Mirror FH Lesson for Beginners - Published at USPTA 2016

Published at USPTA 2016 FALL SAN DIEGO DIVISION NEWSLETTER

Hello Everyone, Coach Martini here sharing one of my methods for teaching a Forehand without using a racquet & balls at first. By the end of lesson you will have your student swinging with confidence and a very proper technique.

This simple procedure is very effective with kids, juniors & adults. Keep them focused and It is fun and easy to do it once you remove the racquet & balls.

First, make sure to find out if your student is right or left hand. Next, you stand in front of your student and tell him/her to mirror you. (Make sure the distance is right so your hands will almost touch at contact point) If Player is right handed you will be left or vice-versa.

Start by presenting ready position. Usually I ask, "Ready to mirror me?” Then I jump up and land on ready position. Do it over so you make sure your student is simultaneously mirroring you and landing with feet properly apart, knees slightly bent and hands out in front. (Don’t worry about grip, remember no racquets)

Next comes the preparation, again jump, land on ready position and make student mirror your preparation, shoulder turn, arm back, cocked wrist, non-dominant arm sideways and slight turn of the feet. Do that a few times always jumping to ready position to reset and make sure everything looks good so far.

Time to add step in & swing to contact point. Now the distance from you guys is important (you can always adjust last second). Start over from ready position, preparation, then step in and slowly start hitting arm movement looping down and going up in front where palm of your hands almost touch at contact point. (Freeze there for a moment, check weight transfer looking if student’s back foot is on his/her toes also explaining importance of contact out in front and cocked wrist enabling your palm of hands being parallel) Repeat as much needed.

Finally add follow-through from contact point. Since the palms of your hands are close & parallel you can easily demonstrate the wrist motion to generate top-spin & follow-through over shoulder (You can explain shoulder rotation at this point)

Repeat steps as much as you feel necessary then you add the racquet. Make sure you use proper Forehand grip. Have your student mirror all steps of the swing a few times. (Ready position, Preparation, Step in, hitting arm swing to contact point, weight transfer and follow-though) All looks good, great job! Move away, call the steps, watch player. Correct if needed.

Last but not least, Add ball drop or toss from 6 feet away breaking down steps at first. Shortly, You will see a beautiful technique and proper way to hit the ball in your first 20 minutes of the lesson.