STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Former Wimbledon Champion Mats Wilander arched his back as he brought back his racket before sending a tennis serve sizzling into the opposite court of the new Gravity Fitness and Tennis facility.
Wood River High School tennis standout Jack Keating met the serve squarely, slamming it back Wilander’s way. Wilander returned Keating’s shot, dumping the neon green ball in front of him.
The two continued to try to place the ball just beyond the reach of the other until finally, Keating tipped a ball over the net just beyond Wilander’s grasp. Wilander grinned—the face of the generation had made a statement in the new facility where he hopes to hone the skills of a new generation of tennis stars.
Dozens of adults and children flocked to the new Hailey fitness and tennis facility built by Wilander and Oliver Whitcomb on Saturday, celebrating the new life the two had brought to the former Copper Ranch Health Club that Whitcomb noted had sat vacant for the past 13 years.
“This is a big city gym in a small town,” said Darden Poling, Gravity’s general manager.
Poling, who moved to the Sun Valley area from Portland, Ore., was like a kid in a candy store as he showed off the different things that could be done in Gravity’s 3,500-square-foot functional gym, which he said is larger than any he’s ever seen.
He bounced wall balls off targets. Then he performed kettlebell swings, lifting the kettleball up to eye level before bringing it down and swing it between his legs.
He picked up 2-inch thick ropes that stretched across the gym and began waving them up and down and sideways, as he worked his arms, back, chest, leg and core.
Within a minute, he was out of breath, even his well-tuned cardio stretched to the max.
These and other moves are among the exercises used in Tribe Team Training, a functional training workout that originated in New Zealand and has spread across the world in the past few years.
It consists of three six-week programs: TribeFIT, a high-intensity strength and endurance conditioning program; TribeCORE designed to tone and strengthen muscles around the pelvis, hips, back and abdomen. And TribeLIFE, a low-impact functional exercise workout that’s particularly good for seniors or those recovering from injuries.
The group taking part becomes a tribe that high fives one another and support each one as those might in a team or even an Army squadron, said Poling.
“When people are going through the same workout, they’re going to get tight,” said Poling. “The workout is cool in that it uses exercises I’ve never heard of—like the primal roll.”
Already a TribeFIT has formed. Gravity is organizing a TribeLIFE that avoids gravity-related workouts that could be hard on joints. And it plans to launch a TribeKIDS in a few months.
“The workout enhances your function, whether you’re working around the house or snowboarding,” he said. “Even when you reach for something, you’re doing something that can be made easier by working out. You should be able to do everything you did when you were five.”
Scott Walker has already gjoined the gym, in part to rehabilitate his shouders which have undergone total shoulder replacement due to osteoarthritis.
“It’s a nice place,” he said. “The facility is very nice, well appointed, has what I need for trying to regain my muscle strength.”
While Poling showed off the functional gym, Oliver Whitcomb, who came from Aspen in 1996 to establish Sawtooth Martial Arts, held out black belts in traditional Korean Karate, also known as Soo Bahk Do, to three youngsters in one of two martial arts studios.
“You’re the 51,189th person in the world to receive your Soo Bahk Do certificate,” he told one boy. “That’s your number and no one can take it away from you.”
Martial arts training, teaches things like courage, concentration, endurance, honesty and humility and how to control your power, Whitcomb said.
“Black is not the end,” he told those watching the ceremony. “If I had quit when I got my black belt, it would have been a tragedy, as I’ve been training 39 years now.”
In January Gravity plans to add Aerial Fitness classes where participants use a soft hammock hanging from the ceiling to perform exercises while using gravity to lengthen, strengthen and extend muscles to align joints and decompress the spine.
Other classes include Body Pump, a workout using weights that done to music; YOGA4ATHLETES; an integrated breath and movement class; Body Fusion, a blend of yoga, Pilates and cardio, and Melt Method, which is designed to combat chronic paint and the effects of aging.
Scott Walker has already joined the gym to rehabilitate his shoulders following total shoulder replacement due to osteoarthritis.
“It’s a nice place,” he said. “The facility is very nice, well appointed. And it, has what I need for trying to regain my muscle strength.”
Gravity Fitness and Tennis is located at 1970 Woodside Blvd. in Hailey. Basic gym memberships start at $29.95 a month. For information, call 208-788-7669.