A2Z acquires the assets of Marcraft Recreation Corporation

There was a new/old “player” in the manufacturing ranks of the platform world. A2Z, headed by President David Kjeldsen, had transformed itself from Marcraft ‘s largest retail distributor into a manufacturer/wholesaler of platform equipment, by purchasing the assets of Marcraft Recreation Corporation’s domestic platform tennis division in April 1995.

At the time Marcraft was just a paddle manufacturer. They had been a ball manufacturer for a while in the 1970s (Big M yellow and red balls) but had stopped production and had become a reseller of the game’s dominant ball, Hedstom’s Vittert V30.

When Hedstrom sold their ball manufacturing business to Wilson – see Wilson Acquires Hedstrom Ball Business – this created an issue for A2Z (renamed Viking Athletics in 1996) as Wilson refused to allow them to continue selling the V30 ball as they were now a competitor in the paddle market. This forced A2Z to develop their own ball