Once upon a time, younger siblings were the de facto solution for fetching rebounds, feeding chest passes and counting shot makes and misses. There’s now a machine that does all of that, and more. Meet Dr. Dish.
In the early 2000s, Iowa native Doug Campbell launched Airborne Athletics and pioneered the AirCat Volleyball Training Machine to serve up precise throws for hitting, digging, setting, tipping and blocking drills.
What Campbell served up next, however, forever changed how basketball players and programs would get better. Recognizing the need for a more versatile and innovative product in the hoops market, Campbell prototyped Dr. Dish with a tech-enabled vision to build the “complete player.”
By 2014, all Dr. Dish machines were redesigned into today’s revolutionary SMART models that include an industry-first phone app and Training Management System to keep up with the analytics age.
“One of our favorite sayings is, ‘Shooters are made, not born,’ Campbell, Founder and CEO at Airborne Athletics, says. “It should be no secret that countless, purposeful reps are necessary to build a great shooter and there aren’t any shortcuts to get there.”
Nature or nurture aside, the genius of Dr. Dish is where efficiency and effectiveness meet.
“Our machines can pass out 1,500 reps per hour, but we’re more interested in providing workouts that simulate game scenarios and translate into game situations,” Campbell adds. “Through our innovations and 100-plus provided game-like workouts, including ballhandling and conditioning drills, we feel we’re accomplishing this on another level.”
Another level may be an understatement.
Dr. Dish customers include thousands of high schools, top-notch trainers (Drew Hanlen, DJ Sackmann, Jordan Lawley), blue-chip college programs (Duke, North Carolina, Florida, Texas A&M), NBA teams (Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers) and players (Zach LaVine, Mike Conley Jr, Langston Galloway).
As Dr. Dish continues to build out its user base, the aim is to provide more comprehensive leaderboards, challenges and competitions to increase player engagement. For example, a player in Australia can now compete with a player in Florida within the same workout and actually have verified results.
“We’re most excited about the comprehensive training analytics our machine and app provide, as well as a library of world-class trainers that we’ve partnered with to provide the best instruction at your fingertips,” says Jefferson Mason, Dr. Dish Marketing Lead. “You can now literally watch trainers like Drew Hanlen break down a pro-level move and then execute it in a complete workout using the Dr. Dish.”
And Dr. Dish is just getting started.
“While we remain very proud of the products we’ve created and the brand and community we’ve built,” Mason says, “we also know we have a ton more work to do and look forward to the journey.”
