Teaching the Serve and Volley

If you were to watch any national junior tournament in the U.S., you would see only a few boys serve and volley at the 18's level, almost none at the 16's, and virtually none at the 14's. The numbers are even more severe among the girls.

Many coaches and players believe that playing serve and volley tennis takes extreme levels of talent, and never seriously consider adding this style of play to their tactical arsenal.

At younger ages, serving and volleying is probably not a serious option because youngsters don't have an offensive serve or the ability to get in close enough to successfully volley the return.

As they get older, players may try to serve and volley a few points, get blasted, and use this as confirmation that they can't do it.

Additionally, players with tremendous speed and coordination who have proven that they can develop excellent strokes and shots from the baseline shy away from playing the net because they “can't” volley.

Learning to serve and volley is not as difficult as many players and coaches believe as long as the skill is developed incrementally, using the progression method of learning, rather than the whole method.

The article goes on to show how to use the Graduate Length Method of learning and progressions to make it much easier to add the serve and volley to any player's game. Step-by-step drills are included.