All across the world, soccer (or football as nearly every other country calls it) is a uniting sport that allows countries, cultures, and continents to meet and play together on one even playing field. Professionals train day in and day out to get their plays and kicks just right. And even if you’re not a pro, children and adults all across the world recreationally play soccer simply because it’s fun, a good workout, and promotes good sportsmanship. But let’s face it, we all have a competitive streak running through us that encourages us to perfect our moves so that we can be amazing out on the field. So what do we do to hone in on making our soccer kicks absolutely amazing? Well, Soccer Sidekick has the answer.
Soccer Sidekick is a one-of-a-kind individual training system that helps you perfect your moves without the help of anyone else. As its website describes, “Soccer Sidekick is a training ball that spins freely on an adjustable elastic cord and allows you to train game-like passing and receiving with every part of your body by yourself. By adjusting the setting of the cord the ball returns to a different part of your body when you kick it…and it actually feels like a real pass from a teammate.” So what do you have to lose? Nothing except maybe a game against yourself! With such an accessible and easily useable product, Soccer Sidekick provides its users with a unique experience likely to help improve coordination, kicking, and passing skills.
So what inspired Soccer Sidekick in the first place? Well, Ryan Maina, the founder of Soccer Sidekick was a professional soccer player in Kenya. After seeing children practice with soccer balls made out of plastic bags and rubber, Maina set forth to create a game like practice tool that would be helpful to those trying to get the real feel while practicing on their own. His idea took of running (pun intended) because since February of 2015, Soccer Sidekick has sold over 4,600 products, which is quite an impressive victory for such a short period of time!
Compared to competitors, Soccer Sidekick offers game like training that is incomparable to others. By adjusting the string to different color settings, players can get a realistic pass or shot that can come towards their head, chest, knees, feet, or hands. Seems like the real deal, doesn’t it? And stay tuned because Soccer Sidekick will be kicking you some awesome new products soon!
Soccer Sidekick may be a newbie to the startup world but they’ve offered some great advice to other startups. For example, they suggest that “in the early stages of a start-up it’s so important to test your assumptions on your customers and make iterations or pivots when necessary. If the business plan is set in stone from day one, the company won’t be as likely to discover signals in the market and adjust accordingly.” And we couldn’t agree more!
Think you’d give Soccer Sidekick a try? Tweet @StarterNoise to let us know!
Katherine is a newbie to Denver. She recently completed her Masters in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of San Diego. When she isn’t trying to save the world, Katherine is all about trying any and all delicious foods, hitting up the beach but not actually swimming (deathly afraid of sharks), and taking as many hikes as humanly possible.