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Shoot and Star Rebounder

Breakthrough:
A basketball rebounding device that lets players practice on their own without having to run round the court retrieving balls.

Inventor:
Glenn Hudson, United States

Financial reward:
$1 million +

The Story:

Glenn Hudson is a huge basketball fan, and back in the day at high school in the 1970s he was a pretty mean player too. Key to his success was practice, practice, practice and continually shooting hoops to sharpen up his skills.

Years later that experience has served him well with an innovation that allows a lone basketball player to shoot hoops from anywhere in the court and have the ball returned to wherever the player was throwing from.

Hot Shot

The Shoot and Star Rebounder is an ingenious and simple device. It consists of a long net that attaches to the backboard at one end, and to two aluminum poles at the other. The net can be extended for long shots or shortened for those short jumpers. And every shot whether made or missed comes back to you, which means that a player can concentrate on shooting rather than wasting time chasing after the ball.

Hudson’s basketball innovation was success second time round. Previously he had invented a multi-sport backstop that would provide golfers, football players and enthusiasts from many other sports a hassle-free way of practicing on their own. He found a company to manufacture it, and though they kept telling him what a great invention it was there were endless delays.

Eventually they informed him that an overseas engineer had encountered some engineering problems and they weren’t going to manufacture it. At this time Hudson did not have the energy or the means to pursue it any further.

Then early one morning he woke up with the idea for his new invention, and this time he was determined to maintain control over the whole process.

Research and Development

First he hit the Internet to search for similar products which fortunately for him drew a blank. Although he found basketball retrieval systems many retailed for thousands of dollars; there was nothing like the Shoot and Star Rebounder which is low cost (approximately $200). Hudson also used search engines to find everything he needed from suppliers to manufacturers, and components now come in from companies in the United States and various other countries.

He formed his own company Sporting Advantage Inc., and he continued to test the device until he was satisfied.

The inventor also created a website to market and promote the practice aid and he left his job to work full-time on it. Sales were slow initially but he was resolute that it was only going to be available for purchase off the Internet. He believed he could efficiently sell the rebounder without giving away money to middlemen.

Slam Dunk

Hudson started to make appearances on local TV as he toured the country promoting his product. Eventually sales picked up as word of mouth spread. Today the Shoot and Star Rebounder is being shipped out to customers all over the United States and units have also been sold in Canada and Australia.

by Paul Arnold

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