An apparatus for racket sports practice (such as tennis, pickle ball, padel, squash, racquet ball, table tennis and the like) is disclosed. The apparatus being comprised of a tubular frame, lightweight cloth, a swivel bounce board and unique side shields that prevent balls from straying. The curved area of the rebound sheet allows users to hit balls into the apparatus and have them returned at various speeds and angles. The apparatus being of such a size that, when broken down after practice, can be easily transported by a single person. An object of the invention is to provide an affordable means for racket sports enthusiasts to practice independently.

A sports ball carrier is configured to fit inside a storage bag with ball rackets. The carrier may store sports balls in a substantially planar array that is one sports ball thick, and the width of the carrier may taper along its length generally simulating a racket form factor. A sports ball entry port may be provided for ball collection in a manner similar to a conventional ball hopper.

A sealed plastic container having an airtight chamber. The container includes an elongated body portion having at least one opening and at least one enclosure portion welded to the opening of the body portion, thereby hermetically sealing the chamber. The chamber may have a pressure above atmospheric pressure. The enclosure portion and the body portion may be biodegradable.

A ball retriever assembly for retrieving and storing balls includes a hopper body defining a hollow storage space therein and at least one attachment configured for removable coupling to the hopper body. Each of the attachments includes a retrieval structure configured for unidirectional passage of one of the balls through the corresponding one of the attachments. A lid is configured for removable coupling to the hopper body as well as each of the attachments. The lid is adjustable between a ball retrieval configuration wherein the lid encloses an end of the hollow storage space and a ball removal configuration wherein the lid forms a stand for maintaining an upright and open configuration of the hopper body. The different attachments configured for removable coupling to the hopper body allow for the unidirectional passage of different ranges of outer ball diameters.

A device for practicing hitting a ball may comprise a bat and a flag portion. The bat may comprise a bat stick comprising a bat handle and a bat barrel coupled to the bat handle; and a weight coupled to the bat barrel. The bat may comprise a rigid material. The flag portion may comprise a flag coupled to the bat barrel, wherein the flag is configured to extend from the bat barrel. The flag may comprise a flimsy material.

An exercise rating and improvement system comprising: a feature amount extraction unit for extracting, from information obtained from a subject, a feature amount about exercise efficiency; an rating unit for rating exercise efficiency of the subject by comparing the extracted feature amount and a feature amount to be compared; and an improvement information providing unit for providing, on the basis of the rating result, information such that the feature amount of the subject approaches the feature amount to be compared.

A sports and performance media positional detection system, comprising: at least two elements, with at least one element involved in the sporting activity; a power source; and machine-to-machine communication, which are collectively arranged such that if any two or more elements interact, their electromagnetic properties can be detected thus allowing the position of the interacting elements to be communicated to a decision maker. The system can be applied to at least one stationary element, which can be the playing surface, lines defining the boundaries, or a set of goalposts; and at least one moving element, which could be a ball, footwear, or the participants themselves. The system can also be applied to performance media capture.

A racket dampener swing sensor apparatus to obtain measurements of parameters relative to the player's performance while reducing vibration includes a dampener body having a body front side, a body back side, and a body perimeter. The body perimeter has a string channel to selectively engage a plurality of strings of a tennis racket. The dampener body absorbs vibration from the plurality of strings. An accelerometer and a microcontroller with memory are coupled within the dampener body to measure hit velocity for each shot type (forehand, backhand, serve, topspin, slice, or flat). A vibration sensor is provided to detect when a ball is struck. A transceiver is coupled within the dampener body to wirelessly communicate with an app on a smartphone or computer. A battery is coupled within the dampener body and a charge port is in operational communication with the battery.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to sport's equipment comprising of “thin film” and “flexible electronics” that mimic and conform to the assembly components of traditional, non-interactive, sport's equipment. The layers of the equipment contain electrical and computing circuits in the form of one or more of an active mesh, active stitching, and/or active piping that mimics components otherwise made of leather, fabric, yarn or other non-conductive materials of a sport's equipment. Further provided for is the use of a suitable wireless technology to transmit the data collected by the digitally active implements to an external computer, which is capable of receiving the data to perform a simulation or computation for a sporting exercise.

A tennis ball retriever for retrieving a tennis ball on and about a tennis court and for controllably releasing the ball includes a front-end ball collector having two spaced-apart blades defining a ball collection space. The retriever includes a means for gripping and securing a ball positioned at the fore end, and one or more detents for retaining the collected ball in the collection space until a programmed or manually-directed release toward a target location such as a tennis baseline. The retriever includes a processor-controller for controlling and directing the retriever during a retrieval session. The retriever may be remote-controlled such as by voice commands.