Did you know that kids have invented sporting gear and equipment?

That’s right, kids just like YOU! Let’s learn about some kids who found a problem in their world and solved it by inventing a solution.

Meet Chris. When he was 9 years old, he played basketball with his friends and in PE class. During one basketball practice at school he watched his friends miss “easy” shots that he thought they should have made. He thought and thought about this problem. Then it came to him. If he could paint “hands” to indicate the right position to hold the ball when shooting a basket, he and his friends would have a better chance of getting the shot. He called it: Hands On Basketball . Now, you can find Chris’s special basketballs in toy and sporting good stores around the country. This was such a great idea, that there are now footballs with hands painted on them too!

Meet Ole. When he was 11 years old, his favorite thing to do was to skateboard. He loved to take jumps and do tricks on his board. He noticed that when he took a jump the landing was really hard – he even got hurt a couple of times when he hit. He thought a lot about this problem. He looked at other things that experienced bumps... things like bikes and cars. They have “shock” absorbers that help make a smoother ride. Why couldn’t a skateboard have shock absorbers? Why not? So Ole worked on making a shock absorber for his skateboard and now kids all over the country can add “O’shocks” to their skateboard

Meet Austin. When he was 9 years old, he loved to play baseball. He would always ride his bike to the park to play. He had to take his bat, his ball and his glove with him on his bike. But he needed both his hands to safely ride his bike. How could he hold his equipment and ride the bike at the same time? It wasn’t safe and he was always dropping something! He thought about how to solve his problem. He went down into his dad’s tool room and worked hard to make something that would hold the bat, the ball and the glove on his bike.

OK now Meet Jacob, one of the youngest inventors. He was only 5 years old when he was trying to learn how to ride his bike using training wheels. He was doing pretty well and his dad wanted to take the training wheels off. Jacob wasn’t ready yet and he had an idea. What if his dad could move the wheels in a little at a time until he didn’t need them anymore? This way, he wouldn’t have to learn all at once. He could learn gradually. So his dad followed his directions and helped him to make his EZ Transitional Training Wheels - to put on his bike. Jacob is so happy with his new invention and excited that he can help other kids learn to ride their bikes using his new training wheels.