Pendulum swing backspin

Steven Watkins Asked 6 years ago

Have watched your video many times and practicing daily but just can't seem to get the proper amount of backspin or even do it well overall.  Both of you seem to toss the ball back toward the serving arm about at the axilla.  Why so?   Should I try to keep the paddle about parallel with the floor.

Thanks so much.  Love your site.

Alois Rosario Answered 6 years ago

Hi Steven,

Thanks for the kind words about the site.

For the Backspin serve, keep the bat flat.  Often when we swing through we feel like it is remaining flat but in fast we are turing the angle forward on contact.  It is a good idea to film yourself doing the serve from side on and see what your bat angle looks like at the point of contact.

The other thing to think about is contacting the ball closer to the front edge of your bat.  This will also help with generating backspin.

In general players will toss the ball in towards the contact.  There are tolerable limits to this.