In this exclusive look into the Starvie Pro Academy located at Euroindoor Madrid, legendary player turned elite coach Maxi Grabiel puts an amateur player through a rigorous professional training routine. The session centers on diagnosing critical structural blockages in the amateur's overhead game, specifically the bandeja. Grabiel highlights how subconscious bad habits, such as dropping the elbow and choking body rotation by crossing the non-dominant arm, ruin ball depth. By introducing circular body mechanics and deliberate jump adjustments, Grabiel provides a complete blueprint to transform a rigid arm-driven overhead into a fluid, highly precise weapon.
The masterclass kicks off with a tour of the academy's morning routine, which caters heavily to top-tier professional Padel players. While inspecting the training courts, Coach Maxi Grabiel pinpoints immediate technical flaws in the amateur's baseline bandeja during a warmup sequence. The player routinely drops his hitting elbow too low and makes the critical mistake of wrapping his left arm around his own chest during the swing. Grabiel explains that this self-hugging motion completely blocks the upper body, making a complete torso rotation impossible. To fix this, a player must actively free and throw the left arm backward during the swing, allowing the right shoulder to rotate completely forward in the direction of the target.
This arm separation completely changes the shape of the swing path, moving it away from a dangerous vertical chop. Hitting purely with the arm forces an aggressive top-to-bottom slice that makes the ball bounce too early and fall short, giving opponents an easy opportunity to counter-attack at the net. Instead, by integrating the arm, shoulders, and hips into a single unit, the swing path becomes beautifully circular and linear. This circular rotation pushes the ball forward with clean penetration and depth rather than driving it straight down into the floor. Grabiel emphasizes that the bandeja is never a shot meant for pure, overwhelming power. It is an ultra-precise tool designed to keep the ball low and force opponents into awkward defensive postures, buying the attacking team enough time to securely hold the net.
The lesson then focuses on footwork and spatial adjustments when dealing with deep or tricky lobs. Amateur players often struggle to establish proper spacing, causing them to lose balance or hit while falling backward. Grabiel explains that the jump is an essential tool to actively regulate distance from the ball. If a lob falls short, a player shouldn't rush blindly; instead, they should gather themselves, jump, open their hips, and use the aerial phase to correct their distance before landing cleanly on their feet. When a ball drifts wide to the right, players must execute a wide lateral step to open the hips immediately. This open-stance jump prevents the body from locking up and allows a beautifully fluid weight transfer. The lesson concludes with live match play and a reminder that proper body rotation must happen early in the setup phase because if a player fails to coil their shoulders and hips before the swing, it is physically impossible to generate fluid racket speed.
Perfecting the bandeja depends entirely on uncoiling the body as a single synchronized unit rather than relying on raw arm strength. By raising the hitting elbow, throwing the non-dominant arm back to clear the shoulders, and utilizing a regulated jump to adjust spacing, players achieve optimal ball depth. Maxi Grabiel demonstrates that moving from a vertical chop to a fluid circular path allows amateur players to maintain relentless pressure and control the net with total confidence.