Struggling with approach shots? Today we show you two common mistakes a lot of players make on their approach shot. This video is for players with a PlayYourCourt rating of 79 and below.
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– Hey, guys. Scott from PlayYourCourt.com and today we’re gonna talk about two common mistakes we see on the approach shot. So, today we’re talking about approach shots. And to be clear, this video is for players with a PlayYourCourt rating of 79 and below. If you’re not in our community or familiar with our rating system, a PlayYourCourt 79 is the equivalent of a 4.0. So, today’s video is gonna be really quick. I wanna quickly run you through two common mistakes we, as coaches, see on approach shots that really destroy your transition to the net and even cause errors in a lot of situations. The first mistake that we see, and before I dive in I should probably clarify, what I’m going over today is the standard approach shot. So, your opponent dumps the ball short in the middle of the court. There’s, of course, gonna be situations where you get pulled short and out wide or you’re sprinting up to the net to chase on a drop shot. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about just the generic, standard approach shot, sort of, in the middle 70% of the court, alright? So, the first mistake that we see is players just run completely through the approach shot. So, instead of stopping, they get that short ball, they run up, they make contact and they just run right through the approach shot. And the problem with this is there’s no balance. When you talk a ton with coaches about how to get your balance and really deliver the most effective balls and setting your feet is a huge part of this. So, if you’re running through the ball, you’re never planting your foot, you’re never balanced, you’re never really in control of what’s happening. And we see a lot of players that run through their approach shot, sail the ball deep. So, that’s mistake number one, running right through the ball. Mistake number two, we see the exact opposite. We see players run up and completely stop, sometimes even an open stance, hit, and then go. And this really damages your transition to the net. So, the problem here is you’re not getting to the net quick enough. If you stop and you make contact with the ball and you slow down all this momentum and then you run forward to the net, a lot of times you’re just not closing in as tight as you need to and you’re gonna get passed. So, those are the two big mistakes. Let’s talk about how to do this correct. So, the correct way to hit an approach shot is to actually approach the ball, if there’s time, take a quick side shuffle step that allows you to get your body turned, plant your front foot, let all your weight carry over that front foot and then as you make contact with the ball, let your back foot swing around as the next natural step on your way to the net. That’s a lot of information that probably sounds confusing, so let’s slow that down and really show you what this looks like. So, if I’m getting an approach shot, I’m running forward, so my first couple steps are gonna be to run. If I’ve got time, you’re gonna see me make sort of a hop side-step to get my body turned sideways and you’ll see this transitions all of my weight to my front foot. As I make contact with this ball, my back foot naturally carries around. It is my next step on the way to continue to run to the net. So, again, the reason this is so important is because that weight transfer off my front foot, that allows me not to run through the ball, but to collect my balance and then quickly transition myself to the net, allows me to get to the net faster and prevents me from spraying balls deep in the court that would come if I had run through the shot. So, in summary here, a very simple concept. Don’t run through your approach shots. Don’t stop and go. Get up to that approach shot, get your body turned sideways, plant that front foot, lean into the ball and let that back foot carry around as your next step on the way to the net and I think you’ll find you’re hitting much more efficient approach shots. As you guys know, here at PlayYourCourt we’re super passionate about helping you improve your game. The only problem is I don’t know a ton about you or your specific skill level, so do me favor, click the button below, answer some questions for me about your specific game. This instruction’s gonna change based on your skill level. So, I might have some different, altering instruction based on the approach shot, depending on your skill level. So, click the button below, answer some questions for me about your specific skill level and I’ll send you some custom video coaching based on you. So, click the button below, and I’ll do the rest.
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