Katchup Ball Skills.. Winner of SMART award 2008
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 achieve maximum aerial potential in athletes and develop the fundamental plyometric and key skills in adults and children. 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. The feedback, including from Tyrone’s senior county trainer Fergal McCann, 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.
