Master, The Net!?

 "Master, if it weren't for the net, I think I would be a very good player." said the young acolyte.

"Harrump," said the master and stifled the smallest of burbs.

"Think Grasshopper, if you don't have a net, then your feared opponents will not have one either.  The yin and yang of the world would be in disarray."

The master sipped his tea and nibbled a bit on a macaroon.  "Who's side does the net help, Young one?"

"Hmm, well if I am hitting the ball, I guess it is against me."

"The net is a like a sword with two edges, it cuts both ways.  Your answer is true, but not always.  A master can use the net to alter time and space and create a drop or hop shot at will," said the master.  His lips smiled with hidden knowledge, albeit coarse with macaroon crumbs.

"But for normal players, you are correct.  The net punishes the hitters and protects those who seek to return the next shot.  As soon as a shot comes over the net, then the forces switch, as have the roles of the players.  The ebb and flow of the point, as you learned in your early lessons," said the master.

"You must embrace this relationship," the master continued, with another slurp of rapidly cooling tea.  "How can you help the net protect you and your partner?"

"Hmm, I don't understand that question Master, how can I help an object?"

"Think geometry, Grasshopper, the closer the ball is to the net, the less angle space the hitter has.  Of course as the ball approaches the net the available angle space will diminish to nothing.  Do you not remember the graceful curve of the sine wave, as the length of adjacent leg of the triangle approaches that of the hypotenuse, the angle is forced to 1, an angle of 90 degrees or, in your rudimentary view straight up, creating, as a non-master might say, 'a challenging shot.'  Not impossible, mind you for a master.  But we were talking of you and ordinary players.  So, yes, if you can hit your ball close to the net it is protective in nature as a dense woods protects from the wind and rain.  What else is protected by the net?" asked the master.

"If I envision it correctly, the closer the opponent is to the net, the more my feet are protected from attack!"

"Yes, quite so.  Your upper body is more of a target, so you will of course carry your paddle higher as the ball is low or close to the net.  Your feet can only be hit with a soft drooping shot.  Think of a noodle in hot broth too long.  Such a shot can't be moving rapidly, so even if your paddle is held high, you will have time to respond.  Is that all young one?"

"I think so Master.  I should seek to use the net to help my side and avoid its energy when it opposes me."

"Yes, exactly.  Hmm, I seem to be out of macaroons and this tea is cold.  Would you be so kind?"

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Many years ago I created a mnemonic aid to remember the definitions of the sine, tangent, and cos functions.  It is strange  how often that has been useful over the years since 1968.  I have a horror story about the 23.3 degree latitudes of the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, too.  That, sadly, has been of little value.  It's all my teacher's, Miss Zur's, fault who said in 5th grade while interrupting my very precise oral report, "You'll never remember that.  Use 20 degrees."  Of course that's a bad case of rounding; she might not have been hired for her math skills. It is strange, as the master might say, what stays in a man's mind for decades.