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Jason DeGarmo (left) and Andrew Haden hold a prototype of the Boost Hoop, a device designed to improve basketball shooting technique and encourage beginning players.

Through the hoops
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: April 25, 2019

Through the hoops

A couple of Valley Center High School graduates aren't quite ready to jump into the "Shark Tank," but their toes are testing the water.

Jason DeGarmo and Andrew Haden are part of a four-person company developing the Boost Hoop, a basketball goal funnel of sorts designed to teach a fundamental shooting skill while building confidence in developing players.

"It makes it easier to score, but it makes you a better shooter," DeGarmo said.

DeGarmo, who graduated from Valley Center High School in 2013, is the self-proclaimed "nerd" behind the product, while Haden, a 2015 VCHS graduate, is the company's chief operating officer. Both are students at Wichita State University.

The pair rolled out a prototype of the device at the National Association of Basketball Coaches conference during the NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis earlier this month.

DeGarmo and Haden set up a booth at the conference to introduce Boost Hoop to coaches and other decision makers in the industry. They received positive feedback and potential interest in a licensing deal.

At the same time, the company, Boosted Ideas Lab LLC, launched an online Kickstarter campaign to raise money to ramp up production.

"I can see so much potential in it, because it encourages kids to start the game of basketball," DeGarmo said.

Haden and DeGarmo believe in the product.

"This is going to be successful one way or another," DeGarmo said. "Either it takes five years to make a million dollar business or in a month we license it and we get bought out."

Haden said the Boost Hoop is simple, portable and effective.

"The easiest way to think about this is like a tee for T-ball," Haden said. "This is the basketball version. There just wasn't anything out there for basketball, until this."

The Boost Hoop is a ring that straps to the top edge of a basketball goal. It rises a few inches above the rim and extends beyond the goal's edges, creating a funnel into the basket.

The ring is padded, which softens the ball's bounce and helps it fall into the goal.

The height of the rim forces the shooter to put more arc on a shot, which increases the chances of going into the goal. Making it easier to score helps boost the shooter's confidence, keeping him or her engaged and allowing more shots during a practice session.

"You won't make every shot, but it helps," DeGarmo said.

The pair tested the product with 6- to 8-year-old YMCA players.

They said the Boost Hoop increased the players' chances of making a shot by 250 percent compared to a control group that shot the same number of times without the device in place.

"I've never seen 7-year-olds more engaged in a shooting drill," DeGarmo said.

The group without the Boost Hoop spent much of its time chasing down errant shots.

"The kids using the Boost Hoop were getting double the shots up," Haden said. "They were getting that much more repetition in the same amount of time."

The idea for a Boost Hoop-type of product originated in the athletic office at Wichita State, DeGarmo said. Officials approached WSU Ventures, the university's technology transfer office, where DeGarmo leads a team of students who evaluate the research from every department on campus for patent ability, marketability and commercial potential.

Athletic director Darron Boatright was looking for a youth basketball training and encouragement tool, DeGarmo said.

DeGarmo gathered a team of NIAR engineers and brainstormed. The idea of a funnel was brought up, and DeGarmo, who said he is a tinkerer, set about refining the product into the Boost Hoop.

DeGarmo secured seed money from Innovation Core, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He then asked Haden to join the project last fall and two other students earlier this year.

"He just showed me the idea, brought me up here and I shot on it, and I thought, man, this is going to be something," Haden said. "I've always wanted to work on something that got big, and I think this has the potential to do that. I think it would be cool to be on the ground floor of something like that."

DeGarmo filed a patent application last fall.

"This model is geared toward the developing player, anybody who is not a really skilled basketball player," DeGarmo said.

The company plans to expand the product to include lights and sensors that sync with a smart phone app showing the shooter's tendencies as a way to improve his or her technique.

"The Boost Hoop has unlimited potential if the proper markets are engaged," Boatright told The News. "Who doesn't want to see physical improvement and increased confidence in someone who wants to improve their game?"

Meanwhile, Haden will finish classes for a sports management degree in May. He said he will fulfill an internship requirement by working with the Boost Hoop company over the next several months.

DeGarmo is finishing a degree in chemistry and business with a minor in biology.

As far as making an effort to get on "Shark Tank," a television series that matches companies with potential investors, DeGarmo and Haden have a plan for that as well.

"We've always said at the end of year one, we'll go on there if we have enough sales," DeGarmo said. "It's definitely a plan for when we need to scale, because this is a worldwide product. It can go global."





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