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Community Corner

Favorable Response to Innovative Backboards at Sacred Heart University

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Sacred Heart University's athletic community has responded favorably to an innovative new backboard that was installed on its court a month ago.

          Sacred Heart is the first NCAA Division I school to test out the TrueBounce backboard, which uses a unique patent-protected technology that “softens” shots by absorbing 28% of the energy of the ball, creating a true touch off the backboard. This “true” touch off the backboard creates increased field goal percentages, a resurrection of the mid-range game, a reinforcement of fundamental skills and returns the game back to a true team experience, according to Eric Britto, co-founder of the Massachusetts company.

          Players, coaches and administrators have been trying out the new technology and the response has been favorable.  While TrueBounce is not yet the “official” backboard of Sacred Heart, the school is experimenting with it on a court at the William H. Pitt Center. The basketball programs at the school are currently holding camps for area youngsters while the University’s teams don’t begin official practice until later this summer.

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           “Even though the camp doesn’t officially start until 8 a.m., kids will get up early around 7 to make sure they have the TrueBounce court,” said Tavares Tuck, facility manager at the Pitt Center “I think the backboard would get more kids involved in basketball; I didn’t want to get off the court the first time I played on it.”

          This backboard offers 250 times the strength of today’s glass backboards while remaining 30 percent lighter. TrueBounce has earned them a 20-year utility patent and the title of “preferred” supplier of basketball backboards in key markets including Boston, Atlanta, Maryland County, San Francisco, New Jersey and New York City. Today, TrueBounce has emerged as the most important new basketball technology to date, with endorsement ranging from the New York Knicks to major parks and recreation centers, to high schools around the country.

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          The developers of the backboard noticed the art of the mid-range game has faded with the shift from wood to glass backboards. The problem is that instead of dropping from the backboard into the basket, the glass material of today’s indoor backboards causes the ball to bounce back over the rim and out of scoring territory. The new technology eliminates this problem, they said, by softening the bounce to allow the ball to fall through the rim.

           Along with this increase in field goal percentages, the backboard reintroduces the importance of boxing out. A player who properly boxes out will now receive more rebounds compared to when a player boxes out with the today’s glass backboards. With the TrueBounce backboards absorbing more energy, the ball is less likely to go over the heads of those who properly box out, rewarding these players with more rebounds and improving the flow of the game.

When asked what the backboard would do for the game of basketball in real competition Eric Britto said “With industry wide concern for low scoring our backboard will bring the excitement of higher scoring, smoother-flowing games back into official play.” He went on to say “We know how to fix it; the hard part is showing you that it is broken. Every step we take gets TrueBounce closer to being viewed as an official standard for the technology of the industry.”

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