My Biz: Marion basketball company goes beyond the net

MARION — Jeff Haefner and his brother Joe co-founded Breakthrough Basketball in 2006. Back then, it simply was a single-page website offering instructional e-books for youth basketball coaches.

'I had experience with Internet marketing and starting up businesses,' Haefner said. 'I just had this vision about sharing basketball knowledge, so my brother and I started this on the side to sell instructional DVDs and e-books to coaches.'

Breakthrough Basketball continues to offer e-books and DVDs for coaches and players, but now also offers apps and player development basketball camps all over the country.

'The camps started locally,' Haefner said, noting that there are upward of 200 camps per year. 'We are growing fast with the camps. We've been very lucky with the coaches we've gotten for those and we continually work to improve those camps and what we offer.

The website continues to gain popularity as well.

'It's a go-to resources for coaches to get drills, plays, defenses, offenses, and more,' Haefner said, noting the site has had something like 3.5 million unique visitors in the last 12 months.

Based out of home offices (Haefner's is in Marion), the company has expanded to include five full-time employees, who develop and promote all of Breakthrough Basketball's products and initiatives.

Haefner — who himself is a volunteer basketball coach for his 11-year-old daughter's team — is in charge of most of the company's marketing.

'And I do help with product development when I happen to be the brainchild for that particular product,' he added.

While other team members run the camps, Haefner said he likes to stop by when we can.

'It's my job to make sure the company is going in the direction it should be, that we stick with our mission,' he said.

That mission, he said, revolves around player development.

'Coaches can get Xs and Os and all sorts of strategies from us, but that's not what we hang our hat on,' said Haefner. 'Through sports, you can have a positive impact on people. Those kids listen to every word their coach says, so we really focus on positive impact coaching. There are lots of opportunities to teach teamwork. They are great life lessons that you can apply to school, relationships, work and more. We can't necessarily make money off these ideals, but we incorporate them into our products because we want coaches to think about doing things the right way.'

Breakthrough Basketball develops and offers products and camps for a variety of age levels, spanning from about age 7 on up through high school and college (although college and professional markets are a smaller segment of what they do.)

'We have developed a good amount of trust in the market,' Haefner said. 'We would like to be the place you go for whatever you need for coaching or playing basketball. We want to continue to be a trusted source.'

AT A GLANCE

Name: Jeff Haefner

Title: Co-Owner

Company: Breakthrough Basketball

Address: Marion

Phone: (866) 846-7892

Website: http://www.breakthroughcamps.com and https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/store/

Know a company in business for more than a year that would make an ideal My Biz? Contact Francie Williamson at francie.williamson@thegazette.com