Technique Tuesday: TACo

A delicious way to serve

Today we’ll talk about a serving concept illustrated by 2 serves from the same player. First, ,this one:

Now take a look at this one:

This player is an excellent server with consistent, repeatable technique. So there isn’t a lot of difference between the two. But what do you notice?

I notice the TACo. What the heck is that?

Most of the time, when we hit float serves, we want to create a line going from where we start the approach to where we want the serve to end up.

I’ve drawn this with a server aiming straight down the line from zone 5 to deep 1, but this can apply anywhere- line serves, cross serves, etc. It’s easier to visualize a straight-on line serve, so we’ll start with that.

Okay, so you’ve drawn this imaginary line in your head, now we want the:

Toss
Approach
Contact

To all be on that line.

If you toss off-line, you’re going to veer off that line and have to correct with your hand. Can you do it? Sure. It’s just less consistent.

If your approach isn’t straight, you have to correct with your hand. Again, can be done but it’s less consistent.

And obviously if your hand tilts on contact or you don’t strike the centerline of the ball, you can’t serve down the line.

So watch the clips again, and look at the similarities but also the subtle differences in the TossApproachCOntact between the 2 serves. (Also: ignore the fact that in the first clip she’s trying to drop the serve short and in the second she’s aiming for the end line… the depth doesn’t really matter, it’s about the line of the serve.)

What do you see?

In the first clip, she ever so subtly brings the ball “off her line” to the left and her contact is slightly compromised. In the second clip, she’s about as straight as you can be down that line and it’s hard to hit a float serve much better than that. That second ball is going about as true down the line as you can. And she’s setting up on the outside shoulder of that passer which is a really difficult ball to pass.

Implementation