Carlos' Story:
Growing up in Cuba I was not fortunate (so I thought at the time) to have the pristine well kept fields you see in most of today's youth baseball,
highschool and college ball fields. Fields in Cuba are few and far between and those that you find are not well kept and manicured. This forced me to
become a naturally instinctive defensive player.

This combined with the will to compete and be the best allowed me to naturally develop into an outstanding defensive shortstop. Think of today's top
fielders; Reyes, Hanley, Alexis, Betancour, Gonzalez, Cano, Castillo, Ordonez, Vizquel , Furcal, Renteria and many others -- what do all these
outstandning fielders have in common? They all grew up playing baseball in their native countries (Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela)
where field conditions are poor. The fields these players played on caused grounders to bounce, no two grounders were ever the same. Playing under
these conditions forced them to stay on their toes, to anticipate, to always be moving and never sit back. What seemed as unfortunate playing
conditions turned out to be the best training facility a young player can develop in.

In 2004 - I prepared myself to play Division I baseball. During my preperation I spent countless hours fielding ground balls at local ball parks that were
similar to those I I grew up in. Fields were littered with holes, divots and rocks. Overall these fielding conditions were poor at best. Exactly what I was
looking for! My goal was to force myself to attack the ball, get to it before it bounces, move my feet, position myself while being DEFENSIVELY
AGGRESSIVE, not being lazy. All this so I can be at the top of my defensive game in preperation for D I ball. As I walked on to the university practice
facility, that summer, I saw a beautifully manicured, perfectly dragged infield. I thought to myself "there is no way I can miss a ground ball under these
pristine conditions". Perfect fields! Not a divot to be found, no holes, no rocks .... perfectly smooth! Defensively I knew I would be at the top of my
game! As I trained with the coaching staff the balls never bounced erratically. Over time I found myself sitting back on my heels and not worrying
about bounces. I did not feel myself getting better. I felt I was not reaching my defensive potentional and was becoming a "lazy fielder". I tried to get
my coaches to hit balls to me that would bounce, balls that would force me to move my feet allowing me to work on my foot work, balls that I needed
to anticipate the bounce or suffer the consequence of getting eaten up, balls I had to learn to read. However, with these perfect fields this was difficult
and not easily attained. I became a "lazy fielder" during practice!

I came to the realization that I needed a tool that would help me practice under these good conditions, a tool that would make a baseball bounce
when hit to me, one that I could catch and throw like a regular baseball. I searched the internet, visited training facilities and sporting goods stores
and found nothing. I found many fielding tools, like the flat glove, the reaction ball, and even more hitting tools however nothing that looks, feels and
acts like a baseball and bounces erractically. Since that summer day I have always realized there was a need for a training tool like this. Following
my baseball career I developed the "BumpBall" ....... Carlos