Overheads - A Turning Point!
by: Dave Winship @ On The Line

When you're positioned near the net and a lob goes up, you should put one foot behind the other to turn yourself fairly sideways-on. Using a continental grip, draw your racket across your body until it's up behind your head (as if you were serving) and point your other hand at the ball.

With small adjusting side-skips, position yourself so that the ball is just in front of you when you're ready to make contact with it. If small skips won't get you in position in time, use crossover steps.

Keep your head and eyes up and strive for full extension as you throw the racket up to the ball (using a service action). The most common problem involves dropping the head and collapsing on the shot. This is easily remedied by tracking the ball for as long as possible with your non-racket hand.

To practise this, position yourself at the net as if you were going to play some volleys and get your partner to send up some lobs. At first, do everything described above - except for hitting the ball! Instead, try to adjust your position so that the ball lands in your non-racket hand. Once you've mastered that, progress to hitting the ball. And then, when you feel you can cope with a bit more of a challenge, move forwards and touch the net in between each overhead!

So remember: turn and point, use those crossover steps and reach up for a high contact - and this could be the turning point to cross your game over to a higher level!

Regards.

Dave Winship