Our Story

 

Three entrepreneurs and sports enthusiasts from Minnesota came up with a great idea 15 years ago. After hours upon hours of trial and error, the Hit Zone air powered batting tee was born.

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Others have received a patent on a baseball "air tee", but they all did the same thing. They used a plastic tube to deliver the air.  This really didn't solve anything. If a batter swings and hits the "tee", it will still get knocked over, just like a typical baseball batting tee.

Here's where the Hit Zone practice tee stands alone!  Todd Kendall, the inventor of the Hit Zone, and a life "idea guy", was determined to invent a better batting tee. He tinkered with the use of a fabric sleeve to deliver the air stream, rather than a plastic tube. Now if a bat or racket hits the Hit Zone "tee" - no big deal - the racket or bat swings right through it!

 

When Todd showed off the Hit Zone to Jamie Ogden, a big hitter who came up through the Twins organization, Jamie thought it was a brilliant idea! Jamie pointed out that often kids feel they've graduated from the tee after tee ball and they don't want to practice on a standard tee. And that older players often get bored hitting of the same old tee. The Hit Zone would change all that.
 

Since 2010, we have been making our tees with pride in the USA! Athletes around the world have incorporated our air tees into their training repertoire for tennis, baseball, softball, tee ball, and even pickleball.

Tennis professionals in countries such as Russia, Poland, Brazil, and Hungary are using the Hit Zone.  And MLB stars Big Poppy, Raul Ibanez, and Frankie Rodriquez have a Hit Zone for their kids to practice on.  It has been an exciting ride!
 

Mark Schaffhausen
Owner

Hit Zone Sports, LLC