KEVIN COLLINS: Keep head between your feet for a balanced serve

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Let’s talk about balance and the serve.

If you ask most pros, they will say one of the most difficult things to teach is the serve. The serve is difficult by nature as it is one of the most flexible and multidimensional of shots. You can go to the courts and take a look at players and virtually everyone’s service motion will be somewhat different.

Pros have to learn to be flexible with their approach to teaching and a somewhat immature pro may have trouble in this area as they can try too hard to teach a serve that may not work for that person. It is imperative the pro allows players to develop a motion that is fundamental but also correct for the player.

I always start my new players with an assessment of how balanced they are naturally. A big mistake pros make is to try to begin teaching the service motion around a certain swing pattern or ball toss position. Not all people are naturally talented at the service motion and most importantly all people control their bodies differently.

The challenge is to recognize everyone has a different way of dealing with their own balance and the serve has certain fundamentals that have to be followed. If we all dealt with balance issues the same we would all look the same when we run or walk and everyone’s speed would be relative to their size and strength. We know this is not true so when we teach the serve you need to take into consideration how a person deals with balance along with the fundamentals.

Balance gives the player the ability to work with his body not against it. Loss of balance causes an involuntary attempt by the brain to regain it. This involuntary reaction starts a chain reaction in the body that can throw off the fundamentals of the serve. The chain reaction can make it really tough to maintain a consistent swing.

What I hate to see is a person who is practicing a motion that is out of balance. The reason for that is when the player starts to feel pressure; this lack of balance will compound the problems with the serve. Since the player’s motion is out of balance with the body I know they will never be able to aggressively serve and more importantly I know that no matter how hard the person practices there will always be a problem due to the bad balance.

Here are some tips for developing good balance on a serve for a player who is already playing tennis.

First see how the player starts the motion and how they look when they have finished hitting the serve. Once you have determined that, try to find the best way to stay on balance for the longest possible time within that motion. One good way to maintain balance longer is to bring the right foot back to a closed position. This makes the player face to the side rather than directly into the court.

When a player is facing directly into the court to start the motion, he will have more of a tendency to come off balance during the swing. Closing the stance keeps the body evenly balanced longer, giving the player less time to lose balance.

Secondly, try really hard to keep your head between your feet within the motion. The head is the heaviest part of the body per square inch. It is often the culprit of lost balance. I tell players that they can swing as much as they want as long as their head stays between their feet.

Finally, try to mimic the throwing motion as much as possible with your motion. Once you have the balance set, then the throwing motion will be a natural and comfortable way to serve. The timing you use for your throwing motion will be directly related to how long you can stay on balance.

Obviously there are a lot more ways to work on the serve. Check with your local coach or pro and make it a priority to develop a strong aggressive serve. The serve is the only time in a point that can be completely controlled so make sure you spend the time needed to make it rock and roll!

See you on the courts.

Kevin Collins is the tennis pro at Bentwood Country Club. Contact him at

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