Posted Jul 10, 2007
By Jeff Brack
July 2007
Quite often the greatest obstacle on the path to improvement is thinking. Specifically, when you try to focus your attention on too many elements of your stroke at the same time. It can be confusing and frustrating.
You’ve been told to turn sideways. You’ve been told to get your racquet back. You’ve been told to follow through. Add in weight transfer, balance, posture, bend knees, yadda-yadda-yadda – and you’ve now made a mental mess of what seemed like an easy concept.
The answer is SIMPLIFY. In this case, SURF. Two valuable concepts that we share with surfers are lowering our center of gravity and using our arms for balance. We share them for the same reason- stability. Watch any good player and you’ll wonder why you never thought of it yourself.
If you get into the classic surfing stance, you automatically turn perpendicular to your target, racquet is back, non-racquet arm is extended forward, feet are separated, center of gravity is low and eyes are directed straight ahead. You are now perfectly positioned for a forehand. You did all of this, and you only had to think… SURF.
