the easy little things we work on in practice(i.e. service toss) from day one of the 2014 season. That's how your start a foundation for success.

The ''Pyramid of Success," formulated by John Wooden, one of the greatest athletic coaches ever, are ideas to live by, whether it be on the athletic field, classroom or whatever career you find yourself in one day.  I've encouraged and applied them in many ways, since I started team coaching, back in '07, for the Haddon Heights girls tennis team.  My favorite pyramid block, is the one in the middle, under the header "Skill."  It states, "What a leader learns after he's learned it all is what matters most."  I interpret this statement by Wooden to mean that part of my role as a coach, but really responsibility to my students,  is to forever seek to learn more and even challenge what I already believe to be true, thus always bettering myself as a coach.  I am confident in my abilities as a coach, but I am never going to let that confidence stop me from trying to improve all of these skills, each and everyday

  My secondary goal, and one I think about all the time, is simplicity, moreover how can I be more effective  and efficient, in teaching the ideas and skills which are important to the the sport of tennis and the individuals I teach it too.  I hope I am a better coach this season than I was last. I also feel that you, the player, should seek to improve yourself everyday, no matter how good you may actually be, wherein the best players of all time subscribed to this idea too.    

This link is to a post I did a few years ago on the "Pyramid of Success," along with obituary of sorts on the man himself, John Wooden.
http://paulvitennis.blogspot.com/2010/06/video-essays-coach-wooden-pyramid-of.html


The excerpt below, from a book written by one of my favored tennis writers, Jim Loehr, are words I live by when coaching tennis.  I think they are priceless, and hope you enjoy reading them here and are reminded of the great value they hold to your mental game.   If these simple ideas are applied to your tennis game,  in some ways, via my interactions with you, I think they already are, then I am certain you'll see that same value anew.  I feel strongly that by presenting them in such a way here, that said ideas will be reinforced to another degree.   These simple concepts have the power to maximize you growth as a competitive tennis player.  When I read them again here, I am reminded of how important and simple it is to gain the proper perspective of the mistakes/lost points that we all make on a tennis court, wherein how liberating that knowledge can be to the competitive tennis player within all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoM_VNqt-E
The man Jim Loehr speaks of above, Jimmy Connors, is one of the all time greats.  This link is for a ESPN produced movie,  about his legendary run to the 1991 US Open semi-finals, at age 39. 

The above video clip, on the service toss, and why and how it's important to practice this simple movement, is just one of the little things which I referenced in the lead of this post, that we'll pay mind to this season.   The serve is the most important stroke in our sport, which you'll hear stated, in the first few seconds of this clip.  A good serve can breed confidence into your entire stroke arsenal, conversely a bad one can be poisonous.  You'll see ESPN's top two tennis commentators, Brad Gillbert and Hall of Famer Pam Shirver give great explanations on the service toss.  You'll also see snip-its  of successful and well known touring pros and their good and bad service tosses, to further demonstrate how and why it is so important to a successful serve.  I think we'll practice a lot of target specific serving exercises this upcoming season.