Last year I had the opportunity to sell a car to the President of Select Sport America, Søren Hansen.  With me being a soccer fan, I was excited to learn about Select’s innovations to the sport of soccer while selling a car.

Select has a very different philosophy then other manufacturers.  Each ball they produce is hand sewn.  The founder, Egil Nielsen, found that by hand stitching a soccer ball that the ball retained its shape much better and that the cord was not a nuisance when kicking or heading.

In 1962, Select introduced one of the greatest inventions in the history of soccer balls – the 32 panel ball.  Then in 1974, Select intorduced the first hand-sewn synthetic leather ball.  This material quickly became the material of choice instead of real leather.  Today the majority all balls are made of synthetic leather, regardless of brand.

Recently Søren contacted me about using a photo I had sent him for the 2011 product catalog.  It’s a photo of my son playing with the soccer ball he gave me in the back yard.  Needless to say I was honored by the request.  When I mentioned it to my wife, the only thing she cared about was getting a copy of the catalog.