Transition Tennis: Approach Shot Footwork and Volleys

with Nick Carless,
California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Head Men's Coach;
2x Wilson/ITA Southwest Region Coach of the Year ('14, '17);
2x Big West Conference regular season & Tournament champions;
2x NCAA Tournament appearances

Cal Poly head coach Nick Carless makes his Championship Productions instructional video debut with this clinic presentation on transition tennis. Coach Carless has twice been named the Wilson/ITA Southwest Region Coach of the Year and puts his expertise on display as he takes you through approach shot footwork and volleys to help strong baseline players become more complete in their skill set.

Training Footwork and Balance

Off the bat, Carless addresses the question of when athletes should hit with an open stance vs. a closed stance. His on-court demonstration highlights what players should do when playing from the middle of the court. The most important aspect of hitting from the middle of the court, as Coach Carless explains, is moving through the ball. The first drill he shows to train this skill is the "Midball Toss", which allows coaches to keep an eye on footwork specifically.

The natural transition from the Midball Toss is to go immediately into live toss hitting. Carless wants his players to hit an accurate ball down the line while utilizing the same footwork they used in the initial drill progression. Once the on-court demonstrations are completed, Coach Carless outlines additional do's and don'ts related to this motion and how to teach the correct technique to players. He also shows one final progression that involves varying the toss to add a decision-making aspect to what kind of shot athletes must use.

Improving the Volley

Between drills, Carless expands on his philosophy behind different shots and the mentality that he coaches his players to use on each shot. He breaks down the "Shadow Volley" drill that he worked on a lot as a young player. The drill can be used to train two-step volley footwork and other essentials for the stance.

The "Swing Volley Toss", a drill designed for 3-4 players, has three main goals according to Coach Carless:

• Big targets.
• Take time away from the opponent.
• Hybrid high groundstroke contact point.

The "Tennis Warehouse" drill will train your players to move forward and attack volleys while also incorporating defense and playing from the "hot seat" in doubles. If you have a lot of players working on one court, this drill will be especially valuable because it can incorporate many people cycling through at once. The final exercise shown by Coach Carless is used to train athletes' ability to hit volleys out of the air, further limiting the amount of time opponents have to react and leading to more aggressive play.

Coach Carless has seen what works best in transition tennis and his drills and philosophies are sure to make you or your team better on volleys. Add this video to your coaching library today and win more balls at the net!

41 minutes. 2020.