Word: balled
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...warm, sunny day in Southern California, and at the Vic Braden Tennis College in Coto de Caza, 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, a few dozen students are watching a most peculiar exhibition. At one end of a tennis court, a ball machine flings one ball after another across the net. Seated on a chair on the opposite side, a short, chubby man, racquet in hand, rises to meet each one, hitting it squarely with a looping forehand. Thwack. Thwack. The balls whiz back over the net, landing just inside the base line...
Victor Kenneth Braden, 60, has a point to make. "See what you can do when you bend your knees and then lift with your thighs as you hit the ball?" he asks his students. The imagery is vivid, but one woman remains dubious. "My knees don't bend that much," she says. "That's strange," Vic responds impishly. "Didn't I see you sitting in the restaurant last night? How did you get into that position? Did the waiter hit you in the back of the knees...
...where every year several thousand adults take three-to- five-day courses that cost $100 daily. It erupts regularly from the classroom during Braden's unique lectures, which combine show biz, science, humor and psychology. It rings out on the 17 courts and the 18 teaching lanes equipped with ball machines -- and in the four video rooms, where students guffaw as they view tapes of their own just completed drills. Even the pro shop is involved. It carriesT shirts bearing the slogan LAUGH...
Psychology is the softest of the sciences Braden uses in coaching. Physics and physiology also play important roles. His lectures are sprinkled with such terms as force vectors and parabolas, as he explains why he recommends certain strokes and movements. "The ball doesn't know if you are hitting forehand or backhand," he says, "or if you're wearing your lucky shorts. It only knows how the racquet meets it. You can't violate the physical laws because Mother Nature will get you every time...
...discover what really happens while an athlete is in action, and to use that knowledge to improve performance. An example: although Braden is a foremost advocate of top spin in tennis, he has proved, contrary to conventional wisdom, that tennis players who roll their racquets "over" the ball to impart top spin not only waste energy but also unnecessarily risk "tennis elbow." His high-speed film shows that the ball is in contact with the strings for only four milliseconds and is well on its way to the net before the player even begins rolling his racquet. "Anyway," says Braden...