One of my athletes is playing in a tournament and they get advice from a Coaching contemporary of mine. This coach is telling my athlete to step to the side wall to hit a backhand. My athlete tries to explain they are coached by me and Coach does not like stepping to the side wall. The athlete giving advice explains they have been to XYZ’s camp and XYZ says players I coach have bad footwork and I do not know what I am doing.
XYZ camp also explains the feet should be parallel on the forehand but not the backhand side of the court. I could go on with this but the simple question is why would you employ different footwork on one side of the court and not the other?
My coaching gets misunderstood because it is not the step over that gets players, it is the weight distribution and poor footwork as a result of the step over. What is even more confusing to lower level players is that stepping over and hitting a backhand makes them feel all warm and fuzzy. They are able to achieve instant success. But at what cost?
Hip injuries, shoulder injuries, and lower back injuries soon follow.
By doing the side-step on the backhand side an athlete is using their momentum to hit the ball, not their legs and lower body.
Now can athletes step to the side wall and win tournaments? Of course. But back injuries and inconsistency of play often occur.
Professional athletes pay trainers thousands of dollars to reinforce this. I’m giving you this info for free to prevent injury! As amateurs we can learn from this and play pain free.