ATHLETIC TRAINING SYSTEM

Abstract

An athletic training system may include, but is not limited to: a ball redirection portion including at least one angled surface; and a rebounding panel portion including a substantially planar structure. The at least one angled surface may be an arcuate surface and/or a planar surface angled relative to path of an incoming ball.

Claims

1. A athletic training system comprising: a ball redirection portion including at least one angled surface; and a rebounding panel portion including a substantially planar structure.

2. The athletic training system of claim 1, wherein the angled surface includes: an at least partially arcuate surface.

3. The athletic training system of claim 1, wherein the angled surface includes: at least one planar surface.

4. The athletic training system of claim 3, wherein the at least one planar surface includes: a plurality of planar surfaces.

5. The athletic training system of claim 1, further comprising: a first piece including the ball redirection portion; and a second piece including rebounding panel portion, wherein the first piece and the second piece are operably couplable.

6. The athletic training system of claim 5, wherein the first piece and the second piece are configured to interlock.

7. The athletic training system of claim 5, further comprising: at least one bolt configured to operably couple the first piece to the second piece.

8. The athletic training system of claim 5, further comprising: a hook layer disposed on a surface of the first piece; and a loop layer disposed on a surface of the second piece.

9. The athletic training system of claim 5, wherein the first piece including the ball redirection portion includes: a plurality of first pieces including a ball redirection portions, each of the plurality of first pieces including a ball redirection portions having a different height.

10. The athletic training system of claim 5, further comprising: a support stand.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates an environmental view of an athletic training system.

[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of an athletic training system.

[0006] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of an athletic training system.

[0007] FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of an athletic training system.

[0008] FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of a athletic training system.

[0009] FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of an athletic training system.

[0010] FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate cross-sectional views of an athletic training system.

[0011] FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate side view of an athletic training system.

[0012] FIG. 9 illustrates a side view of an athletic training system.

[0013] FIG. 10 illustrates a side view of an athletic training system.

[0014] FIG. 11 illustrates a side view of an athletic training system.

[0015] FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of an athletic training system.

[0016] FIGS. 13A-13C illustrates side views of an athletic training system.

[0017] FIGS. 14A-14B illustrate cross-sectional views of an athletic training system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] The present disclosure has been particularly shown and described with respect to certain embodiments and specific features thereof. The embodiments set forth herein are taken to be illustrative rather than limiting. It should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to the subject matter disclosed, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

[0019] Referring generally to FIGS. 1-14, an athletic training system 100 is described, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, a user 200 may direct an athletic ball 300 (e.g., a soccer ball, volleyball, basketball, baseball, etc.) towards the athletic training system 100. The athletic training system 100 may include various surfaces configured to receive, redirect, deflect, and/or rebound the ball 300 in a relatively randomized manner depending on the velocity and angle of impact of the ball 300 with those surfaces.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 2, the athletic training system 100 may include a forward ball redirection portion 101 configured to receive the ball 300 and change its path depending on an angle of impact with the redirection portion 101. The athletic training system 100 may further include a rear rebounding panel portion 102. The panel portion 102 may be substantially vertical (e.g., from 15 to +15 from vertical) planar structure so as to simply cause the ball 300 to rebound back in the opposite direction. The panel portion 102 may be adjustable (e.g., hinged) so as to allow for adjustment of the verticality of the panel portion 102. The redirection portion 101 may include a front surface 103, a top surface 104, and an angled surface 105 connecting the front surface 103 and the top surface 104. As shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment, the angled surface 105 may have an arcuate configuration where the angled surface 105 provides a consistent curvature between the front surface 103 and the top surface 104.

[0022] Referring to FIGS. 3-4, in another embodiment, the angled surface 105 may include one or more planar surfaces. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the angled surface 105 may including a single planar surface 105A between the front surface 103 and the top surface 104. Alternately, as shown in FIG. 4, the angled surface 105 may including a plurality of planar surfaces (e.g., planar surfaces 105A-1, 105A-2 and 105A-3) between the front surface 103 and the top surface 104, each of the plurality of planar surfaces defining a differing angle. The angles of the plurality of planar surfaces may be evenly distributed (e.g., offset in increments of 22.5 relative to the front surface 103 or top surface 104) or irregularly distributed (e.g., offset at 15, 35, and 65 relative to the front surface 103 or top surface 104).

[0023] Referring to FIGS. 5-8B, the athletic training system 100 may have a multi-piece construction with the respective pieces being configured to be coupled together via a coupling mechanism 106 to form the athletic training system 100. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the athletic training system 100 may include a first piece 107 comprising the redirection portion 101 and a second piece 108 comprising the panel portion 102. The first piece 107 and the second piece 108 may be configured to interlock so as to retain them in a substantially static orientation. In one embodiment, the first piece 107 may include a first hook-shaped portion 109 while the second piece 108 includes a cooperating second hook-shaped portion 110. As shown in FIG. 6, the first hook-shaped portion 109 of the first piece 107 may be inserted into a recess 111 of the second piece 108 defined by the second hook-shaped portion 110 in order to couple the first piece 107 to the second piece 108.

[0024] Referring to FIGS. 7A-7B, in another embodiment, the first piece 107 may include a threaded recess 112 while the second piece 108 includes co-aligned aperture 113. A threaded connecting bolt 114 may be inserted through the aperture 113 and secured within the threaded recess 112 so as to couple the first piece 107 to the second piece 108.

[0025] Referring to FIGS. 8A-8B, in another embodiment, the first piece 107 may include a first layer 115 of a hook-and-loop fastener system while the second piece 108 includes a second layer 116 of the hook-and-loop fastener system. When the first layer 115 and the second layer 116 are brought into contact they may couple the first piece 107 to second piece 108.

[0026] Referring to FIGS. 9-11, in additional embodiments, the athletic training system 100 may be a kit-type system having a single panel portion 102 and a plurality of redirection portions 101 (e.g., redirection portion 101A, redirection portion 101B, and redirection portion 101C). Each of the redirection portions 101 may have an angled surface 105 disposed at a different height 117 (e.g., height 117A, height 117B, or height 117C) relative to a support surface 118. The respective heights 117 of the redirection portions 101 may be configured to correspond to the dimensions of a given ball 300 such that a particular height 117 is below a center of gravity 119 of that ball 300. In such a configuration, the ball 300 will always be redirected in an at least partially upward direction upon impact with the redirection portions 101 so as to eventually impact the panel portion 102.

[0027] Referring to FIGS. 12-13C, in another embodiment, the athletic training system 100 may include a support system 120. The support system 120 may include a frame portion 121 configured to be received into one or more brackets 122 coupled to a rear surface of the panel portion 102. A frame member 123 of the frame portion 121 receivable within the brackets 122 may have circular cross-section so as to allow rotation of the frame portion 121 relative to the panel portion 102 to allow for more efficient transport and/or storage of the athletic training system 100.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 14A-14B, in an alternate embodiment, the support system 120 may include one or more pins 124 extending from the frame portion 121. The panel portion 102 may include one or more recesses 125 dimensioned to receive and frictionally retain the pins 124 to couple the frame portion 121 to the panel portion 102.

[0029] One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described components (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussion accompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptual clarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated. Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their more general classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended to be representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specific components (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be taken as limiting.

[0030] The previous description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention as provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. As used herein, directional/relational terms such as top, bottom, over, under, upper, upward, lower, down, downward, front, rear, and the like, are intended to provide relative positions for purposes of description, and are not intended to designate an absolute frame of reference. Various modifications to the described embodiments will be apparent to those with skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features herein disclosed.

[0031] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

[0032] It is further contemplated that each of the embodiments of the method described above may include any other step(s) of any other method(s) described herein. In addition, each of the embodiments of the method described above may be performed by any of the systems described herein.

[0033] The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively associated such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as associated with each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being connected, or coupled, to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being couplable, to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.

[0034] Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as open terms (e.g., the term including should be interpreted as including but not limited to, the term having should be interpreted as having at least, the term includes should be interpreted as includes but is not limited to, and the like). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases at least one and one or more to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles a or an limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases one or more or at least one and indefinite articles such as a or an (e.g., a and/or an should typically be interpreted to mean at least one or one or more); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of two recitations, without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to at least one of A, B, and C, and the like is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., a system having at least one of A, B, and C would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, and the like). In those instances where a convention analogous to at least one of A, B, or C, and the like is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., a system having at least one of A, B, or C would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, and the like). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase A or B will be understood to include the possibilities of A or B or A and B.

[0035] It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form described is merely explanatory, and it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the appended claims.