The Waboba Ball - it bounces on water

It has the consistency of breast implant, a lycra coating and unlike any ball prior to now, it bounces on water. The slight change to one of man’s oldest playthings, offers an entirely new set of ways to have fun. Swede Jan von Heland had the idea a decade ago when playing at a lakeside holiday house in Sweden. Throwing a tennis ball and a Frisbee were fun, thought Jan, but a purpose-made ball with the right balance of buoyancy and surface finish and weight, that could actually bounce on water, would be so much better. So he began prolonged experimentation with materials, and eventually patented what has become the Waboba Ball.

The ball has now been refined to the point of manufacture and is getting market traction in Sweden and Australia, but we expect it to become quickly adopted worldwide once people realise what it can do and how much fun it is. It is so similar to the balls we know, yet so entirely different, that it constitutes a major invention – a category buster that is perfect for children in the 10+ age group to develop their hand-eye coordination and reflexes and catching skills to extraordinary levels – in a safe environment. It’s part physical education apparatus, part training aid, and part toy, with the added advantage that it just so much fun to play with and explore that it will develop natural skills anyway.

With all these benefits and a retail price point in the sub US$10 bracket, we expect the Waboba to be big in Christmas 2008 and beyond because despite its sporting and developmental uses, it’s close to the perfect toy – it’s cheap enough to be available to any child, durable enough to withstand plenty of use, and so much fun that we reckon it has a good chance of becoming one of those rare and iconic toys which captures the imagination of the public and serves a purpose in developing a healthy physical culture for our invaluable youth.

In its short time on the market, the beach-loving Australian market has embraced the Waboba. As one convert with two teenage boys we spoke to said, “we have two in the glovebox of the family car - it’s instant, low cost, high involvement fun, that leverages our favourite playground to the max. Given that the ball encourages spectacular catching dives where people get thoroughly soaked anyway, we’ve even found the boys will use it when it’s raining.”

The original patent was for a far more intricate construction than the Waboba that has gone into production. Originally a series of layers of different substances, the latest iteration is made of polyurethane with a stitched lycra shell.

The resultant ball is slightly smaller than a tennis ball, with a soft, slightly squeegy feel not unlike the material used for breast implants, and just the right surface, buoyancy and weight so that it bounces on water ... kinda like skipping a stone. It means you can play bounce-catch, sharpen your reflexes, make spectacular diving catches, and have hours of fun … all for less than EUR5 (US$8).

We’d caution against using the ball with children under the age of ten, because it comes off the water so fast that it is difficult to catch unless rudimentary hand-eye coordination is already developed, and getting hold of a Waboba too early might spoil the fun to come later.

That’s one of the overriders that came through strongly in discussions with Waboba – it’s being marketed as a sporting product and not a toy, because you’ll get the most value with some instruction and understanding.

For tweens and teens the ball is ideal. Once you’ve got the hang of the fast-paced ball, you will not put it down until you are thoroughly exhausted, and all the time you’ll be fine-tuning those motor skills.

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