Having a Ball

When checking one of my tech news website, I came across a story about an indestructible soccer ball.  "Soccer ball," I thought.  "That's not a very common topic for a tech site..."  So, I decided to check out what the point was.  I expected to watch the video for a few seconds, find out and move on.  But I was so fascinated, and ended up watching the whole intriguing -- and heart-warming -- thing which is an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo News and lasts almost five minutes.  

(Yes, a video about soccer balls not only relates to technology, but is "heart-warming.")

The story concerns Tim Jahnigen and his wife Lisa Tarver, who created the One World Futbol project, whose purpose was to develop a soccer ball that couldn't be punctured or crushed or destroyed in most any way.  This might not seem like a big problem, but it is for poor Third World countries where not only is soccer the core to kids' recreation, but where the life span of a soccer ball, they say, is not much more than one hour.  Instead, the children are forced to find almost any alternative to kick around.

The ball they came up with uses a plastic that's more flexible than rubber, that's related to the material found in Crocs shoes.  It can even withstand being knocked around at length and bitten by a lion, as an adorable part of the video shoes.  Eventually even Sting got involved with the project.

The One World Futbol projects operates on the "buy one, give one" principle.  A ball costs $39.95 and a second ball is donated from the company swebsite.

Here's the full video.  (I'm having a little difficulty getting it to play.  If it doesn't, click here to go directly to the Yahoo site and see it there) --