Shadowing Practice: How to Hit Overheads | Full Coaching Session ft. Nick Wade - Learn English Speaking with Video

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So if you just started playing pickleball

and you don't have a tennis background you might feel like the most frustrating thing in pickleball is getting lobbed

and completely whiffing your overhead smash.

Well today we're going to try and change that.

I don't have a tennis background either so I've been practicing tons of overhead smashes with my ball machine.

This has been super helpful but I felt like I was still doing something very differently than the pros.

In this video I asked an ex -tennis player to teach me how to hit overheads like he would in tennis.

By the end of this video hopefully we'll be able to do something like this.

Special thank you to Topspin Pro for sponsoring this channel and making this video possible.

All right y 'all today we're making a very important video you've all been here

and that is how to punish lobs yes we all hate lobbers

myself included i so for me

because i didn't come with a tennis background my overheads are boo -boo it's probably i don't tell anyone this

because i don't want people to start lobbing me

but you hit a lob on me i am probably gonna mess

that up nick on the other hand i mean i'll let you kind to talk about your lobs

but um nick is super good with overheads like you try to lob him

yeah it's not it's not coming back

so we're gonna use the titan ball machine to feed us

some lobs nick is gonna coach me through how to hit better overheads

when someone lobs me um

so i'm really excited for this drill um on the machine we have it on the overhead drill

so if you have one of these um just select overhead

and we're gonna run through this together yeah we'll be over there let's set this up sweet okay

so on the app on the overhead app you could see where it tells you to put the ball machine

so uh it's telling me to put the ball machine on the baseline tee that was better

okay so watch another one of mine yeah

it's all about timing yeah i'm just waiting with it loaded yeah

and then as soon as i go i release okay

that's it go again load it's a little bit better load

you take all of these i should take those

i'm not gonna hit any of these am i hitting it early

or something yeah your time is just off right now

so do i need to hit earlier or later let me have a look earlier hit earlier yeah

oh yes snap yeah earlier there you go earlier yeah hit earlier load and hit early got it

yeah there you go you can hear the snap yeah

there you go wait it's a lot earlier than you think that was awkward yeah um nice all right you go

ah yeah so load load and then transfer and hit early it's early yeah

because it takes time to swing uh -huh

so you have to swing a little bit before dude yours sounds

so different oh my god it sounds crisp

i think the cops are coming i think gunshots are firing over here i'm gonna pause it real quick

so nick could kind of do a deep dive in terms of technique yeah for sure

i'll replay some of this footage for you guys in slow motion of nick

you don't want to see my slow -mo

but maybe i'll do a side by side

but i want nick to kind of just nerd out

and kind of walk me

and walk you guys through yeah the exact technique of what he saw me yeah

because i'm sure you know a little bit yeah

so i mean what you were kind of doing was you were kind of just sitting there

and like falling off of it you weren't transferring the weight anywhere um

so basically what we want to do is as soon as we see the ball go up

we want to into what's called trophy position trophy position

so trophy position is we're just going to tuck this right arm

and then we're going to have our left arm pointing at the ball

and we're going to turn sideways straight away yeah

so this is trophy position right here okay and then

when we're in this we'll just carry on pointing at the ball wherever it is the whole time yeah

and we'll either move backwards

or forwards for where it's going to be in our strike zone uh -huh

and then we know that we can then load onto

that back leg and then spring up and transfer our weight onto

that left leg there oh okay

so you just had a little bit lack of transfer

but once you get

that down you know you're pointing at the ball correctly you got it in the right zone you're shuffling backwards,

and then when you're in the position, load onto that leg

and transfer through and also another thing as well

that i saw was you were hitting a bit late

so all you had to do a quick fix was just swing a bit earlier yeah

and you could just tell even just by the sound how much harder

you were hitting it there can i hit a couple like

shadow ones for you to kind of show you yeah that's right i think the tip

that helped me a lot was the swinging earlier earlier yeah

because i wasn't sure i'm like loading i'm focusing on the loading

and i'm like hitting the ball here so i'm shanking it upwards but load there goes the fun

that's why i don't play with my phone so like here loading

and then swing early yeah

and what you're doing as well is you're turning your hips very fast

so you're going like this i want it to be more of a load

and then on to that other leg

so you're kind of just like you're just turning

i'm doing a rotation yes i want it to be more of a load and transfer onto that other foot okay

so load transfer but you did a little hop there okay so you did like a little bunny hop

but i want you to just load it's nice

and simple you just keep it simple it's good

so load onto the other foot okay load no

so i want you to once you land i want you to finish like this on my left foot

and just hold the balance there on your left foot okay i was trying to load

and hop to my right foot yeah load on my right foot transferred to my wait hold on

but don't bring

that right foot back through yet i just want

you to yes just hold it on there oh it's just a rocking yes exactly okay

so it's uh it's load yes exactly because you're just transferring

that weight load there you go oh i see yeah

so it's here and there

so you should be able to just be balanced there after the swing yes

but instead of like a lunge forwards uh -huh

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you can literally be on the same spot i don't even have to move oh really like

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if you look at me yeah i'm not moving forwards like you are i'm stationary um

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but i'm just transferring the weight onto the other leg yes

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there you go so just transfer all of it to that other leg

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load is this like up uh yeah so it's here oh

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and then go up onto the other one

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so rather than go forwards go up and then onto

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that other leg okay

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so ultra simplifying it explaining it like i'm five is here trophy stance rock yeah

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there's just kind of this yes

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and as soon as your paddle drops you kind of get

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that natural motion yeah but the mechanic of it is really just

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all it is is

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so you're obviously straight on at the kitchen turn sideways trophy

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position load on the back leg transfer weight to the front leg that's all it is okay let's try

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that let's turn this bad boy up okay so let's run

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that back and now i'm going to implement nick's tips

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and i'll put my phone here um nick let's do this as like a double drill okay

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so we'll play this like we're playing a real person whoa that's way better yes okay that's

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just transfer that transfer transfer transfer wow

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and you can see like sometimes i'm not even hopping yeah

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but i'm still transferring my weight yeah like just from back to front

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so i want you're hitting a lot of them flat on uh -huh oh

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we need to get sideways more sideways oh yeah go sideways it's gonna feel awkward at first uh -huh

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but look sideways there you go oh sideways there you go oh yeah baby and get that wrist snap as well yeah

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you oh there we go i uh yeah that's a shot

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so you want to feel like your arms a little loose as well uh -huh um

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so you can get wrist lag on the smash as well

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there you go i feel like it's really snappy yeah okay go oh god no go sideways more sideways

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and swing early go sideways sideways you go

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good i think i my mind gets all jangled up

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when i go sideways yeah you look like you're turning on contact as well

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you're still hitting it face on i want you to hit it when you're sideways yeah stay sideways stay sideways yeah

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interesting stay sideways uh -huh i mean

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if you can hit it straight on that's probably a little bit more advanced

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but you need to go sideways first yeah you're turning you're opening up oh

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so what you're doing is this and you're turning yeah if you watch this next one

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i'm sideways oh the whole time i just realized something let me pause this

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because i just realized when you say sideways i'm looking at your shoulders yeah

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and you keep saying sideways but when i see you you're doing here

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and here yeah and i think i think you're hitting here

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because i'm looking at your shoulders

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but your hips yes you're talking about your hips stay sideways

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but your core goes i mean your upper body you're here

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and then you do turn through with the top what you're

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doing is you're opening your hips as you're swinging through

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because i'm watching you and i see you do this yeah

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and in my mind i saw you do this yeah

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but you're saying stay sideways with your hips but you're finishing twisted yeah

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so you can finish through but look my hips are still pretty much closed ah okay

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so i'm here and then i'm there whereas what you're doing is you go in here

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so you're like early early releasing your hips i didn't realize the hip part okay let me let's try

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that again try to keep your hips a little bit

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i'm gonna keep my hips uh more close like this facing me i'm doing this yeah

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so hips facing nick yeah right so i'm here

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and then turn I'm coming

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and then I turn that's it that's a precision okay

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so stay sideways sideways yes oh that's

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so weird here we go awkward

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it's hard to do on the move yeah same again super awkward still can i see you do it yeah sure

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i don't even need to move because i've got

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so much weight transfer

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and you look like you're quite

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you look like you're like really stiff on your arm yeah

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i want you to look how loose i am ready

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so i want you to be more loose like a noodle like your your wrist should feel really loose yeah

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so then you can get that lag so kind of loosen up your wrist a little bit

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that was you got more on that yeah it's not the right

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so it's all about timing on contact

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you look really rigid yeah like you look like you're trying to like kind of like muscle it yeah

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when it's not muscle it's just like fluid noodley technique noodley technique yeah

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it's just like like just to do some shadows where you're just going like this

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and your wrist feels really loose yeah so look it's just really loose

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if you look at my wrist yeah good so it's just this motion show me

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yeah and what you're doing as well on your take back is you're going here

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and then through uh -huh just bring it back here more and then have it here waiting and then go

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yeah that's better so i bring it more here rather than here

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when you i don't uh

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when you say here can you like put words to where yeah

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so shoulder what you're doing is you're bringing

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it kind of in an upward arc this way into this trophy position

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i want you to do more like underneath okay what's underneath what

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so you're going this way okay i want you to go more here okay coming from

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because you're creating a loop where you can gather oh like this way yes oh

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so not up and down yeah but you're saying down

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and then and up yeah because

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if you're there you go i've never heard want to say

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that before that one so not up and then down

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but down more like this and then up yeah and then

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because this is where you gain the power right here in this motion here it's where you go here yeah

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and then you let that wrist lag and then you come back through because

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if you go here yeah you have to muscle

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it now you have to muscle that's what i always felt it's not muscle it's just looseness

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which you gain you get all the power from this motion here oh

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so it's like you're making a circle kind of yeah like instead of drawing like a half crescent

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and going back this way you're going more

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you're saying going like maybe like a maybe like a half circle where it's like back yeah

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and then over yeah

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because honestly like on some of them it just should feel like it's more open here

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and then you gather here into the trophy position oh yeah yeah

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and it should feel looser yeah yeah so just

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that feels way looser yeah that's why i couldn't i'm like i feel loose but i still don't

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i'm not executing if you watch

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so i'm basically drawing smiley face with my arms okay like here

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so look here that's a smiley face right there

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and then i'm getting it into the trophy position there

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and i'm storing up energy basically and then i'm just releasing through okay

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so it should be here here get in the trophy position

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then go through okay i'll just look let me see smiley face

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but you're kind of like going like this i want you to be more open like this okay

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so not smiley face this way but smiley face yeah this way so watch my arm here ready so i'm here

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i'm opening it this might sound weird

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but can you do it for me in my arms yeah like

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when i learn stuff yeah i'm a very visual

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and feel okay okay sideways sideways so it's content open oh

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and then trophy position yeah and then through okay

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so open it up first and then store that energy

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and then release okay so we have a take back there where we're opening storing

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that energy story and then we're letting it lag and go through

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so watch this motion here ready

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so you're here rock it back there okay yes that's it

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so smooth back get it in that trophy position through okay oh

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so basically three part sequence yeah so sideways smooth back

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when we're up here second part sequence trophy position load on

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that back leg yeah third part is transfer through and get

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that wrist snap yeah i mean you know you won't get it straight away um

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but with some practice you can definitely get

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it yeah we'll play a few more clips of nick hitting his overheads

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but this is something

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that i will need to put some work into it i think a lot of us do like

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if you don't come from tennis this is something we actively have to practice yeah um

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but still worth it because i mean overheads man yeah i shank

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so many of those because getting wrist lag doesn't just happen straight away

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or as quick as other shots you know you have to develop

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that yeah um so you know this one will definitely take a few more repetitions yeah definitely

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but uh guys i hope you enjoyed that um thanks to nick for giving

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that really in -depth overhead it's really this is like really probably elementary stuff for tennis players

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but for pickleball there's like you know a lot of us don't come from

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that but yeah if you enjoyed

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that give this guy a like subscribe on his channels um

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and then we'll come out with more stuff for you guys that's right

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All right, see you guys next time.

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See ya.

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337 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Hit Overheads”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sideways, load, transfer, trophy, position. This video has 242 sentences and 2959 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:06. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
sideways adverb	/ˈsaɪdweɪz/	With a side to the front.
trophy noun	/ˈtɹoʊfi/	An object, usually in the form of a statuette, cup, or shield, awarded for success in a competition or to mark a special achievement.
overhead noun	/ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/	The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
hip noun	/hɪp/	The outward-projecting parts of the pelvis and top of the femur and the overlying tissue.
loose adjective	/lus/	Not fixed in place tightly or firmly.
wrist noun	/ɹɪst/	The complex joint between forearm bones, carpus, and metacarpals where the hand is attached to the arm; the carpus in a narrow sense.
swing verb	/ˈswɪŋ/	To rotate about an off-centre fixed point.
tennis noun	/ˈtɛnɪs/	A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
technique noun	/tɛkˈniːk/	The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
awkward adjective	/ˈɔk.wɚd/	Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.
snap verb	/snæp/	To fracture or break apart suddenly.
drill noun	/dɹɪl/	A tool or machine used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.
smash verb	/smæʃ/	To break (something brittle) violently.
shadow noun	/ˈʃædəʊ̯/	A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come back verb	To return to a place.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
go up verb	To move upwards.
take back verb	To retract or withdraw (an earlier statement).
come out with verb	To say (something) unexpectedly.
go back verb	To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
open up verb	To open.
run through verb	To summarise briefly.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been · i've never heard
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	was still doing · weren't transferring · were hitting
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should take · should be · should feel
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	started playing · start lobbing · keep saying

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 138 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: smooth /smuːð/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: smash /smæʃ/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, rotation /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/, precision /pɹɪˈsɪʒ.ən/, punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: elementary /ˌɛləˈmɛntəɹi/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, stationary /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sideways, trophy, overhead.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How to Hit Overheads | Full Coaching Session ft. Nick Wade - Learn English Speaking with Video

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