I’ve got a recommendation for you – but first…
Have you ever had that cool “ah ha” moment in understanding something about your strokes or strategies that finally sinks in where you “get it”?
And that understanding comes to you from a source that simply articulates whatever it is you’re trying to figure out in a different set of words?
Same desired result but explained slightly differently to you…?
See if you relate to this story that happened to me years ago when I was being taught by Tom Stow.
Tom and I were working on the forehand volley, how to prep my racket early, and for whatever reason, this was one of those rare times with Tom when he and I just couldn’t get it right.
So, a few days later I was practicing and struggling with the forehand volley at the Berkeley Tennis Club and Bill Crosby, a top national player back in his playing days and a former Stow teaching assistant, simply said, “Put the sweet spot of your racket face to your side and directly behind the path of the ball. If you don’t swing at all, the ball should at least be able to bounce off of that sweet spot.”
And I don’t know, for whatever reason, those words and that picture that Bill painted for me just made sense.
Tom and Bill were both trying to get me to do the exact same thing, but different words made a huge difference.
So, as I stated in the opening sentence, I’ve got a recommendation for you.
And you know me, I rarely recommend other tennis instructional websites to you. To me, most of them want to try to teach you to hit the ball just like the pros on the tour, and I just don’t think it’s realistic with today’s pros as our models.
But, what Will Hamilton is doing over at FuzzyYellowBalls is pretty darn remarkable and worth a look.
You might be asking why would I suggest you check out a competitor’s instructional website?
Good question and here’s my answer.
I’m willing to bet that you don’t have just one tennis instructional book on your books shelf, and in fact, like the most avid tennis players, you’ve probably got a few books, if not a lot more.
And the same goes for DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, etc.
Look, I’d never tell you that the way I articulate my teaching system is the one & only way you or any other player should think about how to play the game.
You can take two teaching pros who are essentially saying the same thing, and one of the pros will be better understood by some of the players and the other pro will be better understood by a different group of players – even though the intent is identical.
I don’t agree with absolutely 100% of what Will teaches nor do I agree with 100% of how he articulates everything.
And I’m sure Will could make the statement about my teaching style as well.
I don’t have a problem with that reality…
But what I really like about’s Will style is his attention to wrap the strokes, footwork, and strategies into an understandable package.
There are way too many pros out there just teaching stroke mechanics. Unfortunately for their students, that one dimensional teaching style doesn’t translate over to reality on the court when we p[lay singles or doubles.
The first thing I want you to do is to get signed up for a series of complimentary video lessons from Will (no obligation to buy anything to get this content ) and see what you think about Will, his teaching style, and his Premium membership website.
If you decide to try his Premium membership product, then I’ve got a Bonus lesson for you – a detailed video lesson from me on how to effectively handle that very tough volley that is played directly at you. More on that later, but for now, go on over to Will’s introductory video and get signed up for his free lesson.
Here’s the link to Will’s FREE Lesson – click here.
Also, I talked with Will on the phone recently about his membership site, his teaching style, and what specific content you can find there that will help your tennis game.
OK, head on over to Will’s site and get signed up for Will’s free content – click here.
Brent
Note – This blog post contains affiliate links, and should you click and subsequently purchase,
WebTennis could receive financial compensation.
I’ll always do my best to make genuine, honest, and helpful recommendations,
but because of this financial relationship, you should do your due diligence before deciding to purchase.
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Your stealing my thunder.i started with your web site and then went to Will’s and the both of you have an amazing teaching talent when it comes to breaking down a drill.A combination of your short toss vidoe on serving and Will’s 8 step break down has given me a huge improvemnet and better understanding of the serve.
Now if I could only find a Slalomn water ski lesson with your qualtiy of teaching maybe my 52 year old body could get threw a ski course next year and I also win some tennis matches.
Both you and Will should be proud of your teaching skills.To bad Will is left handed.
Hi Len and thanks for your comments.
Glad that you’re enjoying the instruction at both sites.
Will’s got talent with the tech stuff, much better than I do, and he’s really embracing technology and teaching tennis.
Brent
The guys at my Maple Ridge tennis club have asked what I’ve done to improve my game so quickly since I have played for 25 years.I tell them to go check yours’ and Will’s web sites.
Thanks for your referrals Len! I’m sure Will’s just as appreciative.
Brent
Based on a free sample forehand lesson from FYB, Oscar Wegner is by far superior to FYB (and the legion of other similar instructors that perceive human beings as robots that can move their bodies according to detailed mechanical algorithms).
Hey, no one ever said that one pro has the monopoly on how to teach everyone out there.
I learned long long ago that no matter how much I think I have the answer for a specific player, some players just don’t like my style or can’t understand what I’m saying.
That said, that same player can go down the street or take a lesson from one of my assistant pros, and even though we’re all trying to say the same thing, only one of us really makes sense to that player.
Brent
Wegner isn’t really speaking of the same things in different words. He’s speaking of completely different things. While almost all coaches I encountered speak about body part movements, Wegner instead speaks about tasks to accomplish and lets human instincts to govern body movements. He maintains that the more you focus the person on body movements, bringing them into his conscious mind, the more you disable his natural instincts. Therefore, slow-motion pictures with detailed mechanical analysis are accomplishing nothing more than destroying natural fluidity.
I actually like your lessons because you are not as “robot-oriented” as most others. I was surprised that you recommended FYB.
Hi Stan. I respect your opinion. My advice would be stay open minded. Keep listening and filtering…
Here’s an email I sent out yesterday to a fellow WT subscriber:
Brent
Hi Brent! I have noticed this several times and just assumed it would be fixed, but perhaps you don’t know this happens. What I am talking about is when I go to your website, from an email link, I get this overlay box asking me to enter my name and email for access to your web valut. Well anyway the box always scrolls too far down the page to actuallyenter anything. Even if I scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen, the box comes racing down the page and stops with the input blocks just below my screen. Out of view and inaccessible. I am using IE 8.0. If you have had fewer people accessing this feature than you would expect, this may be the reason.
Glad you had a nice time in Colorado. I used to live there, so I can appreciate the comments.
Best Regards
George
Hi George and that shouldn’t be happening. Sorry. That sounds annoying for sure.
At worst it shouldn’t pop up more than once every 30 days.
Anyone else having to deal with this glitch?
Brent
Dear Brent.
As a kid I had coaching including the serve but never learnt to serve so never competed. Now I realise that ultimately it is up to me to learn and can not leave that responsibility to the coach. I want to compete so started to teach myself on Youtube using your videos which I love. I tried some of your drills and really enjoyed hitting some serves in after years of double faults. Thank You. Your videos explained the different serves to choose from and what they do. Now I can look back with some understanding at what my junior coach was teaching us. The second serve had a ball toss over the head with alot of spin which I now understand as a topspin serve but we never had that explained to us so we knew the body movements with no understanding of what spin we were putting on the ball or how it helped get the ball over the net and in. The first serve was a very fancy thing which I still dont understand. Probably some sort of twister kicker serve which I have now completely thrown in the bin and startjng to practice a flat serve with pronation to help it go in. Today I have been messing around with the pronation and found that a follow through down the side of the body rather than across as normal helps exaggerate the pronation. Have not nailed it yet but loving the feeling that I can get a serve in.
Hi Moby and thanks for your feedback.
There’s a ton of info out there. Sift through it, but at some point you’ll have to commit to a few fundamentals that you think are right and then get in some regular practice time.
Make this simple, not complicated, and keep tinkering….
Brent – Downloadable & DVD Lessons
Dear Brent.
Thank You for reading the post and replying.
I am hoping to start playing matches next season so can you recommend a DVD which would show me the simple serve fundamentals which I need to practice?
Moby.