STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Latest News

• Collier schools summer bus schedules announced
• Report: UCF players tell of intense workout, coach cursing before Plancher's death
• Traffic enforcement locations for Collier, Lee

Share and Enjoy [?]

The overhead is a very dangerous shot! Most doubles players worth their salt are constantly pressing forward into a controlling position in the front court.

They serve and advance forward immediately if their serve generally produces a lifted rather than an aggressively driven return.

If the server on the opposing team stays back after delivering serve, top level players will advance forward without a second thought and establish themselves at the back edge of the kill zone (Roughly 12 to 15 feet back from the net).

Your coach, I’m sure, has stressed that concept continually in your drills and team practice sessions. What you must be keenly aware of is the yang to your attacking ying is the lob.

Other teams and players have coaches also and you can rest assured they have worked diligently on lobbing the attacking team when the situation presents itself. The question to you is have you worked on your overhead enough to make attacking the net and forcing them to throw up a lob a profitable enterprise for your team.

You already know the swing, basically your service motion, but what about the footwork pattern to get under the ball? My bet is that you haven’t put in the work to improve your movement and balance in that situation.

Twice in the last week I have heard of people falling backwards while attempting to move for an overhead. One of them, a club member of mine who escaped unscathed, another, the daughter of a club member, who, while at tennis camp going for an overhead in a drill session, fell backward and in an attempt to soften her fall severely fracture her thumb and will require surgery to repair the damage.

If you attack they will lob as sure as the sun shines in Florida.

To go up the level ladder you must put in the time to improve your footwork and balance on that most dangerous of shots.

---

Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.