Tennis Video 101

Digital video has revolutionized so many aspects of our lives in the past decade, including how we learn and interact as tennis enthusiasts. It wasn’t so long ago that the only way we could view video of tennis players was either on TV or by checking out tapes at your local library. Nationally recognized tennis pros and coaches would often times come out with instructional videos as well which you could purchase from the backs of magazines or at tennis conventions.

These days absolutely anybody with an entry level camera, entry level computer, and connection to the internet can become a star on the tennis court. Below I’ve outlined the top 5 components of creating your own videos so that you can receive the best feedback and instruction possible. Follow these instructions and your videos will be a pleasure to watch instead of a pain.

Digital video doesn’t cost an arm and a leg anymore. In fact, you can now get full HD quality video right to your computer screen for less than $200. Hands down my favorite way of shooting high quality digital video on the cheap is the Flip UltraHD camera. This camera fits completely in one hand, takes two hours of HD quality video, and can be had for as little as $155. For examples of the video quality coming from this camera check out the point play analysis shown in the Video section of Essential Tennis.

The Flip Cam isn’t the only option for HD quality video at a cheap price. Take a little around Amazon.com and you’ll be surprised how many different companies are jumping on board to give us tennis players a wide variety of hardware.

Sounds like a no brain-er, right? Well believe it or not people submit videos of themselves to me that were shot without the use of a tripod all the time. Do your viewers a favor and make a small investment in one of these incredibly useful devices, otherwise you’ll have myself and other tennis enthusiasts reaching for the motion sickness meds faster than you can say “action!”. This does not have to cost a lot of money! People are always surprised when I tell them that they can pick up a tripod to do the job for under $20, but it’s true. Here’s a link to a full sized tripod on Amazon that costs only $16 with shipping included. A favorite of mine is also the “Gorillapod” mini tripod that has flexible arms to wrap around things like a fence or net post. This is really cool when combined with my little FlipCam, especially since it only costs $17 on Amazon.

Your video camera is able to “see” a certain amount of space on the court and where you place yourself within that space is your framing. I often times see stroke videos where the subject is literally on the other side of the court, barely taking up any space in the frame. This makes it extremely tough to pick out technique keys and give good feedback to players. On the other hand, if you’re looking for feedback on strategy and point play you want to be able to see as much of the court as possible, which means both players are going to take up much less room in the frame. It totally depends on what you’re trying to get information on, strokes or point play. Do your viewers a favor and put a lot of thought into setting up your camera and tripod properly so that everybody can clearly see what you’re trying to show them!

Stroke technique videos: fill the frame as much as possible without leaving it constantly. Point play videos: place the camera to see as much of the court as possible. At the top of the back fence pointing down is definitely the best.

One more thing about framing your shot for stroke technique. In my opinion the two most useful angles to view tennis strokes from are either directly to the side of the player (90 degrees to the right or left) or directly behind the player looking forwards towards the net. Pointing your camera towards you from the other side of the net or skewed off to the side at a random angle makes it a bit more difficult to give the best technical feedback possible.

Have you thought about editing your technique or point play videos? I’m not talking about color correction, chroma key, or anything else fancy like that. What I suggest is simply cutting around your most important content to make it easy for your audience to watch. When editing out all of the dead time in a typical 6-4 set there’s actually only 6-10 minutes of actual play time. Not only will it be that much easier and faster to watch, but when all of the points are back to back it’s much easier to pick out patterns in the match play without all of the time searching for balls and taking water breaks in between. Just like tripods and cameras, it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money to get this done. In MacOS iMovie is definitely the way to go, very easy to use and included with the operating system. If you’re a Windows user then a great free option is Windows Movie Maker.

Obviously YouTube is the most popular way to put your videos up for the world to see. Some tennis players don’t want their content to be available for just anybody to see, however. Within YouTube are a vast array of privacy settings, including ways to create private links that only certain people can access. It’s totally up to you how public or private your videos will be. Keep in mind that YouTube limits the length of your uploads to only 10 minutes, and file sizes have to be within 2gigs. Alternatives to YouTube include blip.tv, Vimeo.com, and Viddler.com.

Once your videos are published to a video hosting web site make sure to drop by the Forums at Essential Tennis to receive free feedback from certified tennis professionals!

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Overhead Footwork and the Three Step Drop

Moving backwards is not something that us humans do very naturally. This makes sense of course since our bodies are designed to move forward. What does this mean for our tennis games? Moving back to cover a good lob is very often a huge weakness for tennis players, especially doubles players who spend a ton of their time up at the net. In my experience very few recreational level players move correctly when trying to get back towards the baseline for an overhead and this causes lots of problems when even a relatively easy lob gets hit up into the air. Don’t be this person! The lob is the highest, slowest, most defensive shot in tennis, not something that you should be fearful of or afraid to hit. Hopefully this quick article will give you a good idea of how to best move in a backwards direction to cover even the best lob and give you more confidence when you’re up at the net.

I want you guys to check out this youtube video of Jay Cutler demonstrating a “three step drop”. The three step drop is a series of steps used by high level football quarterbacks to get themselves off the line of scrimmage quickly and efficiently. The quarterback makes this move to give himself some space to work with and also to buy some time between himself and the oncoming defenders trying to make his life miserable. This guy is a professional athlete, he definitely knows how to move, even backwards away from his own end zone. Obviously his tips on where to hold the ball aren’t applicable to us, but I want you to pay very close attention to what he says about his feet and how he moves them.

Jay begins in essentially a “ready position”. Tennis players should be in a little bit wider of a stance than he demonstrated but everything else is identical: knees bent, facing forwards, and hands in front. From this position he turns himself to the side by bringing his right foot back around his left to put himself into a “square” or “neutral” stance. This is absolutely critical and where things break down for players who are poor at moving back for overheads. Not only does turning to the side give you a much wider base to move back from with your feet but it puts your body in a strong position to hit an overhead from as well. Imagine trying to hit an effective serve in a stance that starts you off facing the net head on, it just doesn’t make sense from a technique perspective.

From this sideways position Jay uses two different types of steps: a cross over step and a shuffle step. In my opinion as long as you get sideways to the net and lead with your right foot either type of step is perfectly fine to get yourself back underneath a deep lob. The cross over step will definitely get you back more quickly than only using a side shuffle, but it definitely takes some more coordination and athleticism to use. Try them both out, as well as combinations of each to see what feels most natural to move you back towards the baseline. When I get an easy lob I only use side shuffles to make adjustments while turned to the side, on a tougher lob that I’m really having to work for I’ll use one or two cross over steps at the most and then shuffle steps from there, just like Cutler did in his demonstration.

Check out the image at the top of this article of Favre and Rodgers as well (can you tell who my favorite football team is?). The images of both players show them in the middle of a cross over step. While their shoulders are perpendicular to the line of scrimmage their hips are actually facing back towards the opposing end zone. This is why they’re able to get back off the line so quickly, it’s almost like running backwards, but with their upper body sideways ready to throw. As I said earlier this takes a lot more athleticism and coordination, but definitely give it a shot. Moving back this way for an overhead is the ultimate in speed and balance.

Get out there on the court and practice this! With some time and repetition you’ll be moving back more quickly and in better balance in no time.

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Tennis-tips for learning tennis - depth is King

Focus on the depth

Keep the ball in the back Court is really your No 1 weapon at this stage of your career.

As the former French Open Champ & Player tennis world no. 2 Michael Chang said "depth is King".

And he should know, as he retained only the top ranking and played against Wimbledon and US Open tennis immortals Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

It was also really the precursor to some of the major players players today as Rafa Nadal.

Anyway, what this trick tennis can do for you in the real world tennis is (and this is where it really counts)-

It will keep you at the point of hitting more and is that we all know at this stage, keeping many hits in court is not always easy.

Will ask for your opponent to knock an extra 1 or 2 shots each point that they may feel uncomfortable with and will often lead to mistakes.

Remember what is said in the rules of tennis - "winner of the point is the last person to hit the ball in court" - consistent depth will help you to be this person.

To help achieve this, use the large rectangle formed by the line of service, line basis and singles sidelines as your target.

Spend 5 minutes before your next practice/lesson etc and look over the net and keep watch as you walk towards it referencing.

Dropping a few balls for yourself and strike them over the net to get the ball in this "back box".

You can even try to add in this simple rating system in order to add a little fun and pressure.

Give you yourself 5 points if your decision-making exceeded and land a service dialogs.

Assign you yourself 10 points if your decision-making exceeded and land in the rear area (the rectangle we discussed previously).

You score zero if the ball does not go on the net.

You also mark zero if the ball is going too deep and filed beyond the baseline thus as if it is too broad and fails in the intended or completely out of court.

Keep a note of your scores for say 10 plans and see how long does it take to regularly reach 100!

As your scores go up, this will be your game.

Tip

The largest error that most players at this level is that they hit the ball too low and therefore possibly in the net or too short if they take it.

Your ball when struck the baseline must be approximately twice the height of the net it exceeds.

As you hit the shot with some topspin, the ball should fall comfortably into the Court on the other side of the net.

Practicing this drill (on forehand and BACKHAND), with a partner or on your own will pay large dividends for you in the future as it will teach you on how to hit the ball and where it lands.

Try it today.

Instantly Improve Your Tennis Serve With These 7 Simple Tips

1) Know Your Optimum Hitting Zone
Stand close to and facing the fence on a tennis court. Reach up with your tennis racquet to the fence with maximum arm extension and note where the racquet touches the fence. This is roughly where your arm and racquet should be reaching towards when you hit the ball.

2) Don't 'Toss the Ball' - Lift the Ball!
I believe that many people get confused with the term 'toss the ball'! A much better way to think is of 'lifting the ball' towards the hit zone.

Hold the ball by forming a tripod with your thumb and first two fingers, palm facing upwards and use a very light grip. Keeping the arm as relaxed and straight as possible, raise the arm upwards towards your hit zone, releasing the ball in front and to the right of you (for right handers) by opening the 'tripod'. A good image to think of for proper ball release is of your first 3 fingers looking like a flower opening its petals. The ball should be getting to just above, or a maximum of one foot above, your optimum hitting zone found out from tip 1 above. You can experiment with the ball height to find what suits your serving rhythm.

3) Get a Consistent Ball Toss
When you find your optimum hit zone, you need to be able to consistently put the ball in this spot, which will in turn improve your serves consistency.

When you know where the ball should be placed for your optimum hit point, toss the ball to that point and let the ball land in front of you, noting where the ball lands. Place your racquet on the ground where the ball landed and use your ball toss to get the ball to consistently land on the racquet.

4) Keep Your Toss/Lifting Arm Extended for as Long As Possible When You Release the Ball
This really does help you reach for the ball and will reduce the amount of times that you put the ball into the net.

5) Back Scratch
To get maximum power you need to feel like you are throwing the racquet from the middle of your back towards the optimum hit zone. To practice this, start your serve by having the racquet placed as if you were scratching the right hand side of your back with the racquet (for right handers). The racquet tip will be pointing towards the floor at this point

6) Throw the Racquet at the Ball!
From the back scratch position it should feel like you are throwing the racquet at the ball. If you have an old racquet that you no longer use then you can get this feeling and practice it by throwing your old racquet from the 'back scratch position' towards the hit zone and letting the racquet go! The racquet should fly upwards and land some distance away from you. Apparently this is one of the methods that the Williams sisters use to practice their serve technique!

SAFETY NOTE: please ensure that nobody is close to you that may be hit by your flying racquet!

7) Check that You Have a Good Finish Position
To get maximum power you need to have good racquet head speed. If you follow the steps above then when the stroke finishes the racquet should be stopping at your left hand side, with your right hand finishing up in the middle of your left thigh (for right handers). Don't try to force this follow through, your finish position should be as a result of throwing the racquet at the ball but if you do naturally end up in this position then it is a good sign that you have a proper swing path. If you don't end up in this position, check you are doing the tips outlined above correctly. If you are doing those correctly then try to visualise your hand finishing in the middle of your left thigh. That should get you finishing your service motion properly.

A Final Word on the Service Grip
You should also try to develop hitting your serve with a 'continental grip' (also sometimes called a 'chopper grip') but that is not an instant tip so please feel free to look up information about this grip and try it out. If you don't currently use this grip and want to give it a try then practice it gradually, so as not to cause any injuries. If in doubt about this grip then seek the assistance of a professional tennis coach who can help you with this!

Remember, whilst these tips can lead to instant improvement, if you want to also see medium and longer term results then please keep practicing these tips. Your whole game will thank you for it and you will really look forward to serving in any situation!

To get more tips, news and advice from Ian Clark visit http://www.simplytennisinformation.com You'll also get a FREE REPORT called 7 Simple Tennis Tips that will Instantly Improve Your Game.

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Get the Best Wrist Exercise With the Powerball Neon Power Ball

Wrist exercise is not limited to young men and women, older people is also need to do it. In this regard, various products for wrists exercises are coming out in the market and the Powerball Neon is just one of the few popular wrist exercise gadgets today. Powerball Neon or also commonly known as gyro exerciser has the same size of a tennis ball but a little bit heavier. However, the big and most interesting difference between the tennis ball and the Powerball Neon is the extraordinary sensation you can feel, the moment you take the Powerball into your hand, set the rotor in motion using the cord provided. By the time you already get used of your Powerball, you can take the rotor in motion using your fingers.

As you start with your gyro exercise, a gyroscopic force will let the powerball come alive slowly giving you a pleasant resistance to your movement and will eventually transmitted into your wrist and arms providing a soothing, non-impact rehabilitation at a lower speed.

The moment you get use to your powerball, bring it into a higher level like the 10,000 rpm and experience a stronger and more vibrant sensation. Try to take it higher to 12,000 rpm until you reach the unbelievable 15,000 rpm, where the powerball exerts almost 40lbs of pressure into your limbs. This one of a kind exercise machine uses no battery, no motor, only pure gyroscopic power making this the first human propelled device ever.

It is advisable that you will get one with a screen, as it will provide a great incentive for you to keep using it, for you can keep or view your progress via the screen. If you are the one who are in a tight budget or simply do not have the time to visit to the gym for some weights, the Powerball Neon is the best tool to keep. It can hurt your arms at first, but will keep your arms solid overtime. While playing with the Powerball, it is advisable to watch your television with the subtitle on, for the powerball is a bit loud. In addition, you do not have to worry about electricity when using it for it is human powered.

There are many series of powerball neon available. You might want to check out our website for more information. You can also read other sports equipments from our website: Sporting Goods Review

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Three Secrets You Want to Know to Playing Your Best Tennis

There are so many millions of people who play tennis everyday throughout the world. They play in public parks, country clubs, private tennis courts, and anything in between (i.e. against a wall).

Tennis is the only sport I know that begins with love and is a sport for a lifetime. I remember the great Sugar Daddy, Bobby Riggs who said in one of the many tennis clinics he taught, "Tennis is a sport you can play from cradle to grave."

Why do people enjoy playing tennis? I believe because it is a classy sport. It is a sport you can play for as short as 15 minutes or as long as 3 to 5 hours, it all depends on your ability level and motivation. I was fortunate enough to play professional tennis. I had a world ranking in the ATP Tennis of 662 in singles and 457 in doubles. I had wins over players ranked in the top 200 in singles in the world and wins over players ranked in the top 50 in doubles.

In this article, I want to provide you with the three secrets to playing your best tennis. Of course, there are more than three secrets, but three secrets are enough to help you play better tennis.

First, there is no substitute to practicing, practicing, over and over and over again. Practice is the seed to building confidence! When you practice in addition to playing tennis regularly, you will feel a sense of accomplishment, you will feel that you deserve to win because you know for yourself that you have been investing the time to improve your game. So, practice at least two to three hours extra a week if you are a club tennis player. If you are a tournament player you should practice at least 15 hours a week, which equals to 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Second, visualize yourself hitting the tennis ball perfectly. Imagine yourself in the movie screen of your mind that you are moving side to side, running forward and backward, hitting each ball with perfect accuracy. Visualize your forehand, backhand ground strokes being hit over the net with 3 to 5 feet clearance. Picture every stroke you hit with perfect ball control. See each of your tennis strokes, feel each tennis stroke, and experience each and every tennis stroke you hit with confidence. Repeat this each time pre and post tennis game or match. By so doing, you are training your mind or inner game to manifest itself in your outer game or physical game. Tennis is a mind game once you have learned all the fundamentals of each tennis stroke.

Third, watch the big players or your favorite tennis pro on the ATP or WTA tour and copy their tennis style. Watch YouTube videos or television footage of your favorite player over and over again until you emulate their movements. One of my favorite players to watch when I was playing competitive tennis was John McEnroe (USA) and Guillermo Villas (Argentina). I use to watch McEnroe's serve and literally copy his serve. I would watch Villas hit his ground strokes over and over again until I was mirroring Guillermo Villas' ground strokes. It was usually after watching these great tennis players in a grand slam event that I mirrored their mannerisms. After all, why event the wheel, copy what the big players do and do the same. Of course, as your tennis game matures, you will begin to develop your own style and preferences.

So, there you are the three secrets you want to know to playing your best tennis! Remember, there is no substitute to practicing each and every day in addition to playing regularly tennis matches. Begin today if you do not already do so; visualize yourself hitting the tennis ball with each and every tennis stroke perfectly until you are confident in your mind and in your heart that you can execute it with ease and confidence. And, finally, do not reinvent the wheel, copy the tennis players on the tennis tour by watching their tennis until can have someone say on the side line, "Hey, that person hits the ball like Roger Federer or Maria Sharapova." Before you know it you will be winning your club tournaments and filling your shelves with trophies.

Want to learn how to play tennis better? Go visit my FREE Online Tennis Lessons and become a member of my Online Tennis Club. Tell others if you like what you find. Go to: Join DMACTennis.com it's FREE [http://DMACTennis.com].

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Agility Training For Tennis

The tennis game is becoming faster and faster and being able to move well and to be quick on the court is now a requirement to become a great tennis player. Do be quick on the tennis court, players have to be able to move fast to the ball but it is also very important to recover fast in order to be ready for the next shot. Different kind of footwork techniques are used by tennis players and this include, quick and small step, forward, sideways and backwards movements. Quickness for tennis needs to include all those different kind of movements and this should be trained regularly.

Some players are naturally quicker and faster than other but agility and quickness can always be improved and this at any level. To be quick it is important to be able to move in any direction with the right technique and this can be done on court or off court with a lot of footwork drills.

During a match, for most of the shots players have to be on the ball in 3 or 4 steps max and they have to be well balanced when they hit the ball. Balance training for tennis is then an other important part to include in fitness training. This can be done by executing drills on unstable surface or on one leg. Quick and small steps will help the players to be set up in the right position and this can be worked by doing quick feet drills around cones.

The first step is the most important in order to be quick on the court and it should be as explosive as possible. A good and explosive first step will make a huge difference while moving to the ball. To be efficient the first step should be done in the direction on the ball. This seems obvious but a lot of players have the tendency to step backwards first in order to be able to push off better on the ground. Stepping toward the ball in an explosive way is one of the key to improve your quickness.

Once the player is on the ball and hit his shot, he needs to get ready for the next one and this is why recovery steps are also very important. A lot of players are quick and explosive but do not recover as fast as they could do. The best footwork technique for recovery steps is to execute a big crossover step and then to use sidesteps to come back to the middle of the court.

Agility training for tennis can be done most of the time on the court. Having the players move to cones and focusing on the right footwork technique. It is very important to be as intense as possible when doing the kind of drills. Coaches can use bunjie cords to add some resistance and to work more on the explosive power during the first steps. Moving and sprinting on sand is great mean to improve a tennis player explosive power. If a player is able to be quick on the sand he will be even quicker on the court.

Quickness for tennis should then be worked every week and this could be done before practice as a good warm up. This area can always be improved and even some great tennis players who are quick do not use the right footwork and if they focus on a good and efficient technique they could become a lot quicker. This will allow players to reach a lot more balls but moving well will also help them to save energy while running back and forth on the court.

Doing agility training is then mandatory if you want to improve your quickness on the court and to be efficient. Fit4Tennis will help you to work on the area by providing specific fitness programs for tennis.

Patrick Muller is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Fitness Director who has been working on different physical activities. He is mostly specialized in tennis and he is leading fitness training for tennis players of any level. Patrick Muller is the creator of http://www.fit4tennis.ws.

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