In today’s blog we’re going to go over the forehand flick.
This is an offensive shot that you can use at the non-volley zone line.
The first thing we’re going to do is go over the scenario then we’re going to go over the execution on how to hit the shot and then we’re going to go over a few of the targets that we like to hit the shot at.
Let’s first start with the scenario – You’re dinking straight on with your opponent and you’re trying to move the ball around. All the times when you’re at the non-volley zone dinking you want to do your best to make your opponent feel uncomfortable.
You’re going to move your opponent around and then when you get a dead dink, a ball that kind of sits up, that’s when you can hit this shot.
This is a disguised shot. It works well when you are hitting aggressive dinks and you are trying to disguise this shot so that they don’t know when it’s coming and when it’s not.
Real life scenario – Jordan is going to dink with Katrina. He’s setting up this forehand flick the same way he hits all his dinks. He’s using a topspin dink and when he’s dinking he’s dropping his paddle head below his wrist so that then he can execute this at any time. Jordan is going to move Katrina around the court – to the backhand and to the forehand and then back to the backhand again, etc. – and then hit that shot.
When looking at a setup stance between a dink and a forehand flick it can be hard to tell the difference because the setup for both is almost identical. It’s especially hard to tell if you’re in the heat of battle.
This is not a shot that you’re just going to get. You have to actually create the opportunity for you to get the shot. The higher and higher levels you play, your opponents are going to make you more uncomfortable so you have to do your best to set it up.
Let’s jump into the execution. The first thing you’re going to do with this forehand flick shot is you’re going to drop the paddle head down below your wrist. You’r wrist should be laid back and relaxed.
The grip you’re using should be an eastern grip but it can be done in continental. You could try it in both.
Star by moving your opponent around to set your self up for the shot.
The flick of the wrist motion as well as the upward forearm rotation is what will create the accelerated top spin. You should be using your whole arm and your wrist muscles to get this topspin flick.
To practice this you can do some drop feeds on this shot. Practice this arm motion from low to high.
Now we’re going to go into the targets that we like to hit on this shot.
If your opponent is standing in the middle of the court there’s really three main targets. There’s a body shot target, there’s a target towards the forehand side and then there’s a target to the backhand side.
With higher level players, a lot of the offensive shots that you want to hit, you want to stay away from the body because a lot of players have their paddle out in front of them and they are ready to counter attack.
So, you have to be careful when you’re attacking at the body but it also can work at times if you really disguise your forehand flick really well and speed it up fast and be ready.
The main thing when you attack right at the body, you want to make sure you’re ready for that counter attack. Also, if you’re attacking the body you want to seek to aim for their dominant side hip to shoulder area which will really cause them to jam up.
Now, the other two targets are going to be towards the backhand and then towards the forehand. These flicks here are going to be away from your opponent’s body so they’re going to have to be stretching and reaching for the ball.
Use the forehand flick to the body with the idea to rush and jam them. Use the forehand flick to the forehand or backhand target to stretch them.
We hope you guys really enjoy this blog and we hope it helps out.
Go out there and try it.