The Birth of 3 Ball
They say necessity is the mother of invention. In 1996 I started looking for a way to supplement my weekend climbing trips with some weekday climbing. I couldn't afford to buy commercially made climbing holds at the time, so I decided to make them myself.
Andrew my climbing partner and I free-formed cement to make jugs, crimps, and slopers. We fastened these crude grips to the walls and ceiling of my Mothers garage with deck screws and in no time at all, we had the most pitiful climbing wall ever made!
Training for the Phoenix Bouldering Contest
In 2002 I moved to Tempe, AZ. Still too poor to buy climbing holds, I began experimenting with polyester resin aka polystyrene. I shaped holds out of potting clay and molded them with latex. These holds made for some interesting climbing, but they were slick and far from perfect. The process was extremely toxic and the holds were somewhat brittle like the others already on the market. I moved on from the idea and focused on working and climbing on the weekends with Keeley, Dale, and Erin :)
In 2003, with the upcoming 2004 Phoenix Bouldering Contest in mind we started talking about training more seriously. Too often climbers from out of state and country crush the locals at our home crag. (Oak Flat Campground) We did not want that to happen this time, so I built an 8'x8' overhanging climbing wall in a side room at Dales house. When we went out to purchase grips, they just seemed too expensive. We purchased a couple to make use of the wall, but the focus quickly changed to 'Steve tell us about these grips you've made in the past'.
Making Grips and taking 1st prize
I was hesitant. I didn't think I had the skills to make anything worth while, but Keeley insisted I make at least one for them to check out. I relented, and made a few terrible but usable grips... and then we started using the grips, and thinking and experimenting with different materials and processes. After several months driving the fork-lift by day, and R & D by night we found a polyurethane mix that was was far stronger and training friendly than the other grips on the market. We made grips, and climbed outside on the weekend and on our little climbing wall during the week. When comp time came around I placed first in my category, Keeley and Erin tied for first in theirs, and Dale took 3rd in his. Great success. We made some grips, trained, and crushed it :)
Grips improve & Gyms take notice
The intention never was to start a business, but when the Phoenix Rock Gym made a $600 dollar order I quit my $12 warehouse job and Three Ball Climbing was born! In April of 2004 we formed Three Ball Climbing LLC. and went to work. We designed the logo, built a website and continued shaping new grips to improve our training.
We had $9,000 in sales our first year in business, kept at it, and by 2008 we had 8 employees and were doing over 500K in sales. #rockandroll
In 2014 we had a full line of bolt-on spheres, so when a friend asked for a pair of balls with an eye-bolt in them it was an easy modification, and Beast Balls were born! We started getting into the Ninja Warrior training at our shop (our shop at the time was 2/3 production, â…“ gym)
To be continued...
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