It appears the concept of 'sen' has entered the realm of sports science. Today I
came
across this highly interesting article on Wired.com:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-06/ff_mindgames
It's about how top-athletes know what's going to happen, before actually
perceiving it.
Supernatural?
Hardly.
But as we in wado already know, it's hard to learn.

Igor A


Some tidbits from the article:

What separated the pros from everyone else was the ability to pull directional
information
out of the early stages of a swing and therefore to predict a split second
earlier where to
head. This fraction of time is game- changing. A serve going 120 miles per hour
takes
approximately a third of a second to travel the 60 feet from baseline to service
line. This
means that an expert, who doesn't have to wait until contact, has twice as long
to move,
plant his feet, and swing.

Reflex speed is not the key factor in returning a serve. "People have tested
casual players
and experts, and their reaction times are essentially the same," Farrow says.
The fact that
Roger Federer can drill back a 140-mile-per-hour serve is partly a matter of
muscle
control. But it's also about processing subtle visual cues to predict where the
ball will go
and get to the right spot.

Vint knows that the skill he calls "perceptual ability" develops, in part, to
help a physical
underdog against bigger, stronger players. If you can anticipate a throw, you
don't need to
be as fast. If you can intercept a pass by predicting its trajectory better than
your
opponent can, you don't need to be as big.

Inexperienced volleyball hitters tend to telegraph their hits, says Vint, who
has puzzled
over these issues with Farrow: "If they're doing a quick set in the middle, they
may stiffen
their arms. If it's a back-set, they'll arch their back before the ball
arrives."