OUR STORY

WHERE IT BEGAN

On this backyard court in Milton, Massachusetts, the Rain basketball was born. Rain creator John Hynes was practicing free throws here and thinking about how to place his fingers on the seams for the best grip. That’s when he realized that he could only get two fingertips on a seam no matter how he positioned his hand. He wondered what a ball would look like if the seams were curved to have the same arc as his fingertips. He traced out that arc on a ball and the Rain design was born.

THE FIRST PROTOTYPE

The first prototype was a simple series of overlapping circles drawn on the ball. This confirmed that curved seams fit symmetrically around the ball and gave a sense for how the ball would look. But, of course, these drawings didn’t provide the feel of the ball.

THE SECOND PROTOTYPE

Cutting up an old basketball and other materials, John created shapes for the pieces and glued them onto another ball. This gave the first real feel of the ball and convinced him that the new design fit the human hand perfectly. He enjoyed the added control of the curved seams and the comfort and ease of accessing those seams. Rain was now a reality.

THE FIRST RAIN BALL

John continued to improve and modify the design to produce a ball with graceful curves and perfect symmetry. After years of hard work and sweat, the first Rain Basketball was produced and the rest is history.