Abstract
According to the various features characteristics and embodiments of the present invention which will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds, the present invention provides partial hand covers and the use of said covers, intended to increase the overall performance in sports activities. More specifically, the present invention offers strategic openings in select areas of the palm, creating substantial and significant advantages for the user, in playing the sports of football, golf and basketball.
Claims
1. A basketball glove comprising: a partial palmless glove, said partial palmless glove having a palmar portion that is adapted to overlay a palm of a user's hand, said glove having one opening extending in a middle of the palmar portion of the glove and is adapted to expose a user's palm to touch a basketball when the glove is worn; wherein said one opening is the only opening along the glove palmar portion; wherein said one opening has a diamond shape having an upper first edge, an upper second edge, a lower first edge and a lower second edge; said lower second edge adapted to abut but not expose a thumb bulge of the user's palm; wherein said one opening upper first edge and said upper second edge are adapted to not expose any portion of a palmar digital crease area of the user's hand.
2. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove is absent of any digital segments thereby completely exposing a thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger of the wearer's hand when the glove is worn.
3. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove palmar portion comprises of a grip enhancing means that is adapted to overlay a metacarpophalangeal joint of the user's forefinger, a metacarpophalangeal joint of the user's ring finger, and a metacarpophalangeal joint of the user's pinkie finger when the glove is worn; and, wherein said grip enhancing means is configured to create a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove body material forming the glove body palmar portion.
4. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove further comprises of a dorsal portion that is adapted to overlay a back of the user's hand, said glove dorsal and palmar portions each having distal and proximal ends; wherein said basketball glove having distal ends such that the user's thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger are each exposed and uncovered by the glove; and, wherein said glove body palmar and dorsal portions each having a hypothenar eminence section that is adapted to overlay a hypothenar eminence of the user's hand when the glove is worn.
5. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove further comprises a grip-enhancing means that is positioned along a top portion of the glove palmar portion and is adapted to increase grip along said top portion, thereby allowing the user to better control a basketball when the glove is worn by increasing grip along said top portion as compared to the surrounding palmar portion; said grip enhancing means comprising of a plurality of projections configured to create a higher coefficient than a surrounding glove body material forming the glove palmar portion.
6. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove palmar portion has a thumb bulge portion that is configured to overlay a thumb bulge of the user's hand.
7. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one opening is the only opening on the glove palmar portion overlaying the user's palm; and wherein said palmar portion further comprises a grip enhancing means consisting of a plurality of depressions.
8. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove palmar portion has a top portion; said top portion comprising of a grip-enhancing means that is configured to create a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove palmar portion, thereby increasing the grip capabilities of the user along said palmar top portion when the glove is worn; and, wherein said basketball glove further comprises a glove body having a dorsal portion adapted to overlay a back of the user's hand; said glove dorsal and palmar portions comprising distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments projecting from said distal ends, wherein the proximal ends of the glove dorsal and palmar portions collectively define a glove body proximal end, and the distal ends of the glove dorsal and palmar portions collectively define a glove body distal end; wherein said basketball glove distal ends are adapted to expose and uncover the user's thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger when the glove is worn.
9. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said glove palmar portion has a top portion; said top portion comprising of a grip-enhancing means that is adapted to create a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove palmar portion, thereby increasing the grip capabilities of the user along said palmar top portion when the glove is worn; wherein said grip-enhancing means consists of PVC dots.
10. The basketball glove as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one opening is positioned such that said diamond shape opening is widest in a middle of the opening and is narrowest at a north and a south endpoint.
11. A sports glove to assist a user to shoot a basketball properly, comprising a partial palmless glove, said partial palmless glove having a palmar portion for overlaying an entire palm of the user's hand, said glove having one opening extending across a middle area of the palm of the user's hand and adapted to extend in said middle area of the palmar portion of the glove thereby exposing the entire middle of the user's palm; said palm one opening having a size to expose a user's palm to touch the basketball when the glove is worn; wherein said one opening is the only opening along the glove palmar portion of substantial size to enable the skin of the user's exposed palm to touch the basketball; wherein said one opening has a diamond shape with a upper first edge, a upper second edge, a lower first edge and a lower second edge; said lower second edge is adapted to abut but not expose a thumb bulge of the user's palm; wherein said one opening upper first edge and said upper second edge do not expose any portion of a palmar digital crease area of the user's hand when the glove is worn; and, wherein said glove palmar portion is adapted to overlay a thumb metacarpophalangeal joint, a forefinger metacarpophalangeal joint, a ring finger metacarpophalangeal joint, and a pinkie finger metacarpophalangeal joint when the glove is worn; wherein said one opening is positioned along the palmar portion such that said opening extends to leave exposed only a shooter's gap region of the user's palm, and thereby allowing the user to focus attention on maintaining the shooter's gap region from touching the basketball while shooting the basketball, and providing instant feedback if said shooter's gap is breached by the basketball touching an exposed palm portion when the glove is worn.
12. The sports glove as claimed in claim 11, wherein said glove palmar top portion comprises of a grip-enhancing means that creates a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove palmar portion, thereby increasing the grip capabilities of the user along said palmar top portion when the glove is worn; wherein said grip enhancing means does not extend beyond said glove palmar top portion such that the remaining palmar portion is free of said grip enhancing means.
13. The sports glove as claimed in claim 11, wherein said glove having open distal ends adapted to entirely expose and uncover the user's thumb, forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger are each entirely exposed and uncovered by the glove when the glove is worn.
14. The sports glove as claimed in claim 11, wherein said basketball glove palmar top portion further comprises of a grip-enhancing means; wherein said grip-enhancing means is adapted to increase a grip along metacarpophalangeal joints of the user's palm when gripping a basketball with the shooting hand using a preferred shooting grip; wherein said grip enhancing means is adapted to create a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove palmar portion material.
15. The use of the sports glove as claimed in claim 11 in the sport of basketball.
16. The sports glove as claimed in claim 11, wherein said one opening is on the middle area of the palm area of the glove; and wherein said one opening second lower edge follows a thumb bulge crease of the user's hand when the glove is worn; and wherein said sports glove has open distal ends such that the user's thumb, ring finger, forefinger, middle finger, and pinkie finger are each exposed by the glove when the glove is worn; and glove palmar top portion comprises of a grip-enhancing means consisting of a plurality of projections; plurality of projections being configured to create a higher coefficient of friction than a surrounding glove palmar portion, thereby increasing the grip capabilities of the user along said palmar portion when the glove is worn; wherein said grip enhancing means does not extend beyond said glove palmar top portion such that the remaining palmar portion is free of said grip enhancing means; wherein said opening extends to leave exposed only the middle of the user's palm defining a basketball shooter's gap region, and thereby allowing a user to focus attention on maintaining a shooter's gap region while shooting the basketball, and providing immediate feedback if the shooter's gap region is breached by allowing said basketball to touch the exposed shooter's gap region of the user's palm when the glove is worn.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWING
(1) It is expressly understood that the following descriptions and drawing are for illustration purposes only, and in no way are intended to limit the scope of the present invention and its various embodiments. For example, the drawings are of drawings of embodiments for the left hand but can easily be created for the right hand, and can be used by men and women, boy and girls.
(2) FIG. 1 is a drawing of a first embodiment, palmar side.
(3) FIG. 2 is a drawing of a second embodiment, palmar side.
(4) FIG. 3 is a drawing of a third embodiment, palmar side.
(5) FIG. 4 is a drawing of a fourth embodiment, palmar side.
(6) FIG. 5 is a drawing of a fifth embodiment, palmar side.
(7) FIG. 6 is a drawing of a sixth embodiment, palmar side.
(8) FIG. 7 is a drawing showing where the hand of a quarterback generally touches a football.
(9) FIG. 8 is a drawing showing the three basic way a golf club crosses the palm area of a user.
(10) FIG. 9 is a drawing of a typical way of gripping a golf putter.
(11) FIG. 10 is a drawing of the first embodiment, dorsal side.
(12) FIG. 11 is a drawing of the second embodiment, dorsal side.
(13) FIG. 12 is a drawing of the third embodiment, dorsal side.
(14) FIG. 13 is a drawing of the fourth embodiment, dorsal side.
(15) FIG. 14 is a drawing of the fifth embodiment, dorsal side.
(16) FIG. 15 is a drawing of the sixth embodiment, dorsal side.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(17) It is expressly understood that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
(18) In FIG. 1 & FIG. 10, the present invention is shown as a partial-fingered glove 1. This particular glove could be made of cabretta leather to offer moisture and perspiration resistance. The Thumb 9 and Forefingers 10 are entirely covered by the glove thumb stall 9 and forefinger stall 10, respectively. The Middle Finger 11 is also entirely covered by the glove middle finger stall 11. The Ring 16 and Pinkie Fingers 12 are both entirely uncovered. Substantially the middle of the palm is uncovered 13 by providing a recess that is adapted to extend substantially along the middle of the user's palm when the glove is worn. The recess 13 in the palm leaves uncovered the center of the palm 100 and extends all the way down through the heel crease 14. It has a length of up to 2 inches and a width of up to 1.5 inches, narrowing down as it approaches the wrist crease 101. This embodiment leaves a larger opening 13 which could be used particularly during drills, whereby even a slight violation of allowing the basketball to touch the palm area, would be felt. This embodiment also has PVC dots 102 along the fingers enclosed by the glove as well as along the top portion of the palm 104, thereby significantly increasing control of a basketball. The glove preferably also comprises of other grip-enhancing of materials forms and designs such as, but not limited to, grooves, foams, fabrics or combinations thereof. The novel features of this embodiment allow a player to focus her attention on maintaining a shooters gap while attempting a shot, and provides for instant feedback if said gap is breached and the shot violates the gap and touches the open area of the palm 13. The palmar (front) view of the glove 1 is drawn in FIG. 1 and the dorsal (back) view of the same glove is drawn in FIG. 10.
(19) In FIG. 2 & FIG. 11, the present invention is shown as a partial-fingered glove 2. This particular glove can be made of polyester and cotton for superior comfort. The glove is configured such that the user's Thumb 20 and Forefingers 20 are entirely covered by the glove. In addition, the Middle 21, Ring 21 and Pinkie Fingers 21 are all partially covered, about one-third the way up the fingers, to about the first knuckle 21 by the glove. The glove is further configured such that the middle area of the palm 22 is open, but much more narrowly. The opening is substantially on the middle of the palm area, having a radius of up to about 1 inch, for example, thereby defining the boundary of the palm opening substantially on the middle of the user's palm. Similar embodiments could range from 0.5 to 1.25 inches in radius. This embodiment could be used in actual basketball game play, where the player would be alerted if he/she was using improper form, but only if the violation was severe by the exposed palm portion of the user's hand. This embodiment can also have a grip enhancing means design, in the form of grooves for example, along the perimeter 123 of the open palm. It is made of perspirant-resistant materials and spandex. The embodiment, for example, could further comprise a weather-resistant and perspirant-resistant forms and designs including water-resistant materials 124 or hole designs for moisture management, or combinations thereof. The glove can have grooves throughout said fingertip 23 to further enhance grip. Furthermore, it has PVC dots 125 across the top of the palm, to increase grip along the top of the user's palm. It is circular in shape. The grip enhancing means are adapted to provide a higher coefficient of friction than the surrounding glove body surface. This embodiment is most useful with actual game play by its unique glove structure by exposing a critical portion of the middle of the user's palm as well as completely exposing the user's ring finger and pinkie finger when the glove is worn. The palmar (front) view of the glove 2 is drawn in FIG. 2 and the dorsal (back) view of the same glove is drawn in FIG. 11.
(20) In FIG. 3 & FIG. 12, the present invention is shown as an all open-fingered glove 3. The inside palm area 31 is uncovered and is a diamond shape, yet still substantially in the middle of the palm area of the user's hand when the glove is worn. It follows the edge of the thumb bulge 130 but not on it 32. Furthermore, it is bounded by the palmar digital crease area 33 and the hypothenar eminence 34. In addition, has a highlighted area along the perimeter of the opening 35, so that trainers can more easily see if violation taking place. This embodiment can further comprise of other various types of materials, forms, and designs aforementioned including stretch materials and designs, mesh fabrics, recycled and flexible materials, cottons, rayon, spandex, fleece, leathers and synthetic leathers, rubbers, plastics, polyester, or combinations thereof. This embodiment might be particularly attractive to the amateur and intermediate basketball players who want to ensure proper shooting form is being executed. Additionally, these players would also appreciate the grip enhancer capabilities having a grip enhancer 236 along the top portion 36 of the palm, where the basketball often touches the hand and is used to maneuver the basketball.
(21) FIG. 4 & FIG. 13 shows an embodiment as a partial-fingered, palmless glove 4. Specifically, the thumb 40, forefinger 41 and middle fingers 42 are essentially entirely covered when the glove is worn. The ring finger 43 and pinkie finger 44 are completely uncovered when the glove is worn. Furthermore, the palm is partially open 45. The length of the palm opening is up to about 3 inches in length and up to about 1.5 inches in width. This embodiment is critically valuable to those golfers who grip a golf club positioned along the N path 82 as shown in FIG. 8 & FIG. 9 Note that the top of the grip 200 lies below the hypothenar muscle bulge and that it lies in the lower palm between the hypothenar eminence 141 and the base of the middle finger 142. Note that the grip also lies diagonally across the lower palm so that it crosses the proximal phalanx of the middle finger. When the fingers are closed around the golf club handle, three fingers (middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger) of the non-dominant handthe non-dominant hand(3rd, 4th, 5th fingers) are primarily responsible for gripping the club grip firmly in the left hand. The index finger lies more loosely across the grip. One should remember that the non-dominant hand golf grip is primarily a three-finger grip, and not a palm grip. The non-dominant 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers are primarily responsible for gripping the club, and the grip pressure should be firmit should not be possible to pull the grip end of the club out of the non-dominant hand if another person pulls on the clubhead end of the club, and it should not be possible for that person to twist the club in one's one-dominant hand if he attempts to twist the clubhead end of the club. A golfer must maintain a solid hand grip (using the dominant 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers) should always be firm. The embodiment can comprise of various a weather-resistant and perspirant-resistant materials, forms and designs including, but not limited to, water-resistant materials or hole designs for moisture management, or combinations thereof and aforementioned. Referring more particularly to the embodiment drawing, the palmar (front) view of the glove is drawn in FIG. 4 and the dorsal (back) view of the same glove is drawn in FIG. 13. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 140, a palmar portion 47 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, said dorsal and palmar portions having distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments (or stalls) projecting from said distal ends. Additionally, the glove is configured such that a user's ring finger 43 and pinkie finger 44 may individually extend through said glove and expose the entire ring finger 43 and pinkie finger 44 when the glove is worn. The glove includes a glove body having a back portion covering the back of the hand 140, and a front portion covering substantially all of the palm or front of the hand 47. A critical portion of the user's palm is open and therefore uncovered 45 when the glove is worn thereby exposing the skin and significantly increasing tactile sensations along the exposed palm area. The palm opening extends to expose the lower palm, and is adapted to extend between the hypothenar eminence 141 and the base of the middle finger 142, thereby defining the boundary and location of the palm opening. The rest of the user's palm including the hypothenar eminence is therefore essentially completely covered by the glove palm portion. The glove body includes a forefinger stall 41 and a thumb stall 40 each adapted to receive a forefinger or thumb, respectively, therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the thumb digital segment 40, the forefinger digital segment 41 and the middle finger digital segment 42 enclose and completely cover the user's thumb, forefinger and middle finger in their entirety, including enclosing the fingertips. The glove does not comprise of finger stalls for a user's ring finger or pinkie finger. Therefore, the ring finger and pinkie fingers are both all completely uncovered when the glove is worn. In other words, the distal, middle and proximal phalanges of the user's ring and pinkie fingers are completely exposed when the glove is worn.
(22) FIG. 5 & FIG. 14 show another embodiment of the present invention 5. This embodiment is most useful for those uses who grip the golf club along the D line 81 as represented in FIG. 8. All of the user's fingers are essentially completely covered 50. The glove palmar portion comprises an opening that is adapted to expose a specific and important portion of the user's palm when the glove is worn. Specifically, the opening creates an open palm 51 which is opened just below the palmar digital crease 58, and can extend down up to 2.5 inches. This particular glove could be made of any glove forming material aforementioned, such as cabretta leather 52, for example, to offer moisture and perspiration resistance. The thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger of the user's hand are all entirely covered by the glove thumb stall 53, forefinger stall 54, middle finger stall 55, ring finger stall 56, and pinkie finger stall 57, respectively. The glove palmar portion opening exposes the palm 51 of the user and is opened just below the palmar digital crease 58, and can extend down up to 2.5 inches. A critical portion of the user's palm is thereby exposed thereby creating heightened tactile sensitivities along the exposed palm area. The length of the palm opening extends across the user's palm along and exposes the D path 151 when the glove is worn. The remaining portion of the user's palm is covered including the user's hypothenar 152 and thus without said opening. Continuing to describe the embodiment from a more technical perspective, the palmar (front) view of the glove embodiment is drawn in FIG. 5 and the dorsal (back) view of the same glove is drawn in FIG. 14. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 150, a palmar portion 59 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, said dorsal and palmar portions having distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments (or stalls) projecting from said distal ends. The glove includes a glove body having a back portion covering the back of the hand, and a front portion covering substantially all of the palm or front of the hand. The glove body includes a thumb stall 53, a forefinger stall 54, a middle finger stall 55, a ring finger stall 56, and a pinkie finger stall 57 each adapted to receive a thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, and pinkie finger of the user's hand, respectively, therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the thumb digital segment 53, the forefinger digital segment 54, the middle finger segment 55, the ring finger segment 56 and the pinkie finger digital segment 57 enclose the user's thumb, forefinger and middle finger in their entirety, including enclosing the fingertips of the thumb and fingers of the user's hand.
(23) FIG. 6 and FIG. 15 draw another embodiment of the present invention of a glove 7 with an opening along the palmar side of the glove.
(24) This embodiment is most useful for those uses who grip the golf club along the C path line 83 as represented in FIG. 8. This is also referred to as a mid-palmar grip pattern, because it runs across the middle of the user's palm, and it lies across/over the hypothenar eminence (heel pad) 69. The palm opening would, therefore, mimic this path 60. The opening length would be up to about 4 inches, to be able to cross most of the palm in a diagonal fashion. The width of the opening can be up about 1.5 inches (thinner than FIG. 5 because these embodiments would not be applicable to other sports, such as football). The thumb 61, forefinger 62 and middle finger 63 of the user's hand are all essentially completely covered when the glove is worn. The user's ring finger has its fingertip uncovered 64. The user's pinkie finger top two joints are also uncovered 65. Describing this embodiment from a more technical perspective, the palmar (front) view of this glove embodiment is drawn in FIG. 6 and the dorsal (back) view of the same glove is drawn in FIG. 15. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 66, a palmar portion 67 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, said dorsal and palmar portions having distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments (or stalls) projecting from said distal ends. The glove includes a glove body having a back portion covering the back of the hand 66, and a front portion covering substantially all of the palm or front of the hand 67. The glove body includes a thumb stall 68, a forefinger stall 69, a middle finger stall 70, a ring finger stall 71, and a pinkie finger stall 72 each adapted to receive a thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, and pinkie finger respectively, therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the thumb stall, the forefinger stall and the middle finger stall enclose the user's thumb, forefinger and middle finger in their entirety, including enclosing the fingertips. In other words, the distal, middle and proximal phalanges of the user's thumb, forefinger and middle fingers are all completely covered when the glove is worn. Additionally, the glove further comprises of ring finger stall 71 that is designed to expose the user's fingertip when the glove is worn. The ring finger stall is therefore designed to overlay the proximal and middle phalanges of the user's ring finger but leaves the distal phalanx (the fingertip) uncovered. Additionally, the glove further comprises of pinkie finger stall 72 that is designed to expose the user's top two joints 65 when the glove is worn. The pinkie finger stall is therefore designed to overlay the user's proximal phalanx when the glove is worn.
(25) FIG. 7 is a related art drawing showing where the hand of a quarterback generally touches a football. The shaded areas 160 designate where the football is supposed to touch a quarterbacks throwing hand. Providing an opening on and below the palmar digital crease 161 would therefore provide significant feel opportunities with the standard football grip.
(26) FIG. 8 is a drawing showing the three basic ways a golf club crosses the palm area of a user.
(27) The D line represents what is called a distance grip pattern. This grip pattern is often described as a finger grip pattern. As the title suggests, this grip is maintained on and just below the fingers.
(28) The N line represents what is called a neutral grip pattern. It is also called a low palmar grip pattern, because the grip lies across the low palm, and it is below the hypothenar eminence (heel pad) 141.
(29) The C line represents what is called a control grip pattern. It is also referred to as a mid-palmar grip pattern, because it runs across the middle of the left palm, and it lies across/over the hypothenar eminence (heel pad) 141.
(30) FIG. 9 is a drawing of a typical way of gripping a golf putter. It shows how providing a glove with a strategically placed opening on the palm would allow a golfer to be able to feel the putter and not have to therefore remove the glove.
(31) FIG. 10 is the dorsal (back) view of embodiment 1, and the palmar view of the same embodiment is shown in FIG. 1. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 8, a palmar portion 7 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, said dorsal and palmar portions having distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments (or stalls) projecting from said distal ends. Additionally, two separate openings or ringlets 18, 19 are provided on said distal ends, such that a user's ring finger 16 and pinkie finger 12 may individually extend through said glove and expose the entire ring finger and pinkie finger when the glove is worn. The glove includes a glove body having a back portion covering the back of the hand 8, and a front portion covering substantially all of the palm or front of the hand 7. The glove body includes a forefinger stall 10 and a thumb stall 9 each adapted to receive a forefinger or thumb, respectively, therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the thumb digital segment 9, the forefinger digital segment 10 and the middle finger digital segment 11 enclose the user's thumb, forefinger and middle finger in their entirety, including enclosing the fingertips. The glove does not comprise of finger stalls for a user's ring finger or pinkie finger. The distal ends of the dorsal portion 8 and palmar portion 7 of the glove body further provides two separate finger openings (or ringlets) 17, 18, where the user's ring finger and pinkie finger may extend through said glove body and thereby being completely uncovered by said glove body.
(32) Therefore, the ring finger and pinkie fingers are both all completely uncovered when the glove is worn. In other words, the distal, middle and proximal phalanges of the user's ring and pinkie fingers are completely exposed.
(33) FIG. 11 is the dorsal (back) view of embodiment 2, and the palmar view of the same embodiment is shown in FIG. 2. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 25, a palmar portion 24 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, said dorsal and palmar portions having distal and proximal ends with a plurality of digital segments (or stalls) projecting from said distal ends. The glove includes a glove body having a back portion covering the back of the hand 25, and a front portion covering substantially all of the palm or front of the hand 24. The glove body includes a thumb stall and a forefinger stall each adapted to receive a thumb 120 and forefinger 128, respectively, therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the glove thumb digital segment and forefinger digital segment enclose the user's thumb 120 and forefinger 128 in their entirety, including enclosing the fingertips. In addition, the glove is also constructed such that the glove middle finger, Ring finger and the Pinkie Finger digital segments 21 are adapted to each partially cover the respective finger of the user's hand, about one-third the way up the fingers, to about the first knuckle. In other words, the middle finger digital segment, the ring finger digital segment and the pinkie finger digital segment each extend to cover the user's proximal phalanx of the user's middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger when the glove is worn. Therefore, the distal and middle phalanges of the user's middle finger 121 is uncovered, the distal and middle phalanges of the user's ring finger 122 is uncovered, and the distal and middle phalanges of the user's pinkie finger 126 is uncovered when the glove is worn.
(34) FIG. 12 is the dorsal (back) view of embodiment 3, and the palmar view of the same embodiment is shown in FIG. 3. This partial-fingered embodiment provides a glove having a dorsal portion 38, a palmar portion 37 for overlaying respective back and palm regions of a human hand, In the illustrated embodiment, the glove is constructed such that the user's forefinger is uncovered 135, the user's middle finger is uncovered 136, the user's ring finger is uncovered 137 and the user's pinkie finger is uncovered 138 when the glove is worn. In addition, this embodiment provides a grip enhancer along the top portion of the palm area.
(35) More specifically, for example, the grip-enhancing means of this embodiment is adapted to overlay the metacarpophalangeal joints of the user's forefinger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie finger 231 when the glove is worn. The textured grip-enhancing means does not extend beyond said metacarpophalangeal joints thereby leaving the rest of the palm free of said grip enhancing means. The grip enhancing means may comprise of a plurality of projections 236, such as PVC dots for example. Providing a grip enhancing means along this portion of the palm will significantly enhance grip capabilities for the user, and leaving the rest of the palm portion free of the grip enhancing means will allow the rest of the palm to more easily flex and stretch by not being burdened by the added texturing.
(36) As aforementioned, the glove has one discreet opening, and this one opening is adapted to extend substantially in a middle of the palmar portion of the glove and is substantially in the middle of the glove palmar portion, positioned such that it exposes the middle of the user's palm when the glove is worn. The one opening follows the edge of the thumb bulge 130 but not on it 32. It is extremely important that the one palm opening is positioned to expose substantially only the middle of the user's palm and of a size such that it enables the skin of the user's palm to touch a basketball when the glove is worn, while simultaneously provided added grip along the thumb bulge by covering it.
(37) As aforementioned in the specification, a critical benefit here is the ability to quickly assess her shot and therefore being able to adjust accordingly by only exposing the shooter's gap area of the user's hand. The benefits of this glove include the ability to enhance the senses around the uncovered palm (relative to the other parts of the hand which are covered) so that the basketball player could more easily know when the basketball is touching the palm, generally indicating bad shooting form. The palm opening can vary in size and shape as long as it doesn't extend significantly beyond substantially the middle of the palm area. Having multiple openings or a much wider opening could diminish tactile sensitivities along the shooter's gap area, a principal objective and advantage of the present invention.
