I really enjoy taking one-off tennis lessons. I like to see how I will respond and I also like to see how a tennis pro facing the challenge of helping a student they are unlikely ever to see again faces the challenge. This time the fun took place during an unusual heatwave that made it all the way to California’s Central Coast where we have had a four-day getaway planned for months.
The pro was a lefty and even older than me, if you can imagine. I was quite upfront that I was looking for someone to rally with but that instructive comment was always welcome. The rally lasted all but five minutes before the question, “Can you slice your forehand?” I said I could but found the shot less than common. Sure, it’s fun but it’s seldom needed or effective. But, I was game so I hit a few to show the shot was no problem for me
Here’s where things got weird. The coach wanted to talk about the split step. It seems that a lot of his students land flat footed when asked to split step. He then asked if I knew about split step and float? I confessed that I did not. The coach went on to say that split step and float means the player lands on one foot, so as to aid their ability to move in that direction.
No.
That’s what I said, for a couple reasons. First, how is the player supposed to know which direction they need to know at the moment they split step? Second, the idea of hopping off both feet and landing on one seems like an unwise practice.
Sorry.
After the lesson I really felt badly. You see, the coach had hit on two genuinely good points. The first was a more level driving motion on high bouncing one-handed backhands. The second was to use the ball point to rotate the off arm toward the striking arm to aid in spacing.
Both work great.
Yup, I would take another lesson from this guy.
Yes, I think he was dead-wrong about these two points.
Yes, I learned something during the lesson and I enjoyed myself.
Tennis thing 
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