The overhead
Overhead: what good form looks like, and the 7 faults you can see on your own video
What good form looks like
The overhead is decided before the swing starts. The instant the lob goes up you turn sideways so your feet are perpendicular to the net, then shuffle back rather than backpedaling with your chest to the net. Your non-paddle hand points up at the ball, both to track it and to load your shoulders. You get behind the ball instead of under it, reach up and forward at full extension, and throw down through it, finishing across your body. The most-cited fault in the sport here is not the swing at all. It is backpedaling, and it is how people fall.
The fundamentals
- Turn sideways the instant the lob goes up, feet perpendicular to the net
- Shuffle back, never backpedal with your torso facing the net
- Point your non-paddle hand up at the ball to track it and load your shoulders
- Get behind the ball so it drops about one to two feet in front of your hitting shoulder
- Reach up and forward at full extension, not straight up
- Throw down through the ball, finish across your body, and recover forward
The camera angle that shows the most
Film this shot from the side. Of the faults below, most reveal themselves in profile: weight transfer, swing path, contact position and balance are all things you see from the side and miss from anywhere else. Each fault below is tagged with the angle that reveals it, so you know what a single clip can and cannot show.
The 7 common faults
Each fault is named by multiple independent coaching sources, tagged for whether it shows up in your body or in the paddle, and mapped to the camera angle that reveals it. Green means the skeleton can see it. Read how to spot it, the fix, and one drill.
Backpedaling
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
You shuffle backward with your chest facing the net, off balance at contact, and sometimes you fall.
The fix
Turn immediately so your feet are perpendicular to the net, then shuffle back like a quarterback dropping into the pocket.
Drill it
Partner lobs ten balls. Catch each one with your non-paddle hand while sideways, no swing at all. Then add the swing.
Under the ball, not behind it
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
The ball ends up directly above or slightly behind your head and you have to arch backward to reach it.
The fix
Move so the ball will drop about one to two feet in front of your hitting shoulder.
Drill it
Ten lobs where you have to catch the ball out in front of your hitting shoulder with your free hand. No paddle.
Tracking arm drops
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the frontSpot it
Your free hand falls early, you lose sight of the ball, and contact comes off-center.
The fix
Point your non-paddle hand up at the ball and keep it up until you start the swing.
Drill it
Fifteen shadow overheads holding the point for a beat, then fifteen off live feeds.
Punching at the sky
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
Your overheads fly long past their baseline, often by a lot.
The fix
Reach up and forward rather than straight up, and drive down through the ball.
Drill it
Twenty overheads at about seventy percent aimed at a target three feet inside the opposite baseline.
All wrist and elbow
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
The swing is all forearm, short and jabby, and the ball has neither pace nor a direction you chose.
The fix
Separate, reach, throw. Load your shoulder, extend up to the ball, then throw down through it.
Drill it
Throw a ball overhand as far as you can, ten times. Then hit ten overheads chasing that same feeling.
Swinging early
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
You swing before the ball is in range, or you let it fall to head height and lose all your leverage.
The fix
Get set with your feet first, then take contact at the highest point you can reach comfortably.
Drill it
Partner lobs ten balls. Call "now" out loud at the moment you would make contact, without swinging. Then hit ten for real.
Trying to kill it
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
You swing at everything you have and the ball goes long, into the net, or straight back at you.
The fix
Swing at about seventy to eighty percent and aim at a spot, usually their feet or the open court.
Drill it
Twenty overheads at seventy percent into a cone target, then five at full power so you can feel the difference in control.
Reading about it is not the same as seeing it
You can know every fault on this page and still not know which ones are yours. That is the whole problem with technique: it is invisible from inside your own swing. Dinklix draws a pose skeleton on a ten-second clip of your overhead and names which of these your body is actually doing, in order, with one thing to start with.