About
Meet Magic Tee
We get it. Hitting is hard… Teaching hitting is hard… And watching your own player struggle at the plate can be the hardest part of all!
We believe that hitters and coaches deserve a tool that promotes and reinforces proper swing mechanics by design. Better training = better results at the plate.
That’s why we created the Magic Tee––the tee that trains.
The MAGIC TEE is an entirely new hitting tool, thoughtfully engineered to help you take your practice and hitting training to the next level.
MAGIC TEE takes away all the distractions and annoyances of other hitting tools, enabling hitters to focus purely on developing their swing.
The Magic Tee story began when Ryan McGuire, former college baseball player, college coach and current youth coach realized that the traditional method of supporting a baseball on a tee (from below) did not promote proper swing mechanics and actually provided negative feedback on a proper swing. This left players of all ages at a disadvantage, because they lacked a tool that gave them an authentic experience of hitting the ball when training their swing.
After observing his kids hit a ball off a simple baseball toy and in discussion with other team members the solution began to emerge, hanging the ball from above. This way hitters would be encouraged to hit the baseball with the right form and in the proper location, just below center, producing better launch angles, more line drives, and more backspin with every swing.
The Magic Tee concept began with a crude testing-setup to evaluate the theory. A ball was suspended utilizing a a shop-vac, a taped-down hose end and hanging it all from an engine hoist so the hose end was just at the right height to hit the ball from. It took a few tries to get it right, but once Ryan did a few test hits, it only took one to realize it was right.
Then several functional tee prototypes were created, starting with a copper prototype, then followed by a version utilizing a repurposed bike (foot) pump, to create the required suction to hold the ball. Then the prototype was tested with youth hitters at local practice sessions.
The following months saw our prototype tees with well over 1,000 swings on them. This testing showed the wrinkles in the design, enabled the fine tuning of the vacuum system––adding an electric pump and determining where the tee was most likely to break or wear down over time.
With many swings taken on our prototype tees, we proceeded to refine and finalize the design––creating a fully functional prototype of the tee that will go into production. This tee was created utilizing 3D printing and sourced components that will go into the production model.
The Magic Tee was developed in the garages, backyards and baseball diamonds of Ames, Iowa. Magic Tee founders Ryan McGuire, Rob Kibbe, Nathan Haila, and Sam Schill brought together almost two decades of experience in youth sports coaching, engineering, design, and sports marketing to serve a new generation of baseball and softball players.
Risks and challenges
Magic Tee is a sports technology product. We have built multiple versions of the product, evolving the design for maximum usability with manufacturing in mind. However, availability of electronic components is always a risk. That is why we have spent a considerable amount of time working with suppliers to come up with the best solutions for our product. Everything from the type of rubber to be used in the base to the fittings inside the tee pole have already been defined. To minimize risks, we have done all the preliminary sourcing and have thoroughly evaluated several companies for the production, assembly and fulfillment of our tee.
We know that launching a new product is hard and unexpected issues will come up along the way. In light of this we have sought to build in plenty of buffer time to work out any issues that pop up.
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Funding period
- (30 days)