I've only ever had the traditional foam balls from Nerf, the turbos and all. They hold a certain nostalgia for me, since as a kid, those are all we played with and they made us feel like NFL QBs allowing us to launch the balls into space (or so it felt). With my daughter (1st grade) starting flag football, I wanted something we could throw around to help her develop her skills and build up her confidence in catching and passing without being scared of a hard football. This has been the perfect size (got the smaller one), has great grip and feel, and is soft enough (but not foam soft) to not be scary when the ball comes a little faster. We love this ball and she's doing amazing learning the skills she needs to play well. BTW – i can still launch this ball into space and pretty soon, she will too.