Playing Balls on the Rise

As discussed in this issue's article on strategies for shorter players, taking the ball on the rise allows you to play closer up, move into the court of short balls, and keep higher ball speeds on their shots.

Learning to hit balls on the rise does not require major stroke changes, but rather, a different timing.

This timing is fairly simple to practice using feeds which land close to the player and drill rules which do not allow the player to retreat.

If you have a coach, or can drill with a friend, here is a series of progressions which will you to learn how to hit the ball on the rise.

Step #1 -- Begin feeding balls from the net. Have players begin at the baseline and feed them several balls, allowing them to hit groundstrokes as they normally would. Ask them to take notice of the time the between when the ball bounces and when they make contact.

Step #2 -- Move players to the service line and feed balls to them, making the players hit the ball on the bounce. Players will have less time to react and will begin hitting half volleys.

Step #3 -- Have players move back, standing directly in front of the baseline. Feed easy, high-arcing balls to players, who MAY NOT STEP BACK over the baseline. Have players take notice of the time the between when the ball bounces and when they make contact.

Step #4 -- As players begin to develop the timing of taking balls on the rise, have players return to different areas on the court, both left and right, and deep and short.

Step #5 -- Move back and begin feeding from the baseline, varying your feeds. On feeds with normal depths, have players use their normal strokes. On deeper feeds, tell players they may not retreat and must step up and take balls on the rise.

Step #6 -- As the players begin to get comfortable interchanging regular groundstrokes with taking balls on the rise, have them try to play balls exclusively on the rise, attacking every ball.

Step #7 -- Have players commit to taking every ball on the rise, following in to net occasional short balls you feed in. This will keep players' thoughts on keeping their body momentum forward on every groundstroke.