By Rob Kron, Founder & CEO
My youngest son, Miles, developed a passion for basketball at an early age. His love for the game started with his first recreation league game in the 2nd grade and was fed by an unexplained devotion to watching Boston Celtics games. In the sixth grade, he asked if I could find someone to help him improve his skills, beyond what we were practicing in our driveway. Through the magic of Google, I found a well-credentialed trainer named Ben Stirt who was offering training just a short drive away from our home in Lawrenceville. After one session, Miles was hooked and Ben became a regular part of our weekly schedule.
Ben and I would catch up from time to time about Miles’ progress and, during one of these chats Ben asked me where Miles was practicing the skills they worked on during the training sessions. This was in January 2017 so I told Ben, that as long as there wasn’t snow on the driveway, he was out there or at the park every day. We both reminisced about when we were in school and I said “when I was in school you could just show up early or stay after school to practice in the gym”. But with all the security and liability concerns today, that option doesn’t exist anymore. So what are the options for kids now? Ben asked if I thought a facility designed to help kids practice could be successful, “think batting cages, but for basketball.” he said.
My interest was piqued and we started to talk more about what an ideal facility might look like. Ben has years of experience on the court and was aware of new technology that some college and pro teams were using to improve performance. The more we learned the more we thought we should find a way to bring this technology to players of all ages locally. Then we talked to more parent, kids and coaches. It was clear this idea made sense. We were on a mission – a mission to create an environment where kids of all ages could come to work on their basketball skills in a bright, clean, safe, climate-controlled setting, and where they could access both the cutting edge technology and the high quality equipment that the pros use.
And that was the beginning of Inner Drive Hoops.
