Orange Ball: 5 Ways to Develop the Serve (Video; 16:14 minutes)

In this video Mark looks at a few key features of how you can further develop the serve from the red court to the orange court.

Now that we’re on the orange court, the junior player is a bit older, taller, stronger and importantly, more coordinated, than they were on the red court. These changes mean that the player can start to use a bit more of their body than they did on the red court.

So, working on the basis that we’ve got the the foundations of the red serve place, we can add more racket head speed for an offensive serve on the orange court.

Fundamentals of the red serve that must be in place before going forward:

• Rhythm
• Fluid throwing action
• Grip
• Stable base

Summary of key additions to the serve from red to orange:

1. 1. A longer swing; this allows more potential for acceleration of the racket.
      • Angling the player’s foot so that it is not at right angles to the service line means that the racket “comes round the corner” further increasing the length of the racket’s trajectory, giving more distance for the racket to build up speed.
      • Note that the longer racket gives a longer trajectory.
   2. Adding more rotation; good players don’t rely on the arm to do the work. Using the whole body adds even more to the racket speed.
      • Angling the back foot behind the player naturally allows the player’s right hip and shoulder can come through and add to the racket head speed.
   3. Adding linear momentum; essentially ensuring base stability and weight transfer to the back to the front.
      • The ball toss must be in front of the player, so the player must release the ball with the weight having transferred to the front foot.
   4. Add ground reaction force by bending the player’s knee as a part of the rhythmical action. This is the beginning of the player starting to drive up. The rule is, “BALL UP, LEGS DOWN. BALL DOWN, LEGS UP”.