Boomer is tennis innovator

A strange and sarcastic amplified voice came from the Eastern Arizona College’s tennis court on Friday afternoon.  “Are you sure you’ve had enough?”  There was a man and a machine.

Then the amplified voice came on again, “End of game.”  This had to be investigated.

At that moment, a flurry of consecutive tennis balls came flying out of a machine positioned at the center of the far end of the court.  Something was amiss here.  Was it gremlins in the machine?

“I am out of balls,” boomed Boomer.  This was getting weird.

There was a man, Robert Allen Gibson from Cary, N.C.,  pushing around another contraption that resembled a lawn mower without the motor that was scooping up the balls. He was in the Gila Valley for the holidays to visit with family, mother-in-law Marie Rhodes who teaches at Solomon school, and to put on a tennis clinic for family, friends or whoever wanted to join in.

Meanwhile, Boomer sat in its center position at the far end of the court.

Boomer, he said, is the most advance tennis ball machine of its kind  – an advanced tennis robotic ball machine.  The company, Do It Right Sports, has not produced another one yet.  According to Gibson there are seven currently being constructed for distribution on the Eastern Seaboard.

Gibson got involved two years ago with David Jordan, who began inventing Boomer the concept machine 14 years ago.  Boomer is available on the market, but the Gila Valley got one of the first looks at this new vision in the tennis world.

“Our job is to teach and encourage tennis players at any age or play level,” Gibson said.

It can play any level of pro tennis and has yet to be beaten on the 7.0 or “international” level.  It plays complete games of tennis, training sessions for all levels and gives a complete data-spread breakdown of its opponents’ swing, speed, ball placement and more.

Analytics is the key to Boomer, aside from its humorous retorts. With its built-in camera, it records and produces an analysis and a report for its opponent, coach or trainer to look at and gain valuable insight to a player’s game.

“This right here is one-of-a-kind and the most advanced tennis analytic machine ever built,” Gibson said.

On Friday it was going through a training session with Cole and Zach Wright and Hunter Jarvis.  Boomer was playing with all three kids at once and identifying each individual and talking back to them.

“It’s the only machine that can do what a tennis trainer can,” Gibson said.  “A player can run a game and then take the spreadsheet to a coach and have a complete breakdown, right down to what shot sequence you should be using,” Gibson said.

According to Gibson, the complete machine with analytics program will cost $20,000 when available.

There will be one more session available to Gila Valley residents Jan. 2-4, and those interested can contact Gibson at 919-522-9463 More information is available  at  www.doitrightsports.com.