Primo Blog

I just wrapped up a very successful week of “preaching” the Primo story – covering 5 states in 6 days.  I knew it was going to be a great week when I had all 80 coaches at the “coach the coach” clinic at USTC the first evening of the trip nodding in agreement about one thing – a simple idea with powerful implications.  It was then that I realized – air retention in soccer balls is a BIG story.  Before then, after struggling to get product in the warehouse and retailers to stock balls in their stores for months, I was starting to wonder if anyone cared.  6 days later and I can confirm – A soccer ball that holds air is not only important – it is revolutionary.

That Monday evening – after running around all day seeing retailers, having meetings with teams and managers and organizing my young keepers for my 30 minute commitment during the clinic, I was given a sparse 10 minute window to talk about Primo products in front of all the coaches, who, by this time, are ready to get the clinic started.  Although completely unprepared with a set “pitch”, I had all the facts in my head on why these coaches should be impressed with Primo and our line-up of unique and useful equipment.  I lead with the ball technology – by far the most important product in the Primo product line (you will have to wait for Blog 2 for the gloves and shin guards). 

As a coach myself, I recall the familiar daily occurrence that is repeated thousands of times on soccer fields across the country.  We all know the drill, late start, throw gear and balls in the car, and race to practice.  We arrive and quickly set-up cones and organize the kids – dumping the balls onto the field from the ball bag.  Only now do we realize that most of the balls are flat, some more than others – none in “playing condition”.  No pump is available – or if it is – who has time to inflate 10 balls?  Yet another “flat” practice.  All the coaches are nodding their heads up and down – they probably had this exact experience in the last 48 hours!

Then, as a past professional – and some what of a ball snob – I highlight the “cause and effect” of using flat soccer balls; 1) kids can’t properly strike a flat ball – it wraps around your foot when you strike it – leading to poor control. 2) kids get used to using a flat ball and then are shocked when they need to play with a ball that is inflated to the correct pressure. 3) Its not how the game was designed to be played.  Now the coaches are in a rare state of total, unified agreement (coaches hardly ever all agree on anything).

While I have the group all in the same state of mind I quickly review the science behind latex ball bladders, why we use them in 90% of all soccer balls (they offer significantly better touch and feel) and why they frustratingly lose air so quickly (the natural latex bladder wall is not a consistent thickness and the air permeates through the thin spots).  Some coaches nod with agreement – they know this story – other ball brands have told them this is unavoidable.  Some coaches have the look of enlightenment – “so this is why the #%@&$ balls lose air so quick”.  And it is now that I lift the Nitroblock latex bladder up into air and confirm to the coaches that the days of “flat ball syndrome” have come to an end. 

Of course the coaches new I would eventually tell them about the ball bladder I had in my hand for the last 4 minutes.  I explain to the coaches how Primo Sport has re-engineered the latex in our ball bladder to eliminate those thin spots that you find in standard latex bladders.  All 80 coaches are waiting to hear what is next, and I give it to them straight – Nitroblock latex bladders hold air 10X longer than standard latex bladders.  That basically means you inflate the balls at the start of your season and store the pump until next season.  Every training session and game day – you arrive at the field, empty the ball bag and WOW – inflated soccer balls that play great.  All 80 coaches have that look in their eyes that tells me – this is going to be a soccer ball revolution – and I am at the center of the vortex!

All week the validity of the technology was confirmed as I had one positive event after the next.  On Wednesday, while pitching gear to a club in Indy a coach who has been using our balls since August (it is now late October) tells me that just last week it dawned on him that he had gone the entire fall season without inflating the balls once (thanks Ruben!).  And then on Thursday, in Columbus, Ohio while presenting products to a soccer retailer, a coach walks in and the store owner asks “hey Mark, if I had a ball that held air all season – would you buy one for your kids” and Mark replies (I kid you not), “I would buy 200 for the entire organization”.  As it turns out, Mark is on the board for the league.  On Friday, while handing out Primo Nitroblock balls for a large tournament in Cincinnati, I had the opportunity to tell about 150 coaches about this new revolutionary latex bladder.  One coach after the next was thrilled to find out that finally, after 55 years since the last major soccer ball development – the stitched ball with all interior laces (before 1953, soccer balls had laces on the outside similar to today’s American football) someone has figured out how to make a great playing ball that didn’t flat in 5 days!  Only available in Primo Sport soccer balls – and I am the guy who gets to tell the story.