SoccerWave™ Testimonials
The Soccer Wave
By: Match on Wed 18th July 2007
After much awaited anticipation the Soccer Wave has finally arrived in the UK. Currently being used by Manchester United Academy
as well as other academies in the UK, we took the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. With a market saturated with products promising to improve the game we took an objective view based on actually trying the Soccer Wave rather than listening to individuals involved within the game who had never even seen one in action.
The Soccer Wave was to be tested by two of the most demanding critics! Two boys aged 7 and 8 were drafted in to put the Soccer Wave though its paces - after all if they didn't like it we saw little point with conducting the review.
Firstly the Soccer Wave was ordered online and arrived swiftly and well packaged by courier. The product is large to say the least and in hindsight we should of had it delivered to the home address rather than work. We managed to get it squeezed into a Jeep with the seats folded down which will give you an idea that this product is not easy to transport on a regular basis.
Once at home the Soccer Wave was unpackaged ready for inspection. The Soccer Wave is an extremely well made and engineered product that has obviously had an all lot of thought gone into the design and manufacturing process. It measures approximately 48 x 30.38 x 33.5 and weighs in at around 35lbs.
The Soccer Wave is designed to return a ball at varying degrees of height and velocity dependent on the weight and psotion of the pass made into it. The returning ball can then be either volleyed, trapped, headed, chested down, passed back in, bycycle kick etc into a goal. The Soccer Wave offers a varied range of balls and this is what I feel makes it versatile compared to other products like re-bounders or elasticated balls.
The Soccer Wave can also be filled with water which I beleive takes its weight upto around 130lbs making it effectively non-portable which I feel it needs to be in order to provide different experiences for the player to try. However we used it without water and the unit itself didnt move at all despite having balls laced into it by adults keen to get in the action and was easily moved into varying positions . Alternatively you can peg it at the front (no pegs were supplied) and the most suitable are probably flat ended plastic screw in types.
The children took to straight away and I have to say that we had to prise them away in the end to get ago ourselves!
For the Soccer Wave to be used effectively a well placed push pass has to be executed to get the ball to lift. This can only help with any child who struggles with passing on the floor as the unit simply will not return the ball properly unless the pass is correct. Secondly the unit must really be used on a flat surface with no bobbles otherwise deflections will take place meaning the ball doesn't return. So ideal for astro turf or the back garden but not so good with a sub-standard surface.
The ball is returned with a degree of back spin dependent upon the weight of the pass and where the ball is placed, as it will return at different heights.
The two boys loved practicing one touch volleys, trapping the ball, elevator traps, side footing the ball into the goal as well as headers. Again making this ideal for other applications as well including defensive and offensive headers, defensive clearances etc.
I have no doubt that using this on a regular basis will improve your football technique and will provide longevity in the practise sessions. Some may query that the ball could be served in by a coach or player but I reckon sometimes all kids want to do is have fun and experiment and express themselves without the need for an adult being on their case all the time. The Soccer Wave does this and more. Others may say use a wall - well if you haven't got a wall it's an issue, and Wall work can be quite repetitive and predictable in the return of the ball - this product will challenge the individual player is easy to use but I suspect hard to fully master and therefore will provide endless hours of fun and stimulating play.
So the big question is does the price warrant the product? A single unit is actually £189.99, plus vat & delivery - this is quite an initial outlay for any club let alone parent (and yes we paid the full price on this!) Well putting it into context if this product lasts me 10 years which I believe it will then that's just £25 a year - when I think of the amount of £25 pounds I have spent at Christmas each year only to bin off broken toys or shoddy sports equipment a couple of months later then I reckon this isn't a bad price based on the design, robustness and long term use compared to say a Samba that will last a couple of seasons.
Oh, and by the way the kids loved it and wouldn't leave it alone - a small price to pay to get them off a games console in any ones book.
There is a generous discount structure for multiple units, up to 17% off for ten units to the same address.
April 10, 2007
Dear Soccer Wave:
It has been nearly one full spring now that we have made use of your Soccer Wave product as a training tool for the benefit of our athletes on the women’s soccer team here at Texas Tech University.
In the process of rebuilding our program to the standard required to compete in such a demanding conference as the Big 12, we continually search for ideas that can help our program achieve an elite level of performance from our athletes. We feel your product has benefited us in such a way.
The difficult balance of demanding the maximum from our athletes while recognizing their practical needs in terms of time demands as student-athletes leads us to the additional use of the Soccer Wave. With limited team practice hours finding helpful training tools that allow the individual to focus on their own technical needs on their own time can be a critical advantage. Soccer Wave helps fill this need.
The Soccer Wave has given us the ability to offer our athletes an interesting challenge. It is easy enough for the athletes to use themselves without monitoring following some simple instruction, and fun for the players to experiment with their own training ideas.
In the team setting we have incorporated the Soccer Wave to great effect into exercises that involve movement and passing accuracy without having to forgo a player as a stagnant target and thus ensuring equity in the physical workouts and technical practice of the players. We also look forward to these advantages this summer when we incorporate the Soccer Waves into our soccer camp sessions.
We are happy to endorse the Soccer Wave as a product providing many benefits to the athletic performance of our players. We look forward to your future product ideas and will continue to maximize their use.
Sincerely,
Neil McGuire, Head Coach
Brian Zwaschka, Assistant Coach
