The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
FOCUS CONTROL: Broad Vision Versus Narrow Vision
Have you ever watched a match, amateur or professional, and the player with flawless strokes loses to a player with less than perfect strokes? Winning tennis requires more than perfect stroke production. The best player uses proper broad and narrow vision on the court.
Why: Employing both broad and narrow vision develops quicker anticipatory speed, court coverage, court awareness.
Narrow vision is used when the incoming ball is approaching your child. Their attention should be on watching the ball after the bounce in their strike zone.
FUN FACT: Avoid asking them to watch the ball hit their racket. Kids are smart. You’ll be embarrassed. No human can actually see a 2-3 millisecond event.
Broad vision is employed when the ball has left your child’s strings and is out bound towards the opponent’s side. Ask your child to shift their focus to the big picture. They’ll need to spot where their ball is about to land, their opponent’s court position, their swing speed and swing length and their probable strike zone.
If they sense the opponent is on defense, they should be moving to an offensive position. On the other side, if they spot the opponent moving forward preparing to cream the ball, your child should be preparing for defense.
Good players have fast reaction time. They possess quick hands and fast feet. Great players have those skills as well as anticipation. Average players focus on simply tracking the ball. Advanced players pick up visual clues milliseconds before the opponent strikes the ball. Top players position themselves based on the pre-strike observations of the opponent. Examples include:
- Watching the knee, hip and shoulder rotation as well as the ball toss angle before the opponent serves. Can you spot the obvious ball toss of a kick serve?
- Watching the shoulder position and racket face angle before an opponent volleys. Can you read a crosscourt versus down the line incoming volley?
- Watching the flight pattern, swing speed and swing length of the opponent’s backswing on their ground strokes. Can you spot a slice backhand versus top spin backhand before the opponent strikes the ball?
FUN FACT: Top players aren’t always faster; they simply understand what they are seeing and adjust quicker than the average player.
Thank you for visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.Maximizingtennispotential.com
