Now, boxing. Then, ballet.

The University of Richmond basketball players' experimentation with boxing training comes about 50 years after Spiders coach Les Hooker brought ballet to his hoops crew.

"He thought it would increase our agility and speed," said Tom Booker, a UR player in the late'50s and early'60s. "Coach Hooker was famous for reading something and implementing it."

The female instructor gave the Spiders one lesson in 1958 or 1959. Booker's memory is fuzzy on the date. But the former three-year starter says he is fairly sure UR players were not more agile or faster after that one lesson.

- John O'Connor