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Ean (Tennis Evolution)
Video Capture: Tennis Footwork Tip: Master The Split-Step & The Flow Split-Step — Ean (Tennis Evolution)
Have you mastered the split step yet? The split step is one of the most important aspects of great movement. If you don't split the right way at the right time then you'll constantly be late to the ball. To become a great mover you need to get the technique of the split step right, you need to get the timing right and you also need to master the critical flow split step that all the pros constantly use! Here's OTI Instructor Ean Meyer explaining all of this in detail to you.
Alright now we learned how to get our bodies a little bit off the ground and now the next thing we want to work on is a split step and the moment your feet hit the ground remember you want to be in a strong platform, there's a strong base so that's a strong athletic base. So the split step again is this another critical factor in the efficient movement. So I unweigh myself and I land strong on the balls of my feet, many people that we work with will land in this kind of position when they.
Split but they land sort of on their heels. So the weight is in the wrong position if you land on your heels then it's impossible to get off the mark. You have to make sure that when you're landing in the position that allows you to move in different directions. So that split step is very important and the timing of the split step is critical! You want to make sure that your feet are slightly off the moment the opponent makes contact with the ball so I think that is.
A critical factor for good movement it's the timing, most people split they they've taken enough lessons to understand you're supposed to split step but they're not sure about the timing of the split step and then nothing really flows, if the timing of your split step is off, you cannot flow across the court okay. So now I'm just going to show you a drill or two that I do to get the timing of that split step right. It's not as it looks because once you make a little bit more challenging,.
It's easy when you do it here but once the ball comes from the other side of course it becomes much more difficult when the opponent hits from 78 feet away. So I'm going to bring Elizabeth in I just want to show you how I do it. I use the boxes a lot and this is another time where I like to use the box for the timing of the split step. So I'm going to ask her to elevate again someone start ask her to stand on top of the box. And I'm just going to use the word "ball" so she's ready and when I say "ball".
You jump in the air and "ball'. Get your racket in front of you, get your racket ready! Ready and "ball". Excellent! Ready one more time! And "ball". Very good! Okay now I'm going to give her a visual cue I'm going to say ball and I'm also going to show her the ball so right when my hand goes up she goes up! Ready and "ball". Very good! And "ball". Very good! And "ball". Very good! Alright now I'm going to actually show her.
What contact looks like and this is where this becomes really important you want to watch your opponent carefully and when they strike the ball you want to be slightly off the ground. You don't want to be on the ground sometimes it's very difficult against shots like serves and when you add to net volleying then most of the time your timing will be a little bit different your feet will strike the ground at contact but ideally you want.
To do what she's practicing! Watch now I make contact and on "ball" she's off the box and "ball". Very good! Two more and "ball". Very good! One more and "ball". That's excellent! Okay when you watch good movers when you watch great movers they don't just split step, but they do what we call a flow split. So the split step is already taking them in the direction of the bounce. So we talked a bit about the timing of that split step the ability to.
Unweigh yourself and to be a little bit off the ground at contact. Now when you watch great movers watch them carefully. Watch the pros and see how they instead of splitting on both feet, how they sort of split on one foot. So they anticipate....they see the ball early, they unweigh themselves a little bit off the ground at contact and when I see a ball coming off to their right they will sort of land on their left foot to the right. So I see a ball coming to the left they.
Will split step on their right foot so you can see right after I hit the ground you see how I'm already in a unit turn, I'm already moving to the ball in a unit turn so my first reaction is actually part of my split step. Now you can imagine the advantage of that because you're not only splitting you're actually splitting turning and moving at the same time. So that's where the next level player picks up half a step on his opponent every time. Go watch them carefully when they're in the flow of the point they.
They don't do a split step like this but they actually do what we call a flow split. They land on the opposite foot from where the ball is so that the opposite foot can drive the leg closest to the ball. Okay let me just show you the drills I do with my players to teach them that flow split. We spend quite a bit of time on this because I think it's a very important move if you want to a high level of tennis but it doesn't matter if you're just a recreational player if you can get the timing of that.
Flow split your going to have a huge advantage because you just going to get to the ball so much quicker! So I'm going to bring Elizabeth in and we're going to put her on the Box just like before so that she can unweigh. The purpose of the box is just to elevate her feet already so she doesn't have to think about it. So she's on the box and I'm going to have her feet and first we're going to make it predictable. I want her to land on her left foot and push a little bit off to the right so we pretend the balls coming.
To our right so I want her to land left and let the left leg open the right hip! Right Do it a few times. Can you see how when she doesn't split step on both feet she actually split step on one foot is already in the air and turned. Watch her right foot! It's in the air and already turned so you can understand the advantage of that flow split. Now land on your right foot and push a little bit left! Two more....turn in the air, turn in the air.
Yeah make sure when you land your foot turns in the air! Land and turn in the air there you go! Alright now we're going to give it a little bit more flow so I'm going to ask her to stand behind the Box, ignore the ladder. Step over the box and land on the right foot so she's going to step on the box with her left foot, land on the left foot and push right or step on the box with our right foot land on the right foot and push left. Okay let's do the left foot first! Step on the box with your left foot land and open the hip.
Perfect! One more time. Step on the box with your left with land and push. Step on the box with your right foot. Land and push! Okay push out a bit stronger and more turn in the air. Okay it's pretty good! Now once I feel she can do that then I'll take the Box away so I'll start to take the box away a little bit and I want to see if she can do it without the box. So now I want to see if she can elevate herself, land on the left foot and push.
To the right. So you're going to jump in the air a little bit when I say "ball". So when I say "ball" you go up in the air you'll land on your left foot and you push to your right. Ready and "ball". Very good! Ready and "ball". One more time. And "ball". Perfect! Now push one step to your left hip and "ball". Very good! And "ball". Very good! And "ball". Okay every time I say "ball" you can see her feet are elevated but the box basically taught her how to do it and you don't have to come.
Up much higher than that, you don't want to jump in the air, you just want to unweigh! The higher you jump the more time it takes to come down then you become slow but as I said before in the beginning it's probably not a bad idea to jump a little bit to give yourself that feeling! And there are actually four different.
Movements zones on the court that require different movement patterns. So in the next video Ean will introduce the four different movements zones and he'll explain in detail how you should move in what we call the rhythmical zone which is one of the most important zones on the court!
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