How it all began:

The short version:

Well, I had an idea, made a few prototypes, rode it, fell in love with it, patented the idea, then made some real board, and here we are.

The long version:

My professional background is in Sports Medicine. In 1999 I graduated from college with a degree in Athletic Training and obtained national certification. In 2001, I was working in a physical therapy clinic in the mornings and at a high school in the afternoons in southern California. I covered the after school sports programs. At the physical therapy clinic we had a Vew-Do balance board and an Extreme balance board. This was back in the day when Vew-Do was getting started and had not developed their fitness line. I had two great products to play on. I would put our physical therapy patients on the balance boards and they would progress very quickly.

The physical therapy clinic is where I met Sandy, a post-operative ACL reconstruction. Sandy had a history of several knee operations and repairs for both knees. Although she called herself "middle aged", she was still one heck of an athlete. Sandy learned to balance and ride the balance boards very quickly. Heck, I even had her standing on an exercise ball doing squats- you know the big stability balls. Did I mention, squats on a big round ball without holding onto anything? Her progress was phenomenal!

I thought if our post-operative and post-injury patients could handle the balance boards, then I had to have one for the high school. At the high school, there was no budget to buy new gadgets. So I took a round water cooler lid (the cooler was missing) and put it on top of an old ragged softball. My very own made up balance board using some things around the office. I thought it was great, my athletes didn’t. My healthy athletes thought it was too hard to learn. Bingo! Too hard to learn- I had to develop the idea and see how far I could go with it. My dad thought I should pursue the idea. There was just one small roadblock.

After nine months at the physical therapy clinic and high school, I was off on a long road trip. In 2002, I started my graduate school program in Ohio. Two years later I had a Masters degree in Sport Psychology and a rescued cat from the humane society. Kelso, my new cat, and I packed up the car and quickly moved back to the California warmth and sunshine. By the way, if you have any personal questions and need advice- we have a special feature on this site called Kelso's Korner, he is a great listener and will get back to you with answers for your most pressing concerns.

My dad asked if I still wanted to pursue my balance board idea. He gave me a book on patents and strongly encouraged me to develop my invention. I looked in the United States Patent database and saw all the previous balance boards. The patent database gave me inspiration. My brothers and I cut a big old disk out of plywood, glued and nailed it, and rode it on top of an old basketball. It worked, but not too well. We then went to a local skate shop and bought some used skateboard decks and modified them. That worked, but really not too well. So then I made a big rectangle and rode it on a bowling ball coated with the rubber skin of a four square ball. That worked pretty darn good.

Sandy’s son, a talented Indo Board rider, snowboarder and engineering student, had some ideas for new board shapes. He cut out an elliptical shape and we had it. Sandy's son rode our board until he drenched his shirt in sweat. His friends thought he was nuts and would not be able to ride our board. He quickly proved them wrong. He has been test riding our prototypes from the beginning and giving us feedback. The most encouraging was that our board kept him in shape for snowboarding and helped his balance when he hit the slopes.

So after a few attempts we had a board shape and ball, sort of. At first we pursued a skateboard sized model. After a few less successful attempts we decided to put that on the back burner and develop our large board. We met with our fantastic engineer from CCM Design and he gave us a few ideas. A few long months and year later we were off to a great final product. Making small changes along the way, rail shapes, board sizes, rail blocks...

We were introduced to a manufacturer who was interested in producing our boards. He made skateboards and skimboards for 30 years and had great ideas and high energy. He's been with us producing our board tops and providing inspiration to follow the dream.

After endless searching for a ball, three years to be exact, we decided to manufacture our own. We have a local urethane manufacturer who wouldn't stop trying to make a complex item out of complex material. After a lot of trial and error we had a great triumph. He keeps us going- sometimes giving me too many ideas.

A few meetings later, several protypes, three years of development and here we were with our Orgininal models- three sizes to choose from... We started sales and attending trade shows / events iin the summer of 2007. Sandy and I keep loading the car to the top and traveling to shows. Sandy has been there every step in the process and keeps me inline when grandiose ideas start spinning from my head at warp speeds.

Since Ryan is a engineer we also stimulate his expertise with technical issues and designs. He did the final engineering for our urethane rails / Creator Kits and End-Stops. He's also super handy with the tape dispenser and up for any old crazy stunt- like throwing balls off the roof.

My Athletic Training colleagues are a tremendous help with exercises, training ideas, events and video highlights. We've met lots of great people along the way who think we're a little crazy yet they continue to be fantastic supporters. I am very thankful for the support of my friends and family- a smile and wink to you all.

We’ve been very busy with product development for the last year. We now have an economical line of Starter boards to compliment our Original models. Our Surf and Powder designs offer a very unique ride, plus they are pretty cool looking. Our Ultimate Fitness board is quite different from others on the market and really provide you with simultaneous strength and balance training. And we are super excited to offer Creator Kits so you can make your own Si-Boards.

Our philosophy as a business, from the beginning, is to provide a high quality product- use it forever and never get board. We give you a training device that simulates your sport movements, makes you sweat, and provides lots of entertaining fun. We manufacture and assemble in the United States. Our standard for quality and humane working conditions is put into all of our products.

We hope you enjoy our products as much as we do- that's a lot.