Movement Training

 

A Tennis player needs to be able start and stop quickly with frequent changes of direction whilst maintaining good balance. A player will use a series of patterns of movements, these patterns are specific to Tennis and can be broken down into five phases of movement, these are:

• Split Step - how to un-weight and prepare for the first movement.

• First Move - Dependent on the direction the player needs move

• Movement - the series of movements to cover the court, e.g. side steps, crossovers.

• Preparation - the final adjustment/re-adjustment balancing and loading action to prepare to hit the ball.

• Recovery - the action to recover balance and change direction.

The type of movement during these phases is dependent upon where the player is when they start, where they need to be to hit the ball and the type of stroke they are going to make.

 Although the movement can be considered to be five phases, the phases should link to together so that the result is a series of fluid movements in which the phases are difficult to be identified.

The movement training must be performed on the surface on which the player is going to compete. The movement technique required to accelerate, decelerate, hit the ball and recover to a central position on the court is different for each surface.

Basis movements can be trained and improved using a series of exercises, and when these have been acquired the Tennis specific movements can be trained and improved.

  A vital part of this basic movement training is the development of Balance and Propriception, the understanding of the position of the joints and location of the limbs relative to each other and the ground.

 Normally a player who has difficulty in performing the basic movements will not be able to perform the Tennis specific movements efficiently. As a player becomes more advanced they will use explosive movements more frequently. To perform the explosive movements efficiently without injury, the player will have had to improve their strength using a series of exercises.

SAQ (Speed Agility Quickness) is a method developed by SAQ International, this method is used to quickly improve the basic movements of a player, initially concentrating on the mechanics of the movement, then improving the speed of movement whilst developing Agility, Balance and Co-ordination.

Once the basic movements have been learnt and can be practiced efficiently, the Tennis specific movements are introduced by incorporating exercises developed for Tennis and exercises developed by the LTA, ITF, USTA and other sources.