This week we’ve added a whole bunch of new material to FYB Premium. The update includes Block 7 – Manufacturing Offensive Situations. Up until this point, our strategy for constructing points has been based on directionals, court geometry, and SWOT Analysis – but now we are going to learn the tools that will allow us to turn what would normally be neutral rallies into offensive situations.
One of the most effective (even on the Pro Tour) ways to take control of a neutral rally is to hit the inside-out or inside-in forehand - and we teach you how to do just that. But the key to an effective inside-out or inside-in forhand doesn’t have anything to do with how you swing your racket…
Learn how to take control of a point, and explore the hours and hours of premium instructional content – Learn more about FYB Premium today!
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As an original subscriber to your website, I got a lot out of it. I understand your desire to go positive cash flow. I don’t understand how you can charge $25 dollars a month for you video that can not be taken onto the court to practice. I don’t intend to download your vid’s to an iPod and/or another electronic device to play as I work though a stroke, footwork or such. I have limited tech savvy to do so. I wish to continue viewing you site and its *Fine instruction*, However, between the rock and my hard place,,, I’ll have to go else where if you intend to charge those types of price for you *premium package*ie,.my USTA professional. Hope this doesn’t come off as being angry or poor, It’s that the hole idea doesn’t translate to the sport as I know it…. It should be * ALL About* getting new and old (Old Participants back into) the sport. How about some feed back? Could I be wrong?
All the best,
Charles G.
Hi Charles. You raise a question a number of other people have brought up:
“I can’t take these lessons to the court / you can’t feed me balls or give me instant feedback… how can it be worth the price?”
We think of ourselves as a compliment to the stuff you do on court. In FYB Premium there is hours and hours of content (and none of it is fluff — it’s all “straight to the point” instruction). We don’t just teach technique — we also focus HEAVILY on strategy, because knowing where to put the ball and adjusting to your opponent is absolutely necessary to playing at a high level. For example, many club-level players lose to pushers because they lack a strategy for combating that style of play. Many club-level players, to be honest, don’t really have a strategy.
Let’s assume your local pro charges $50 per hour. That’s on the low end here in Washington, DC. For him to sit down with you and talk through all the strategy / other stuff we address would cost you hundreds and hundreds of dollars. We give you all that info for $25 / month. From this perspective, we’re actually way cheaper than your local pro.
Our view is that if you subscribe to FYB Premium, your technique and understanding of the game will improve significantly. That will allow you to get more out of your “real life” lessons w/your pro. Your pro can focus on analyzing your game — giving you instant feedback — versus explaining to you 1) why it’s generally a bad idea to hit down-the-line during a cross court rally, 2) where to position yourself based on where your opponent is hitting a ball, 3) how to adjust your game based on your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses (SWOT Analysis), 4) how to manufacture offensive situations, and so on.
And if worst comes to worst, you have two months to get a full refund.
I appreciate the kind words regarding our instruction. It means a lot to us and the constant feedback has allowed up to improve immensely. Let me know if you have any further questions / comments.
Will
Charles,
Download free (and safely) from CNET “Internet Download Manager” and FLV (Free Live Video – I think) free FLV player. Then you can view videos on you laptop whenever and wherever you want.
FLV stands for flash video…
Charles G,
I just subscribed to the FYB premium, I like it a lot. The materials you got from it in terms of quality and quantity worth a lot more than what you pay for. I am a happy customer!
Dan
Will, the answer to Charles G.’s question above is pretty simple. How do you take FYB Premium lessons onto the court if you don’t have an electronic device? Well, how would you take the Premium content with you onto the court if it were free?
Same way you’ve been taking FYB free content onto the court without a device: you study FYB online, view it, review it, shadow it in your living room or den, memorize it, think about it–in other words, record it in your head–then take your head with you onto the court.
You can also take your digital camera or VCR and judge for yourself how you’re doing.
I do not subscribe to FYB Premium because I am still mastering all the material in the free part. When I have the technique and consistency of a level 4.0 or 4.5 player in all departments, I’ll turn to learning how to play games and matches and to the study of strategy. At that point I may subscribe.
Will,
Frankly, i am not really inclined to watch any of your videos because you are a left handed guy and one needs to interpret it for a right handed play. That itself is another R&D issue -so why go for it? i have never seen your shots as you are more of a paper tiger drawing your shots on the board . i can do that too and a lot better.
Any way good luck with fooling as many as possible.
Yash
Hi Yash. Perhaps you missed my strokes when we linked in these videos earlier — I’m doing some ball machine / footwork drills –
Forehands — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPCY1PNAYqE
Backhands — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj_VYuNs2Jo
Even if I were a “paper tiger,” I don’t really think that matters much. For example, Olympic figure skating judges can’t pull off all the jumps but they still are perfectly capable of analyzing correct technique / form / etc.
Why do you think it is necessary to be able to hit a monster forehand to be a good coach?
As for being a lefty, it is an issue for some folks. But the fundamentals of each shot are the same regardless. There are certainly other great places to learn tennis on the internet if our approach doesn’t work for you.
I’m a lefty, which means 90% of all my coaches are right handed. How come I’ve never had any problem with that?
Bye, yash. Nice knowin’ ya.
Will,
You have a grace about you on video and when you respond to people, even when they respond negatively to something you gave them for free, that impresses me very much!
As a newbie (3 yrs) to tennis, I find your information VERY helpful and I’m most appreciative of all the work you put into other peoples’ pursuit of this great sport.
Keep up the great work!!!!!
Hey Sherri — thanks, your kind words are very much appreciated. I’m happy to hear that we’ve been able to help you improve your game and please let me know if there’s a particular shot you’d like to see (drop shot is on the way!).
I still don’t understand how some of these people can give negative response. Maybe just maybe, your game would actually improve if you start to think more positive. Tennis is about being positive, specially in match play. Finally, to respond to some of these negative people, Will is not forcing you to PAY, nor forcing you to watch. I’ve searched a lot of tennis web site, this is so far the best one. Great job Will.
Great Analysis. Have been playing off and on for several years, but your analysis of various matches such as the wimbledon 2009 final etc is excellent, and has led to me viewing tennis matches and playing in a whole new way….Have viewed several tennis videos in the past, but never with this depth of analysis!
Hey Will,
I’ve been an avid consumer of your free stuff for a while and am considering going for the FYB Premium. You are an exceptional communicator and have a knack for Einsein’s “make it as simple as possible but not simpler” principle. Great use of technology and pro examples as well.
I see that you mention “blocks” when referring to the FYB Premium content. Would it be possible for you to bullet list the blocks that you have in place now and perhaps a few that you plan to add. My hunch is that the fee is a bargain, I’d just like a bit more evidence that it is what I am looking for.
Cheers,
Patrick
Stockholm, Sweden
Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate it. Here’s an explanation of the first few blocks –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_2EdtD9EAA
Here’s a quick bullet-point list per your request:
1. Fundamentals of the forehand, backhand, and serve. We give you the technique necessary to hit with pace, spin, depth and placement.
2. Footwork — we put the racket down and talk about how to move around the court properly.
3. Combining strokes and footwork — tennis is a moving sport. Properly merging your groundstroke technique and footwork is necessary for playing at a high level.
4. Directionals — some shots are higher percentage than others. We look at the percentages based on how the ball is hit at you and where you are on the court. This lets us start to build a winning strategy.
5. Court Positioning — where should you position yourself based on where your opponent is hitting the ball?
6. SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This block teaches you how to analyze yourself and your opponents — drawing on the stuff we’ve learned earlier — to enable you to adapt your strategy based on your opponents.
7. Manufacturing Offensive Situations. How do you go from a neutral rally to offense? The ability to do so greatly expands your strategic options.
What else is coming? We’ll be adding the windshield-wiper and reverse forehands, a bunch of other technique, the mental game and more strategy.
The whole point of the FYB System is to develop your technique and strategy side-by-side based on what shots you are capable of hitting.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Cheers,
Will
Great stuff on the website, Will. I see that your a lefty like me. I was wondering what shots I should practice to maximize this advantage. In regards to the serve should I use my kicker in the ad or deuce court more? Also I’ve found the loopy crosscourt forehand, and backhand slice to be very effective safe shots. I’ve been practicing running around my backhand a lot to hit inside out forehands, do you think this is a good idea to open the court? thanks
Do you have any tips for me Will? I’m looking into purchasing your product but would like to see how you could help my game.
Hey Charles. Kicker and slice out wide on the ad court is a must-have. Doesn’t have to be an extremely powerful shot — if you can consistently pull your opponent off the court + force them to hit a high backhand (using the kicker) or stretch backhand (using the slice), you’ll be in a winning position.
Heavy topspin to a right-handers backhand is certainly a nice play — force right-handers to hit a lot of high backhands and look for a weak / short ball you can attack.
Regarding the inside-out / inside-in forehands, I use this shot a lot and really encourage people to learn it. Simply by repositioning yourself you can turn an otherwise neutral rally into an offensive opportunity.
Will is there any way you would recommend to prepare for a tournament? equipment, stress, mentally, physically etc.
Hey Bjarki — My vanilla advice would be to scout your opponent if possible and have a general plan coming into the match. Write down some of the adjustments you’ll make if your initial strategy doesn’t work.
Nothing worse than feeling helpless on the court / not knowing what do to. A little pre-match preparation can prevent you from unraveling mentally.
ok thanks, i’ll keep that in mind
FYB premium is too much money, that’s all it is.
Just wanna say that as a long time lover of tennis and short term player, I found this site to be invaluable to my game. Along with the lessons I take, the details and information on this site have helped my game a noticeable amount. Thanks, and keep it coming.
Don’t listen to the negativity…
cheers
Thanks RS. I appreciate the nice comments and I’m glad we’ve been able to help!
This is a great site no question. However I find FYB premium too expensive.
I would always choose to take a few live lessons vs internet videos. But hey, I guess it’s about personal preference, no negativity here.
So what do you guys (whisper, bigserve) think about this?
This is really very good stuff.
I’ve said it before, most tennis sites actually end up only teaching you how to hit the ball, FYB Premium teaches you how to play tennis properly, with a correctly thought out lesson structure that leads you from the basics of hitting the ball, to be able to put those basics to good use, instead of simply hitting the ball back over the net and in, that is, how to construct a point.
I also am impressed by the emphasis on good footwork, as there are many people who can hit a ball well when it is perfectly set up for them, but not that many people can use their footwork correctly to set the ball up perfectly for themselves.
Tennis is not as much of a hitting game as many people think, a very large chunk of it is footwork and its proper application for a given ball.
Does that help?
Hi Will, I have a question for you, if I join the FYB premium, what is the minimum I have to be a member? Can I cancel whenever I need to cancel it?
well, that is actually a couple of question for than one?
Hi Carlos. You can cancel whenever you want. No restrictions.
Hello Will,
You have put together something that has helped me a lot. First of all thank you for all the free content, they have more technical information than what I got from my tennis instructors who charge $64/hr in the DC area. By now I have take over a dozen personal lessons. Currently I am somewhere in the 3.0-3.5 level
I have been watching your videos since last few months. I have learned quite a bit of theory, and try to repeat on court that theory. I have also improved quite a bit. But what I realize that one of my biggest hurdles to improving, has been the lack of awareness of the little things that I am doing wrong. For eg. holding racket a little too tight, back not being straight etc. Things like these are old bad habits, and we are oblivious to them, its hard stuff to figure out.
Due to this what I have found, even after following the instruction (for most part) on a particular shot, the consistency still remains elusive for long period of time. It takes a lot of court time to self identify these little things that are coming in the way of the otherwise technically good shot. This is where if you have a good instructor watch you play, they can quickly point out the subtle mistakes, and that should bring out speedier consistency.
Just as an example, I have watched your Kick Serve video over and over, and spent total of 7 hours till now just practicing this serve. I have done about ten 45 min session where I only practiced this serve the way you teach in the video. And I am still not confident of this shot, when it goes in its good one. But its certainly not a dependable option yet. The frustrating thing is I dont know where I am going wrong! The serve crosses the net each time, but its hard for me to keep it in the service box – that would in theory suggest add more spin. I try that but am really dont know whats missing.
I would love to join FYB premium, my hesitation comes from the fact that bringing about (consistent) court improvement from watching videos is very much possible, but it can also be painfully slow. For me watching video and practicing it on court, and finally seeing a consistent improvement takes weeks of effort.
So I am afraid that I may not be able to consume, at a digestible pace the information that I would be paying $25 per month for. Now if the price tag was below $10, I would be less afraid and certainly like to give it a go. I am not suggesting anything here, except sharing my personal thoughts about this.
Again, thank you very much for your videos, and may be in future when I play at better levels, I would be better poised to benefit from FYB premium material.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the above.
Hi smaz. I understand your concern — it’s one shared by a number of people considering FYB Premium.
“Is this stuff going to translate to the court… and will it translate in a way that justifies the price?”
One thing we do in FYB Premium to address this problem is that we give you a lot of drills. Each drill is tailored around the specific topic we are discussing. Thus, there is a better chance the lesson “translates to the court” because we are telling you how you need to practice to get your body moving the right way.
Also, we focus HEAVILY on strategy. Where should you hit the ball? Where do you position yourself based on where your opponent is hitting? How do you analyze your opponent’s game? What adjustments should you make based on your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses? How do you transition from a neutral rally to offense? Etc.
Understanding strategy doesn’t require you to hit 10,000 balls with a partner or be on a court all the time. More generally, the THINKING part of the game is sooooo often overlooked despite the fact that it is arguably more important than how you hit the ball.
Pushers, for example, have inferior technique but a superior strategy at the club level. The strategy is so good that pushers can consistently beat people with better (more technically sound) strokes than them.
Our focus on strategy is one of the really valuable parts of FYB Premium, imo, and the “will this technique translate to the court” question doesn’t really apply. You could argue that it’s actually better to be off court — have some distance — so that you can thinking through all the strategic concepts and get a handle on them. Kind of like homework.
Hope this addresses your main concerns. Please let me know if there’s anything else.
Cheers,
Will
Hi Will,
Thanks for the clarification. In the coming weeks I will try out FYB premium. Do you do personal clinics in the DC area? If yes, what would the fees be?
Hey Will, Are you constantly updating the Premium? If so, what happens to the old videos? As you are always moving foward, what about those people who join late? Right now I am too engulfed in school, but as soon as Spring Break rolls around or Summer Vacation I will probably become a premium member.
But since I join late, do I miss out on all of the beginning fundamentals? Or all of the old videos? Or do you just keep all of the videos there and never delete them?
Thanks and I hope to become a member soon!
Hi Mike. Yes, we are constantly updating it. Old videos are never taken down. FYB Premium is an A to B to C course. The earlier videos lay the foundation for what comes later on. Taking down the “old” stuff would be like removing the first few chapters from a novel… it would be pretty tough to figure out what was going on, heh.
Good luck with school!
Hi Will
I enjoy watching your videos. Regarding handedness, would it be possible to laterally invert your videos so your playing looks right-handed – just like in a mirror. I am sure your imaging software must allow for this or at least that there is some simple app which can do this for you. Since 90% of players are right handed, it would make them so much easier to understand and shadow. Right now I have to do the lateral inversion in my head which adds another layer of processing to what I am trying to learn.
Good work – nice website
Dominic
I am a novice to the game of tennis but I am what you might call a mature student having come to the game late in life. I have been foraging for the best information I can find in order to advance my understanding of the game , it’s techniques and strategies.
I am having lessons twice a week from an old school coach and I would recommend to anybody in need of help with their tennis, to study FYB online to help strengthen your concept and understanding..
Of coarse, you must realise that it’s not quite the same as having a one to one with a coach as there isn’t the physical proximity or verbal interaction, when you are online. But as a supplement to your lessons FYB is pure dynamite!
It’s an in depth reference library but one that physically demonstrates it’s lessons with great clarity and with visuals in slow motion too! What more do you want?
Even a one to one coach can’t actually experience the learning for you, so be realistic when you write in with your comments and try not to be moronic or rude to Will who is obviously a consummate professional and a first class teacher!
While you are studying a particular item if you haven’t grasped the concept or find your concentration waning, then you can always come back and refer to it as many times as you need to, until the penny drops.
I will be trying FYB Premium.
Can’t wait!
Thanks Will
DC
(Farnham, Surrey, England)
Will,
Really, really great site. I have no problem with paying for FYB Premium. But I haven’t.
I run a venture-backed digital music business, both web and mobile. We’re profitable — possibly the only profitable digital music business in the world right now, outside of iTunes.
I suggest you change your pricing. If you’re getting $25/mo. from a bunch of people with little or no churn in subscriptions, feel free to disregard my pricing advice.
When I DO pay for FYB Premium, I’m going to pay for a month, watch a ton of videos, and then unsubscribe.
Try charging a one-time fee for the year ($49.95?) and/or a monthly subscription of $5.00 or less. If you charged $5.00/mo., billable to my credit card, I would likely sign up and stay signed up for a year or more.
Thanks for the great product.
Best,
Dave
Good Job ..ALL
Hi-
I was just introduced to your website from a guy I played tennis with last night. I complimented him on his serve and he said he has learned alot from FYB. So this morning I went to your site for the first time and found a short video demonstration on the serve. Stay relaxed was the message, and I get that, but the guy doing the serving was foot faulting just about every single time he served. I not writing this to “tell you your business” but it seems a little odd to me that you would choose to demonstrate your point in a video of a guy foot faulting every serve.
Hi Steve. You’re right — Roger is foot faulting occasionally. My view is that it’s not that big of a deal because he’s simply warming up / loosening up his shoulder. That’s what he’s focusing on and that was the focus on the article.
Teaching tennis is sometimes tricky in the sense that often you have to tell the student to ignore a bunch of (important) stuff in order to get him to focus on the particular task at hand. Imagine if I was trying to teach someone to stay relaxed when serving, but I also said, “make sure you don’t foot fault / change your stance a little bit / don’t hold the ball like that / keep your tossing arm extended above your head a little bit longer / etc.” That would be information overload and it would be realllllllllllly hard for the student to focus on keeping the arm loose.
If you check out our progressions videos, you’ll notice that we segment the each stroke heavily. We’ve done so for the reason I listed above. Let me know if that makes sense.
Cheers,
Will
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