Necessity is the mother of invention.

Behnam Mazloompour had a problem. His soccer playing son needed to practice his passion, but on non-game days, or practice sessions, he had no one to play with. And since Mazloompour had two ruptured disks in his back, he could be of little help.

Or so he originally thought.        

Out of the need for his son to have a constant playmate came a soccer companion for all of us. The Soccer Wave prototype was designed in Behnam’s garage, but now serves to entertain and train youth players for the US to overseas.

Designed in a curvature shape of a wave, it allows a player to work on their striking while reacting to a return pass.

“It’s a very versatile product,” Mazloompour said. “It varies, so if you strike the ball on a certain side it can come back high for heading, or low for a chest drop. The curvature gives it an unpredictability depending on the direction and pace you strike it, so you have to adjust your position.”  

The thought process behind the unpredictability is that it can simulate some of the unknown that occurs in a real match.

The Soccer Wave is small and easy to store or mobilize. It was launched in 2006, and has since expanded into the inclusion of the Soccer Wave XP, a smaller unit that offers a flat back panel that allows both sides to be used simultaneously.

“This way, if you have 20 players on a team, 19 aren’t standing idle,” Mazloompour said. “This way you can split the team on both sides and a group can play on each side.”

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but, as innovative dad Ben Mazloompour demonstrates, initiative is the father.

 

Click here for a video interview with Behnam Mazloompour