Category Archives: volley

Wall Volley

Start Volley
Analogous to the Start Rally shot, this is when a Player (P) tosses the ball up and volleys it himself, ie. P plays it out of the air (before it hits the ground.)
Contact should be out front, and at shoulder/chest height.
Racquet face is open.
Racquet follows a high to low path.
Angle of racquet doesn’t change during the stroke.
The racquet path is short (not a long swing like a regular groundstroke.)
The trunk turns to the right (right-hander) so the left-hand is active and to the right.

Volley Up
The ball comes back quite quickly when you volley against the wall.
To slow things down, so that you can improve your volley technique, you can optionally volley-up before volleying back to the wall.
You could call this a self volley.
The ball hits the wall and you volley it (in the air) up to yourself.
Before it hits the ground, you then volley it back towards the wall.

FH Volley-Up + FH Volley
Both the volley-up and the volley occur on the FH side.

BH Volley-Up + BH Volley
Both the volley-up and the volley occur on the BH side.

FH Volley-Up + BH Volley
Volley-up w/ the FH, but then hit a BH volley.
The volley-up then must be directed to the left (for the right-hander.)

BH Volley-Up + FH Volley
Volley-up w/ the BH, but then hit a FH volley.
The volley-up then must be directed to the right (for the right-hander.)

FH/BH Alternating Volley Rally
Can be done w/ volley-up or not.
You hit a FH volley, then a BH volley, so both volleys must be hit diagonally to minimize required movement.

Start Volley + Baseball Catch
(Note: this could be done w/o a glove.)
P is wearing a glove on his left hand (throws/plays right-handed)
The ball is in P’s glove.
P lofts the ball up w/ the glove.
P does a Start Volley against the wall.
P catches the ball in the air (off the wall) w/ his glove.
P stays balanced.
P increases the difficulty by sending the start volley further to the left or directly at himself etc.
P can also move closer to the wall for catching difficulty.
P can move farther from the wall to increase difficulty of Start Volley.

Volley

Butterfly Catcher
Picture/video to come, but you can get these at Dollarama.
P stands sideways w/ butterfly catcher up and back.
The butterfly catcher is ever so slightly open.
Coach feeds ball.
P moves the catcher down and forwards (ie. down a slant) and catches the ball in the air.
P doesn’t change the angle of the catcher.
P doesn’t prematurely swing across his body, but extends forward 1st.
P remains tall (doesn’t crouch or move upper body to match the Catcher/racquet’s movement.) The body is disocciated from the racquet movement, ie.
P can get low as needed, but it’s the legs that do that.

Butterfly Catcher on the Move
P is in classic ready position.
Coach tosses the ball so that P has to move sideways a few steps.
P turns trunk and brings Catcher up and back (prepares racquet.)
P’s legs are moving by this time, ie. the lower body movement is happening simultaneously.
P’s left arm moves to the right w/ his trunk.
P stops and establishes balance.
P steps in and starts the downward slant movement of the Catcher.

Catching
Player must move forward and catch ball b/f it drops w/ dominant hand only.
Catch the ball w/ hand up (above elbow.)
Catch the ball in front of the body, ie. forward (not behind or beside.)
Catch the ball to the dominant hand’s side (to the right for righties.)
The body is at least slightly sideways in orientation.
Non dominant hand is not extended out to the left or hanging down: it is active, at least belly high, and to the right (right-hander.)
On short balls, player must get low, with hand remaining up.
On balls to the BH (Backhand) side, the player can shift to his left and still catch w/ his tennis hand.