It transpires that Bollettieri has not unearthed the next Maria Sharapova, but merely wants to share his enthusiasm that a mid-30s private client has finally cracked her forehand drives.Whatever admin Bollettieri does - planning coaching clinics, motivational talks, consulting with senior staff about the career paths of their latest crop of talent - it is mostly done standing He rarely sits still.Dinner is an exception He regularly eats at his local Italian. Umpteen NBA and NFL players regularly use the mental conditioning unit or the cavernous International Performance Institute gym on site.Later in the day, Bollettieri takes one-on-one coaching sessions and excites an IMG agent with a call to "come see this". "I got a new bike, it's tremendous!" he says, before taking it for a six-mile spin around the 192-acre IMG Academies campus that also includes centres of excellence for golf, football, basketball and baseball.Michelle Wie, golfing prodigy, is an alumnus, as is the teenage footballing sensation, Freddy Adu. The drill concludes and Vibert, sweating and shaking, wobbles away to take fluids "It's hard," he says, smiling as he catches his breath. "But it's good."When the session finishes at 10am, Bollettieri, 73, dressed in wraparound shades, shorts, T-shirt and a trademark perma-tan so ingrained that his skin is beyond leathery, hares off on his next mission.
Vibert is sent to the other, where for 15 minutes he is run ragged as booming smashes rain down and he tries to keep the ball in play. (He's never been good with names, not that Vibert, who's on a scholarship trial, minds.)Bollettieri selects two older boys, and directs them to one side of the court. "Good girl, good girl, excellent," he's screaming moments later when she gets it right.His attention then turns to Arthur Vibert, a 14-year-old from Lyon whose rangy physique and mop of dark hair make him reminiscent of a young Roger Federer "OK, Frenchie, time for a work out," yells Bollettieri. The Florida sun is barely up so he's using the inside courts, putting groups of teenagers, who started work at 6.15am, through their paces.
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"Hey! What's that crap? You don't need to hit crap like that," he yells at one 12-year-old girl who has misplaced a volley. It is 7am on a Tuesday and Nick Bollettieri has been awake for three hours and buzzing around his fiefdom - aka the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy - for two of them."We have to experience everything New Zealand rugby has to offer, to expose ourselves to the game here rather than hide ourselves away. "We accept that they have players missing, but it has already been stated down here that it is the duty of every red-blooded rugby player to strike a blow for New Zealand when they come up against us, so we'd be foolish not to expect a real match."It came some relief when, asked whether he felt the Lions had been placed at a disadvantage by being refereed by local officials in the pre-Test games, Jenkins struck a positive note."Our success here depends on us adapting to the environment," he said. If they do not, the word "help" will spring immediately to mind."We have to defend our reputation as Lions and defend it every single time we play," said Gareth Jenkins, the forwards coach for the midweek fixtures and one of the more openly passionate members of the back-room staff. The presence of Lome Fa'atau, Ma'a Nonu and Roy Kinikinilau gives them genuine potency in the back division, but the Lions will field something approaching a Test combination in that department and should cope.
