Impoverished children all over the world have been receiving new, indestructible soccer balls recently, and they have a world-famous rock star to thank.
British musician Sting teamed up with entrepreneur and lyricist Tim Jahnigen to create a soccer ball which they hope changes the way children play the sport. Using PopFoam, a type of hard foam made out of a material similar to that used in Crocs, Jahnigen designed a durable soccer ball that is nearly impossible to destroy. Not only does the ball inflate itself, it has proven it can withstand even the harshest of conditions.
Sting covered the cost of development and also provided the name for the ball, the One World Futbol. That label is borrowed from the Police's hit song, One World (Not Three).
"The goal of the One World Futbol project is to distribute indestructible soccer balls wherever they're needed," Sting says in a promotional video. "To impoverished areas, refugee camps, conflict zones, and U.N. hotspots all over the world."
The balls, which Jahnigen estimates should last 30 years, allow children to throw away the waddled-up pieces of trash and water bottles that had been passing as soccer balls.
Jahnigen has produced about 50,000 balls thus far and dropped them in more than 120 countries. But cost is an issue, especially compared to cheaper, less durable balls.
Still, the demand is extremely high, as organizations across the world are bring the balls to all corners of the globe.
"A child can play to their heart’s content where there are no content hearts," Jahnigen told the New York Times. "We don’t understand that having a ball is like the best PlayStation 3 or a rocket to Mars."
To read more about the One World Futbol Project, see here.
(H/T to Yardbarker)
