After many years of participating in various sports I became involved in the coaching side, taking with me a wealth of knowledge and experience. Always looking to improve and develop training methods in the various sports I identified a need for a device that would enhance motor and plyometric skills, timing and focus. As a result of scanning the markets for such a device I was left somewhat disappointed that I could not locate anything of this nature. In frustration I set about designing my own ball skills training device. After long periods of trials and enhancements I finally arrived at a prototype that met the needs across a variety of ball sports within clubs, schools and universities. The feedback, including from special needs groups, was more than positive. It was then that I took the opportunity to enter the Invest Northern Ireland sponsored competition for budding entrepreneurs who were invited to submit new and innovative inventions. As a result of my invention I was successful in achieving the prestigous SMART award. This led to a successful bid for funding from Invest Northern Ireland, which enabled me to work alongside selected engineers and other relevant organisations to further develop my prototype and to take it to production stage. |