Go the distance — without risk or fear of injury

Those that know me are aware that I'm a man of great passion and belief. The core passions that have driven me to this stage in the development of iSPARR are my family and the sport of boxing.

I boxed as an amateur for many years and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my career. When it sadly but inevitably became time to 'hang up the gloves' I began to coach my young son Nathan to see if I could help him to develop his style, his technique, and more importantly, to obtain the enormous pleasure I had from the sport.

It was during this important time in my life that I suffered the devastating and life-altering challenge of a stroke.

Anyone who has experience of the condition, whether personally or through witnessing other family members, will realise that almost everything changes and new ways have to be found to take on even the simplest of life tasks.

My own father had been a great influence on me and on reflection, the two most relevant pieces of advice that he gave me were first, 'always tell the truth', and secondly that 'every challenge brings opportunity.' I have increasingly become aware of the significance of that advice in recent years.

Prior to the stroke my son Nathan had continued to make great progress as a boxer. I was so proud of him and was desperately keen to help him realise his dreams and to be at his side during his boxing journey. As you can imagine, my medical condition soon limited my involvement. I became increasingly aware of my limitations and to be entirely honest, felt great frustration and even despair at my inability to play a meaningful part in his boxing development.

What I did notice, however, was that I began to view things from a different perspective, because I now had to, and that significant change eventually altered my entire approach to coaching.

Quite obviously, I couldn't coach Nathan in the way I used to, so one day, out of complete frustration, I brought the sparring bag out from the garage and set it up on top of the kitchen island.

That simple act brought about a fundamental change in how I viewed his style, technique, and most importantly his footwork. My brain was racing with ideas as I tried to fully comprehend the possibilities this different perspective gave me as a coach. The change of position provided me with a 360-degree view of Nathan's performance and it became obvious that all I had to do now was to create a piece of equipment that would enable every other boxing coach to do the same.

The distance between the initial inspiration and the development of a fully functioning product is however enormous, and I hadn't understood how enormous it was until I tried. It was also staggeringly expensive and every aspect brought about its own significant challenges. The composition of the bag, the cover, the mechanisms were all unique and they all had to be tried and tested, and funds found to do so.

There were many times when I experienced great doubt and genuinely tried to find reasons why I should quit, but the more I thought about it the more obvious to me it became that this product was entirely revolutionary and would change the coaching landscape forever. I couldn't possibly give up now.

I thought once more of my dad's advice to me about finding the opportunity from the challenge, and with the overwhelming support of my friends and family I continued to work to find the solutions to the problems and to eventually create the iSPARR system.

I sincerely believe that iSPARR is the next generation in the development of boxing. I also believe, even more significantly, that as the system has evolved, its applications and relevance to all areas of self defence and fitness have become increasingly evident, and that no other system can offer the user an experience that is anywhere near as inclusive.

As a person who has experienced the debilitating effects of stroke, I am able to see clearly the enormous potential iSPARR has to help people in their journey towards rehabilitation.

I am absolutely passionate to help others and to enable people of all abilities to experience the life-changing benefits of the iSPARR Well-being System.

I simply ask that you try it for yourselves and unlock the potential of this unique system to improve your fitness and wellbeing.

As my dad wisely said to me, ‘tell the truth!’ This is it!

Joe Heaney