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Thomas (Field Tennis)
Video Capture: Tennis Split Step: Timing, Execution And Drills — Thomas (Field Tennis)
Hi Thomas from field tennis split step so important for that quick reaction of the mark for that first quick step and yet so many times done incorrectly so what is the right timing of the split step how do you execute it properly and how can you work on your own that is the topic of today's lesson one of the most common questions when it comes to split step is when do I jump but that's the wrong question because you cannot tell whether you timed your split.
Step correctly based on your jump you can only tell whether you time your split step correctly based on your landing because when you will feel if you are able to push off in the direction of the ball well so you will feel that the split step actually helped you react faster because your legs loaded they were layer like Springs so your legs loaded and then you pushed off in the direction of the ball and that's how you will be able to tell whether you.
Time your split step correctly to better see a realistic split step in action let's take a look at my split steps as I play one point here I want to show you first why the question of when should I jump is not the right one so let's see one of the split steps in slow motion and analyze the timing of the jump as I'm preparing to split step know that I have planted my left foot to push off the ground now note that in this frame I'm already pushing off as my heel is.
Starting to come off the ground and yet my opponent has not yet hit the ball as we go a few frames forward knows how my heel keeps going up which means that I'm already pushing off the ground and yet my opponent still hasn't made contact with the ball when he finally does hit the ball I'm just about to leave the ground so if we say that you should jump when your opponent hits the ball then you might misinterpret that and try to observe when your opponent hits the ball.
And then initiate your jump but that's way too late as you can see I'm in the process of pushing off already when my opponent hits the ball I'm not waiting to see the contact and then start my jump so in reality we initiate the jump just or our opponent makes contact with the ball now if you ask me how much before the contact we need to jump then based on this video which was recorded at 50 frames per second I initiated the split step for frames before contact which.
Translates into eight hundredths of a second and since we cannot consciously register eight hundredths of a second then this instruction is not really a useful one because you can't tell whether you time your split step correctly or not that's why it's much better to focus on the landing from the split step as I'm coming down from the split step I have just recognized the direction of the ball and so my feet already starts preparing for a push off.
In that direction so as I can immediately start pushing off in the direction of the ball and I will feel that i time the split step well if I miss time the split step then I will feel quite clearly whether I was too early or too late so it's the connection between our recognition of the ball's direction and the landing from the split step that tells us whether we've timed the split step well or not through repetition and constant awareness of.
Whether we're too early on time or too late we will gradually improve our timing of the split step and eventually perfect it the next question you may have is how do i execute the split step correctly to answer that let's take a look at all the split steps I did in this point you'll see that in most cases I actually initiate the split step off one foot and not being on both feet on the ground at the same time the split step can be done either by pushing off one foot and.
Splitting your feet apart or by having both feet on the ground which in my experience doesn't happen that often that's why as you'll see later in the drill section I prefer to teach it off one foot there's one more part of the split step.
That's oftentimes misunderstood and that's partly because of the language we oftentimes say to jump or to push off but this can be misinterpreted and players then actually jump high off the ground and actually waste time like that I want to show you three Heights in this example first is the height before the split step which is me being an athletic position while playing as I push off into a split step you can see that I reached only slightly higher height and.
That the split step is not really a high jump note though how low I ended up from the split step which is part because I split my feet apart and part because my legs Bend and load this loading of the legs then acts like a spring that helps us push off quicker in the direction of the ball which is why we do the split step in the first place how can you practice for an effective and well time split step jumping with jump rope is one of the best exercises you can do that.
Will give you that feel a very short contact with the ground and a quick push off do not underestimate the power of the jump rope I guarantee you that every top tennis pro has done thousands of jumps with the jump rope this is a drill I like to help players coordinate their feet and feel how to push off into a split step of one foot only it's also a good warm-up exercise for all levels of players not just kids while all competitive junior tennis players who.
Train regularly will develop good timing of the split step unconsciously I do use one drill to accelerate the learning of the right timing of the push off as you saw earlier in the video I pushed off into a split step before my opponents made contact we need to be in the air as we just realize where the ball is going so that when we land our feet are already preparing for a push off in the direction of the ball that's why I use this drill where I ask the player to.
Push off into a split step first and when they are in the air I toss the ball left or right that way I can ensure that they will time the landing of the split step correctly since they will recognize the ball direction while in the air and then feel the effect of the landing into a split step and pushing off towards the ball I toss the ball quite far from them so that they really need to push off strongly which gives them a more pronounced feel of the.
Split step in other words I help them feel why the split step is beneficial once they have that feel they know what to look for when they do it on their own and when they have to time the split step correctly they will have a reference point or perhaps a reference feel and they can then compare each of their split steps and check if it felt on time and effective or not and lastly make sure that you're moving before the split step I see many times players hit the ball.
And then they're just static like this because they are observing the ball so don't observe your shot don't be an observer be a player as you make your shot you need to get back to playing so by playing that you're mentally playing that you're alert and you're ready to go for anything that might happen and so that mental alertness of any possibility is going to show in your body is alert and you're ready to go so from.
This state either dancing from your foot or jumping like this state it's going to be much easier to do a good split step and react to the ball.
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