Rafa's instinctive play crosses sports boundaries
Thoughts from a golf pro
A while back Lillian posted this conversation on our board:
The other day I mentioned to my Resident Golf Pro that I thought Rafa had beautiful hands and that I think young men's hands are so expressive.
"What do you like about him?" I asked.
Her reply was, "I love his transition!"
"What?" I squawked.
"It's just perfect" she said, then grinned, "and the rest of him isn't all that bad either."
We've heard some great insightful comments from that pro in the past so we asked Lillian to persuade her to write an article for us. Here is the result.
Rafael Nadal's talents give him a wonderful opportunity for balanced and instinctive movement. He’s a good thinker on his feet and has the heart and talent to back it up.
You can’t get into that sort of position without being in the zone! A hallmark of instinctive play - if you have to think about it, the moment’s gone. Nadal regularly delights us with his courage to take ‘instinct’ into tournament play.
'Being in the Zone' is when an athlete is 100% committed to RESULT. There’s no expenditure on the HOW (technique) or the WHERE (environment, crowd, what your coach thinks). The athlete is simply convinced that the ball he’s about to hit is going to land on its mark, at the completion of this action.
Each of these photos demonstrates the balance-benefits of good ‘bendies’ ('fingers' for those of you who have just joined VB.com). Dexterous hands are a wonderful commodity in an elite athlete. They really add to the foundation of good movement, i.e., the compliant large muscle groups, giving that x-factor 'wow' performance.
Children learn to use their hands, not only to add balance and stability to their game, but to orientate themselves correctly to their target and commit to an intended shot. Sometimes you’ll see a child point with their free hand at the incoming ball or at the intended target. This is the commencement of learning ‘visualization techniques’ and ‘pre-shot routines’. It’s the foundation of consolidating (or developing) the courage required to ‘stay in the moment’ and to ‘make the play’ (your fight or flight theory if you will).
This picture shows Nadal’s fingers indicating this second point.
Hitting against a solid right side as in picture 1 or left leading leg as in 2 & 3, makes for very powerful play. If you’re having trouble seeing this, then focus on the hip region and the alignment of his hips - his belly button, hips, knees and pointed toe are square-on to the centre of play. The centre of play being the position the ball was in at the moment of impact. In pictures 1 & 2 this moment – the contact moment – has just passed.
Referred to as 'connection' for golf, the triangle which exists between Nadal’s shoulders and wrists is perfectly aligned to his torso (chest) through contact. He demonstrates a fluidity of movement here, which sees the force he creates as both compact and singularly applied in one direction. This is a very balanced and repeatable action, i.e., one which allows him to be a consistent performer. It’s also kind to his body, meaning he’s unlikely to sustain any injuries repeating this action.
Note: His spine angle tilt is 90 degrees to his impact position (contact point), perfect for golf, incidently. Together with the position of his upper arms and their relationship to his torso, this means the large muscle groups of his torso are doing the bulk of the work and the little ones in his arms are coming along for the ride. The middle picture shows not only good connection but also good extension through to target, as for golf.
Early preparation means Nadal is now in a position to unwind on the shot – you can see the commencement of uncoiling, with the left hip leading the torso. All the while with tremendous focus on the ball and commitment to the shot.
Good weight transference (transition) off the back foot, showing his Baseliner roots.
Transition within a singular swing motion or action occurs at the top of the back swing. It’s an exciting time because in a well balanced movement it’s fluid and means parts of the body are still winding up to reach the top of the backswing whilst other parts of the body have commenced their motion back to the ball.
Currently the more favoured use of the word 'transition' sees tennis media refer to court movement by the player and his decision making abilities to do so.
The golf term “Don’t leave anything in the Bag” could be applied here. Getting through the shot generates maximal power... and could leave a hole in the other guy’s racket!
Lillian: In some pictures 'Sabine' looked at, Rafa was stretching so far to reach the ball (but had the speed to even get there) and she said, "Well what do you do, let it go past because you have lost your ‘connection’ and it’s no longer in your ‘hitting zone’? I don’t think so, just get your damn ‘zone’ over there, fast!"
The other day I mentioned to my Resident Golf Pro that I thought Rafa had beautiful hands and that I think young men's hands are so expressive.
"What do you like about him?" I asked.
Her reply was, "I love his transition!"
"What?" I squawked.
"It's just perfect" she said, then grinned, "and the rest of him isn't all that bad either."
We've heard some great insightful comments from that pro in the past so we asked Lillian to persuade her to write an article for us. Here is the result.
A little cross sport player commentary on Rafael Nadal’s 'Biomechanical' and 'Decision Making' abilities from Golf Professional, 'Sabine'.
Rafael Nadal's talents give him a wonderful opportunity for balanced and instinctive movement. He’s a good thinker on his feet and has the heart and talent to back it up.
'Being in the Zone' is when an athlete is 100% committed to RESULT. There’s no expenditure on the HOW (technique) or the WHERE (environment, crowd, what your coach thinks). The athlete is simply convinced that the ball he’s about to hit is going to land on its mark, at the completion of this action.
Children learn to use their hands, not only to add balance and stability to their game, but to orientate themselves correctly to their target and commit to an intended shot. Sometimes you’ll see a child point with their free hand at the incoming ball or at the intended target. This is the commencement of learning ‘visualization techniques’ and ‘pre-shot routines’. It’s the foundation of consolidating (or developing) the courage required to ‘stay in the moment’ and to ‘make the play’ (your fight or flight theory if you will).
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In golf, consensus had it that one ‘kept their eyes on the ball’ through the impact position. In recent years, studying Tiger Woods has revealed a similar scenario to the one shown here of Nadal – that like ‘weight transfer’, the athlete’s attention transfers towards the intended target, shortly before impact with the ball. |
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In this picture, the shot Nadal has elected to play calls for a lower-half which is effectively locked out (sees the legs in a braced position). This creates the stable-base required for the upper body to generate power and direction in a concise way. It must be noted that this technique would be called upon for some shot-making only, it’s not standard play. |
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Note: His spine angle tilt is 90 degrees to his impact position (contact point), perfect for golf, incidently. Together with the position of his upper arms and their relationship to his torso, this means the large muscle groups of his torso are doing the bulk of the work and the little ones in his arms are coming along for the ride. The middle picture shows not only good connection but also good extension through to target, as for golf.
Transition within a singular swing motion or action occurs at the top of the back swing. It’s an exciting time because in a well balanced movement it’s fluid and means parts of the body are still winding up to reach the top of the backswing whilst other parts of the body have commenced their motion back to the ball.
Currently the more favoured use of the word 'transition' sees tennis media refer to court movement by the player and his decision making abilities to do so.
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Focused, primed and in-balance play! |
Lillian: In some pictures 'Sabine' looked at, Rafa was stretching so far to reach the ball (but had the speed to even get there) and she said, "Well what do you do, let it go past because you have lost your ‘connection’ and it’s no longer in your ‘hitting zone’? I don’t think so, just get your damn ‘zone’ over there, fast!"