{"id":57493,"date":"2025-04-14T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/?p=57493"},"modified":"2025-04-09T14:12:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:12:53","slug":"grind-breaks-barriers-in-sports-training-equipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2025\/04\/grind-breaks-barriers-in-sports-training-equipment.html","title":{"rendered":"GRIND Breaks Barriers in Sports Training Equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bringing a new product to market is a significant challenge, especially a product that redefines an industry. For Thomas Fields, founder and CEO of GRIND<\/a>, the journey to developing the world’s first portable basketball shooting machine was fueled by a passion for sports and an innovative vision.<\/p>\n

GRIND used SOLIDWORKS\u00ae<\/a>\u00a0to transform an initial concept into a fully functional, manufacturable product and disrupt an industry dominated by expensive, industrial-grade machines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Taking Practice Efficiency to a Whole New Level<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery serious basketball player aims to take between 500 and 1,000 shots daily to improve their skills. That\u2019s how legends like Steph Curry and Larry Bird trained,\u201d says Fields. \u201cThe problem is, manually shooting that many shots can take five to six hours. Our shooting machine reduces that to just one hour, making high-volume training much more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before GRIND arrived on the market, shooting machines were large, costly, and typically limited to educational and professional facilities. \u201cBefore we came along, most basketball shooting machines were bulky, industrial-grade equipment used in high schools, colleges, and the NBA. They were expensive and inaccessible to most athletes,\u201d explains GRIND Industrial Designer and Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Elliot Martinez. \u201cBut as technology advances, products get smaller and more affordable. GRIND did exactly that for basketball training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Birth of an Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fields\u2019 personal experiences shaped and inspired his innovation. \u201cI played basketball in high school and had the potential to go further, but I tore my ACL four times before graduating,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAt that point, I realized a huge problem\u2014I didn\u2019t have access to the same $10,000, 400-pound shooting machines at my school.\u201d Fields wondered if there were other shooting machines on the market that were less expensive and less bulky.<\/p>\n

Determined to solve this problem, Fields built his first prototype in his parents\u2019 garage with the help of a friend who taught him how to weld. \u201cOur first prototype wasn\u2019t pretty. We even called it \u2018the ugly baby,\u2019\u201d Fields jokes. \u201cBut it worked. Then I teamed up with Elliot, my co-founder, who took that rough concept and refined it into a product that thousands of athletes use today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Engineering the Solution with SOLIDWORKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once the proof of concept was established, GRIND needed a way to efficiently refine and manufacture the product. \u201cSOLIDWORKS was a game-changer for us,\u201d notes Martinez. \u201cMy background in mechanical engineering and industrial design gave me the skills to use SOLIDWORKS.\u201d Martinez did all the modeling\u2014from surfacing to rendering\u2014and developed products ready to be manufactured.<\/p>\n

Martinez highlights how SOLIDWORKS\u2019 parametric design capabilities streamlined the product development process: \u201cWe could start with something as simple as a sketch on a napkin or a photo from Instagram, then quickly bring it to life in SOLIDWORKS<\/a>. The software allowed us to rapidly prototype using laser cutters and 3D printing. Once we had a working prototype, we converted it into technical drawings for production. Having all these tools in one software made our process seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The ability to iterate rapidly and fine-tune the design was crucial. \u201cWe gathered extensive feedback from users, tested the machine ourselves, and identified areas for improvement along the way, recalls Martinez. By continuously refining and improving their approach, the GRIND team was able to evolve the initial idea into a significantly better, more effective product.<\/p>\n

Innovating for the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n

GRIND\u2019s most recent iteration includes enhanced features. \u201cThe latest machine now offers nine passing spots on the court\u2014four more than our previous model,\u201d explains GRIND\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer Amry Fields. \u201cPlayers can now shoot from a wider range of spots, including the free-throw line, deep corners, and the top of the key [the area furthest from the basket in the free-throw circle].\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez says, \u201cWe also redesigned the netting system to improve durability and reduce setup time. Since netting absorbs impact from every shot, we reinforced the high-impact areas to ensure greater longevity. Our goal is to keep athletes focused on training, not on making constant adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these product upgrades, GRIND remains the most affordable shooting machine on the market.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Expanding the Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n

CEO Fields envisions an impact beyond basketball. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re dedicated to making the best basketball shooting machine possible, but in the future, we want to expand into other sports,\u201d he says. \u201cOur vision is to create an ecosystem of smart sports equipment under the GRIND brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing a new product to market is never easy, but with the right mix of innovation, precise implementation of customer feedback, and the right tools, like SOLIDWORKS, GRIND has redefined basketball training. \u201cAt GRIND, our mission is to change the world through sports,\u201d emphasizes Fields. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen without evolution and innovation, which is exactly what we\u2019re doing with our latest GRIND machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

By leveraging technology and creative problem-solving, GRIND has made elite basketball training accessible to athletes everywhere, proving that innovation isn\u2019t just about creating something new\u2014it\u2019s about making something that truly has a positive impact on aspiring athletes.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to build innovative products faster and more efficiently with SOLIDWORKS, contact your local reseller<\/a>. The entire video about GRIND\u2019s basketball training machine can be accessed by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can read the full case study on GRIND here: https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/customer-story\/grind-changes-game-sports-training-equipment\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discover how GRIND used SOLIDWORKS to engineer the world\u2019s first portable basketball shooting machine and make elite training more accessible to athletes everywhere.
\nLearn more: solidworks.com\/GRIND<\/p>\n... Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":57488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26,826,14,18,4591],"tags":[19,4968,2254],"class_list":["post-57493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-customer-stories","category-dassault-systmes","category-design","category-solidworks","category-startups","tag-solidworks-2","tag-sporting-goods","tag-startups"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57493"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57500,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57493\/revisions\/57500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}