Tag: shooting

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Sports Wearables

You got game with Hoop Tracker wearable training system

As key as making consistent shots are in basketball, for most players it isn’t the easiest thing to practice. Sure, players can shoot around from all over the court and do so for hours, but that gets old really quickly. And even if someone has the motivation to put the practice in, there’s no way to really track sessions.

Hoop Tracker combines the training regimen for basketball players with technology to provide in-depth statistics like shooting percentages and locations, for example. A shot detector magnetically mounted to the inside rim of a basketball hoop works alongside a downloadable app for Pebble, Android Wear, Apple Watch, and popular smartphones. All of these stats can be uploaded for review to track strengths and weaknesses over time, or to be shared on social media.

To keep motivation up, training programs and games like Score 100 and Three Point contest have been incorporated, and an open API will ensure a steady stream of new ones. A coach mode allows the simultaneous tracking of up to 15 players. Basketball players are getting a lot of love with training products like this and the Shoot Natural Glove, so in combination they should all be a positive influence on their game. A donation of $50,000 gets Hoop Tracker out of the door and onto the court for a $39 early bird backing.

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Sports

Jump Shot Pro puts some thunder in your jumper

Jump Shot ProCoaching only gets basketball players so far. At some point, they won’t know what a good shot feels like until they experience it for themselves. In the spirit of basketball shot trainers such as the Shoot Natural Glove, the Jump Shot Pro is a worn constraint that people wear to allow them to perfect their jump shot. This sleeve is worn on the shooting arm and helps to spring load the forearm to shoot the ball with more power. One Pro costs backers $80 with an estimated delivery date of August 2014. The Jump Shot Pro sleeve has a $50,000 Indiegogo goal over a 60-day campaign.

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Sports

Shoot Natural Glove helps make basketball players straight shooters

The Premise. Perfecting the one-handed shot in basketball is essential to honing a player’s game. It’s difficult to learn this shot, however, and most make the mistake of using two hands which can mess up the accuracy of the shot.

The Product. The Shoot Natural Glove is a basketball shooting training tool that allows players to feel what it’s like to shoot a proper one-handed basket. It is simply a glove that shapes the hand in the correct way for a one-handed shot by eliminating “thumbing”, one of the biggest problems in basketball shooting according to the campaign. The glove is black, fingerless, reversible and keeps the thumb rigid with a piece of built-in plastic.

The Pitch. Shot in a gym and accompanied by a number of demos as well as a cameo by a former NBA pro, the video for the Natural Glove tells the story of how the creator came inspired to create the glove. After breaking his thumb and ignoring doctors’ orders about staying off the court, he discovered that his cast helped his game. It was this incident that gave him the idea for his product. This shooting aid hopes to raise a relatively modest $5,000 in a 30-day run on Kickstarter.

The Perks. One Shoot Glove goes for $30 on Kickstarter with an estimated delivery date of June 2014. Reward tiers go up to $250. A stretch goal of $15,000 has been set to allow for more options for glove colors in the future.

The Potential. Other products don’t seem to offer the flexibility that the Shoot Natural Glove does. For instance, the J-Glove isn’t ambidextrous like the Natural Glove is and can only be bought either for the left side or right side. The Shotloc aid is quite rigid and doesn’t really teach the player what a good shot feels like, but only really works when worn with few lasting effects. It seems that the Shoot Natural Glove is one of the few out there that focuses on the guide hand alone, teaches muscle memory and doesn’t constrict the hand like other aids do. In addition, the price isn’t bad either, especially for a glove that fits onto both the left and right hands.