Shoot 360 to open in Hiawatha

HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Construction is still underway, but there’s a lot of excitement among the staff about a new basketball facility coming to Hiawatha.

“It’s very exciting obviously, to see all the progress that’s been made and to finally bring people from the outside into our facility,” Shoot 350 general manager Carson Parker said.

It’s called Shoot 360.

“It’s a very advanced basketball training facility, that utilizes a lot of technology to help athletes train and get better in basketball,” owner Jeremy Gomez said. “From shooting, to ball handling, passing, to decision-making - just all areas of the game.”

It will be one of more than 40 locations in the United States. Gomez said he and his wife were first introduced to Shoot 360 when they took their three sons to one in Indianapolis.

“It’s one of those kind of things you just have to see for yourself,” he said.

Gomez knows it can be hard to find an open gym in the Cedar Rapids area. A place like this, provides hoopers an opportunity to put up shots in a certain amount of time without having to chase their own ball.

“Here you can come in for an hour and shoot and you have the automated machine. It will kick the ball back out to you and you’re getting about 300 plus shots up in a half an hour,” Gomez explained, “You’re getting a lot more repetition, a lot more quality shots up in that 30 minutes compared to going to the YMCA or the gym for a whole hour.”

The local facility will feature six shooting stations, six skill courts and a half court. It’s advanced skill training is used by the best players in the country.

“Only Shoot 360 facilities have access to this technology, as well as the NBA and WNBA teams. It’s a patented technology for Shoot 360. To be able to offer that to people around the Cedar Rapids area, is a game changer,” Parker said.

As a former collegiate player and 2018 graduate of Upper Iowa, Parker wishes a place like Shoot 360 was around when he was growing up.

“It is kind mind blowing once you get to use it and see what they have to offer,” he said. “That would have been awesome as a kid growing up.”

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