The Birdball is an oversized shuttlecock with a soft foam head. It is a slow flying playball that is easy to catch and throw.  The ball is also used in new games that combine the disciplines of martial arts, footbag, kickboxing, soccer and handball.   The games provide for a low stress cardiovascular  workout that perfects reflexes & sharpens strategic thinking.

The objective was to design a featherweight play ball that could withstand aggressive kicks, punches and hits.  We tested hundreds of weave and matrix combinations in order to create a ball that, was lightweight and able to withstand extreme impact.

The Birdball tests the boundaries of lightweight composite construction.  The one ounce playball is created using TEF's XHELX patterned fabric  and integrated with a soft foam ball.

The Birdball is featherweight, weighing around one ounce.

The Birdball is a composite structure vs. a molded plastic product.  The tail portion of the ball is made by pulling a woven tubular sleeve over a parabolic curved  mold and coating the fabric with a matrix material to stiffen the fiber network.

Two decades ago when Enter Play began to seek out fiber networks for the tail portion of the Birdball, the standard for such composites was the "braid".  When combined with a matrix material and formed over the curved mold a braid would loose its shape, creating an imbalanced tail portion.

We searched for a structural mesh fabric that would naturally conform to unusual shapes yet still maintain it's integrity when tugged, spun and manipulated.  The pattern needed to have a life of it's own... inhale, exhale, expand and contract. 

After much experimentation with hand weaving XHELX patterning was developed.  XHELX is a  patent pending family of patterns that consist of a network of yarns that work together, distributing tension equally throughout the whole structure.  The yarns spiral as they link and interlace neighboring yarns, creating helical springs that allow the fabric to expand, contract and conform naturally.

The XHELX fabric used in the Birdball tail is coated with a  rubber, creating a composite structure that is soft yet resilient to impact.  The patterned fibers absorb the vibration of hits, kicks and punches, distributing force equally throughout the entire structure.

Experimentation with Birdball patterning