More facts about low-pressure or low compression balls?
FACT #3: Felt ball durability concerns – One of the manufacturing “secrets” is the type of felt used on the outside of the balls. Polyester is the least expensive and least durable. Acrylic lasts significantly longer but is more expensive to produce. Some companies are experimenting with a blend and adding wool as well. All the Oncourt Offcourt balls are made from the higher quality Acrylic felt.
FACT #4: Felt ball markings – Red and orange are typically two-tone and the green dot is used on 78-foot courts in order to make the ball look more like the standard yellow ball. Oncourt Offcourt has been the industry innovator by putting numbers on all their orange and green level balls in cans. The concept is to help the children to start learning to take responsibility for the balls they are using.
FACT #5: Felt ball packaging – Convenience is the key in this category. Generally, you have 3 choices. Bucket, bag, or can. As mentioned earlier the low pressure green level ball is the only one that really can benefit from being stored in an unopened can.
FACT #6: Are balls profitable? – Ball profit margins are extremely tight. And, with discount programs and increasing freight costs on top of tight margins, it should come as no surprise that manufacturers are tempted to use lower quality materials to reduce their costs. Although it has not been an easy decision, we at Oncourt Offcourt have made a conscious decision to keep our standards high, regardless of shrinking profits on balls. Our decision is based on the goal of keeping our customers long term and satisfied with our products as much as possible.
SUMMARY
We tried to create this “Fact Sheet” to provide concise and user-friendly information to aid in purchase decisions. You may just have to test a few different balls to see which one suits your preferences in terms of playability AND price. Just realize that price is DIRECTLY connected to durability. The longer the balls perform at an acceptable level before needing to be replaced, the better the value. This is WHY we pay more to our factory-partners at Oncourt Offcourt. Our foam balls are denser and our felt balls are more durable.
Joe Dinoffer
Founder and President Oncourt Offcourt, Ltd