Transcription
If you want to see the absolute quickest improvement in your game, I put together a list of the most important things that you can do to level up very quickly. My name is Jordan Briones and I've coached thousands of players over the years from 3.0 all the way up to the pro level. Now, let's dive into exactly how you can improve your game.
All right, tip number one. I want to talk about an ideal ready position. And this is one of the biggest myths out there. When players are getting ready to set up for a counterattack when we're up at the line or when our opponents are driving the ball at us, a lot of people think that your ready position should be way out front so you can meet the ball out here. If you watch all the pros, doesn't matter who you watch, you will see them in more of a relaxed position. Their elbow will be slightly bent and their paddle is a lot closer to their body than players actually think. This position allows me to actually push out on that ball and punch that ball with force. If I was way out here, I'm going to actually have to take it back and then push it out. So, that takes way more time. This is why you'll see the best players in the world, get set up in this relaxed, neutral position with their grip very close to their belly button here.
Tip number two, this is a small little change, but it is an absolute game changer, especially when you implement it in your game. When you are hitting the return, whether it's the forehand or the backhand side, you have to hit the return with some momentum coming in. If you don't, you're going to get stuck in transition and on the defense. Here's what it looks like if I hit the ball without momentum coming in and then I'm actually going to the net. It doesn't matter how fast you are. If you hit your return and then you have to gather your momentum forward to the net, it's going to be very difficult for you to get to that non-volley zone and get in a strong position. Now, I'm going to show you how I return the ball with some forward momentum so I get a good head start and then I could establish myself very close to that non-volley zone line in a strong position for my fourth shot.
Okay, just like you saw there, I made sure that I'm hitting my return with that momentum moving in. And that allows me to get much closer to this non-volley zone line, especially against players who hit big serves and they like to drive their third. This is a very important thing to do.
Tip number three, this is a big one, especially when you get into higher and higher levels, but the third shot drive is primarily used to set up a fifth shot or easier fifth shot drop. Okay? When I'm hitting my third shot drive, if I'm choosing to, I'm not trying to hit a winner and I'm not trying to paint the lines. If I want to play really high percentage, I'm just trying to get it fairly low above the net so that I can buy myself another opportunity to hit a good fifth shot and then get to the non-volley zone line. So, this is what it looks like.
Okay, so you saw an example there. That was actually a really deep return, but I didn't over hit my drive. I actually hit it a little bit off my back foot because I was pushed back, but I hit it well enough so that I can have another opportunity to hit that drop and then eventually get to the non-volley zone.
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All right, tip number four has to do with your footwork. For you to have good footwork, you have to have a correct shuffle step. We actually made a full video on this. Click the card above. But one of the things I do want to clarify here, and I see a lot of videos online with players stepping with the wrong foot or crossing over, if we are moving to the ball and we're trying to get a good contact out in front of us, we have to shuffle over the correct way. So, if I am moving towards my right, I want to make sure that I'm sliding my left foot in and I'm creating space with my right foot out. So, if Grayson hits me over here like this, okay, there's no other way to get to that ball, especially if it's that wide. Okay, if I am actually leading with my outside leg first, I'm going to be really, really far stretched out like this. Okay. Same thing on the backhand side. If I want to get that contact out in front of me and where I'm not reaching, he's going to dink it over there. Here we go. Same thing. I'm going to be moving my right foot over. And then you saw on that one, my left foot actually go back a little bit to create that space. You'll see all the top players in the world do this. Doesn't matter who you watch. If they need to really move to the ball to get that contact point out in front, they're going to be utilizing the shuffle step, moving that inside leg first.
All right, tip number five. I see this a lot with players. They are receiving a drive or a fast-paced ball at the net and they actually end up hitting it into the net. So, what can we do? Well, we want to make sure that we're always pushing out and not down. It's very easy for us for a ball coming in to actually swing downwards like this. If we want to clear the net, we got to have that paddle face open, which a lot of people don't know. They think that your paddle actually has to be closed like this or like this. Your paddle has to be slightly open. And we have to be pushing out in a very horizontal trajectory with our paddle. So, it's going to look like this.
Okay. And then one more time.
Okay. So, as you saw there, paddle face is actually fairly open. I'm pushing out straight and I clear that net and I have good depth on my volley. So, it's really important that we understand this and make sure we're practicing pushing out on the ball instead of down.
Tip number six, this is big especially if you want to improve your defense in transition, and that is when in doubt, go to the backhand to defend. Especially when you're in a defensive position. So, there are times where you're scrambling or maybe your opponents are attacking you and you're maybe you hit a ball and you hit the next one high. From there, you really want to make sure that you drop low and actually go to a backhand. So, whether you have a one-handed backhand like this or a two-handed backhand, it is very smart and wise to defend with your backhand. And you'll see this at the highest levels because I can block so many balls like this. I see a lot of players going to their forehand right away. And this is what usually happens here. So the ball is popped up a little bit like that. Then they go to their forehand. And whether it comes here or here, it's really hard to defend this way. So, what we want to do is we want to get low, get to that backhand side, and maybe add another hand on it if you're used to doing this, and we can stabilize and try to get back into that point.
All right, tip number seven. You can be thinking about this when you are actually initiating the attack or you're actually hitting a counterattack. The first thing that you want to do with any player is go to their dominant side first. You will see this in pro-level play. You have to test that dominant side because this is the side that is problematic with 90% of players because of the chicken wing. So, if I'm in a dink rally here and I see a ball that is lifted up a little bit, I want to make sure that I try to attack that dominant side first and see how they react. The same thing with a counterattack. If Grayson is speeding up the ball at me and then I actually can sit on that counter, where I want to direct that ball, like you just saw right there, is to the dominant side because he more than likely will get into this position. Again, this is general, but for most players, if you're attacking and counterattacking, going for the dominant side first is always a good option to see how they deal with it, and then you can go different places after that.
So, now let's jump into tip number eight. And maybe you have been in the situation where you're playing a game and somebody is just hitting easy balls through the middle and you and your partner are not hitting it. Well, it's important that if you are the crosscourt player, especially when you take the ball out really wide, that you sit and look for that fast middle ball first because it's your responsibility. So, if we're playing doubles here and let's say I hit a dink really wide to Grayson here, I have to be sitting on that counter and I have to be covering that middle cuz my partner is going to be covering the line. You saw in this example here, it's also my backhand and not my forehand, but it's still my responsibility. So, the key thing here is having that mindset to cover middle first and also moving and shifting my position so that I'm really close to that center line and I can be ready to close and attack that and close that middle option.
Tip number nine, this has to do when you are hitting resets, you're stuck in transition and you're trying to buy yourself time so that ball can land in a non-volley zone so that you and your partner could get up to the net. Now, I see a lot of players trying to reset the ball and they end up actually punching the ball like a counter volley and then the next ball goes higher and higher. If we want that ball to be able to land perfectly in that non-volley zone, instead of having this counter punch volley, which is very horizontal, we have to lift up with our shoulder. Our paddle face is open and my lift is going to be very, very minimal. So, here's what it looks like if I'm actually using that lifting motion here from mid-court, lifting it up, and I'm hitting really, really softly uh with that lift.
Okay? So, my grip is very light, and I'm down low, and I'm utilizing this very, very minimal lift motion instead of actually pushing out and punching like a counter volley.
Okay, so let's hop into tip number 10. This has to do with adding extra power on your serve. This is a super easy one to implement. I see lots of players, no matter how your service motion is kind of just serving. And that's kind of what it looks like, right? There's no momentum moving in. If we look at the best servers in today's game, a deco bar, you even look at Ben John's and a lot of other pro players today, they are actually finishing inside the court. And this allows them to use their full body weight to add that extra power. And if you aren't doing that, you're actually giving up some power. So, it's going to kind of look like this. I'm going to take my same service motion and I'm going to make sure my weight is really moving forward towards my target. And I could actually finish inside the court. Just make sure that you back up if that return is deep again. But again, this is an easy tip to implement. Make sure that when you're serving, you have your weight transferring forward. And it's definitely okay to finish inside the court. You just got to make sure that you prep for the very next ball.
Tip number 11. This is very, very simple, but most players never do this, and that is actually practicing your returns. Before you skip to the next tip, you probably miss one, two, three returns per game, depending on your levels. Ace. Ace. So, if we actually practice our returns, we could clean up those points and we could get quicker side outs. So, what I want to show you here is the best way to practice your returns. Lots of players just serve the ball and they return it with zero momentum moving in. We just talked about that earlier. And they kind of just hit the ball back. What I want to do when I'm practicing my returns is I play it out to the fourth shot. So, I want to make sure that I'm hitting that return with my momentum moving in. And then I am actually split stepping and stopping before the third shot is hit. So, it's going to look like this. Grayson's going to serve it. There's my return.
Okay. All right. So, this allows me to really practice that momentum moving in. Sometimes my returns may be deep, sometimes not. And I'm also going to practice on stopping before they hit their third. This is huge. If you practice your returns just for five or 10 minutes a day, you're going to win so many more points. And also, you're going to not give your opponent free points.
Tip number 12, I want to talk about hitting more aggressive dinks and staying away from hitting dead dinks. Obviously, we know if we hit a dead dink like this, our opponent could easily speed it up and we can be in a defensive position. But what we want to do is obviously focus on aggressive dinks. Now, we talk about spin, top spin on our channel a lot, but I want to let you know that even if you don't have that technique right now, you can still be really aggressive with your dinks as long as you push them to the non-volley zone line. So, here me and Grayson are actually going to be hitting some really aggressive dinks without hitting a lot of top spin. We're actually going to be more hitting more of a shovel or a push. But what you're going to see is that these balls are penetrating to that non-volley zone line, forcing us to make a decision to either take it out of the air or step back and create some space.
Okay. All right. So, that was a small sample size there, but you'll see this even at the highest levels when pros are dinking. They rarely ever hit dinks in the first half of that non-volley zone. They're always trying to push those dinks and push their opponent off that non-volley zone line so that they can gain an advantage.
Okay, tip number 13. And this is more of a mindset tip. But as I am practicing my resets and my defense in this transition zone, a lot of times I will get a ball that's above waist level and I want to be able to attack it. So, yes, I'm going to reset any ball that's kind of at that knee level or below, but when I get a ball that's waist level or above, I want to stay in that aggressive mindset. So, let's say I'm hitting my third and then I'm coming in and this is my fifth shot. If I get one a little bit high, I want to make sure that I'm actually aggressive and attacking.
Okay. So, Grayson's going to hit me a little bit of a high ball and I'm going to actually see that ball. It's going to be above that waist level and I'm going to try to be aggressive and attack.
Okay. So, yes, we should be resetting if the ball is low, but again, we have to be looking for those opportunities to look to attack, especially when the ball's up here. And we're seeing that more and more in today's game, especially in the transition zone.
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