The two-handed backhand volley is not an easy shot.  Most people hit it incorrectly because they use a regular backhand groundstroke to volley the ball.  This will work on high balls but is a disaster on low balls.  Most good players who hit a two-handed backhand groundstroke either hit their backhand volley with one hand or they try not to come to the net too often.  Nevertheless, the two-handed backhand volley can be hit fairly effectively. 

Before you can teach students the two-handed backhand volley you have to get them to hit the forehand volley correctly.  Once they are accustomed to that stroke and can put slice on their volleys, they are ready to learn the two-hander. 

I start by having them put their racquet in their left or non-dominant hand.  I gently toss them balls to volley with their left hand, telling them to use the same perfect technique they use when they are doing their forehand volley.  You want a slightly open-faced racquet, firm wrist, and a karate chop motion on the ball.  Speedballs are great for this part. 

Once they can hit a decent volley with their left hand, I have them add their right hand to the grip.  I again gently toss balls to them, telling them to continue focusing on their left arm doing all the work and just letting their right hand support the racquet and stabilize the stroke.

The biggest problem with the two-handed volley at this point is that the students are impatient and try to hit the ball too far in front of them (this is often a common error on the two-handed backhand groundstroke as well).  The ball needs to come inside a hitting area defined by the width of the hips.  The ball can be struck well anywhere in this zone, but if the player tries to contact the ball in front of this zone errors will result.  I tell my students that if they want to strike the ball out in front of them, then move their feet to the ball, not their arms and the racquet.

Feed the student several balls at different heights so she can experiment with how much she needs to open or close the racquet to have a good volley.  On low balls she will have to open the racquet and bend her knees in order to impart sufficient backspin to get the ball over the net and still keep it in the court.   On balls above her waist she can hit out more, though she still wants to hit most of these with some backspin.  On high, shoulder-level and above, balls she can hit flat or slightly down on the ball, depending upon how close she is to the net.  Watch that she doesn't try to apply the same swing on the higher balls to the lower ones.  The result will be many balls into the bottom of the net.

The photos below show the proper stroking technique on a two-handed backhand volley.  The lst photo shows the correct initial body turn, show the logo, and ready position.  The next photos show a high volley, a low volley, and an inbetween volley.  In each case, the racquet will swing from high to low to create some backspin to aid in controlling the ball.

I think the two-handed backhand volley requires a lot of work to make it an effective stroke.  It needs close supervision in its development to ensure that the player doesn't hit her volley with the same swing she uses for her regular two-handed backhand groundstroke. 

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