Abstract:
A “trust fall” mat having peripheral handles, a catching mat, and optional lateral supports is disclosed. The mat can be used to catch individuals falling during trust fall or other team-building exercises.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This invention relates to devices for use with trust falls and other team-building activities.  
           [0003]    2. General Background  
           [0004]    “Trust falls” are a common team-building exercise used by corporations and other groups to foster trust among groups of people. In a trust fall, an individual lets himself or herself fall backwards from a standing position. A number of other individuals stand behind the “faller,” ready to catch the person before he or she hits the ground. The point of the exercise is for the faller to learn that he or she can count on the others for back-up and support.  
           [0005]    However, trust falls can be dangerous, both because the catchers might lose their grip and drop the faller, and because the faller might swing his or her arms out when falling and hit the catchers. Also, because it involves hand-to-body contact between a number of people, conventional trust falls can be embarrassing or uncomfortable for some.  
           [0006]    Therefore, there is a need to improve the safety of trust falls, and to provide a means so that participants do not have to catch the faller with their bare hands.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention is a “trust fall mat,” which can be held by participants to catch the faller in trust fall exercise. The mat is large enough to catch most any person, and has handles at the periphery for the catchers to hold. The mat can be made of cloth, webbing, canvas, plastic, re-inforced fabric, etc. It can also have lateral supports for increased strength.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a frontal perspective view of a trust fall mat according to the present invention, with participants using the mat.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is a side cut-away perspective view, taken along line  2 - 2  of FIG. 1, of a trust fall mat according to the present invention.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is a top view of a trust fall mat according to the present invention.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a bottom view of a trust fall mat according to the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 is a side view of a trust fall mat according to the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 6 is a close-up of a portion of a trust fall mat according to the present invention, as identified in FIG. 4.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view of the portion of a trust fall depicted in FIG. 6, taken along line  7 - 7 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]    The present invention is a trust fall mat  10  comprised of handles  20 , a catching mat  30 , and optional lateral supports  40 .  
         [0016]    As shown in FIGS.  1 - 7 , the handles  20  are placed around the periphery of the mat, and are used by participants to hold the mat while another participant falls into the mat. The handles may have cylindrical grips  22  for ease of holding, as depicted in FIGS. 6&amp;7. The trust fall mat may also have a top handle  24 , placed at the portion of the mat near where the faller&#39;s head will land. The handles can be made of many materials, including cloth, canvas, plastic, fabric, rubber, wood, etc.  
         [0017]    The handles can be attached to the catching mat through conventional means, including adhesives, stitches, mechanical fasteners, etc. See FIG. 4. In one embodiment of the present invention, some of the handles  20  extend into lateral supports  40 . These supports  50  provide extra strength.  
         [0018]    The catching mat  30  can be large enough to accommodate even large persons, and can be made of strong material, such as cloth, canvas, plastic, fabric, etc. In one embodiment, the area of the mat may be large enough to catch a human being, but not so large as to make it cumbersome for as few as two individuals to use the mat as catchers. In this embodiment, the area of the mat could be from 15 to 70 square feet. In one particular version of this invention, the mat is approximately six feet wide by seven feet long, thus providing an area of 42 square feet.  
         [0019]    The mat  30  can take any number of shapes, including the six-sided shape shown in FIGS. 3&amp;4, as well more circular shapes, or a simple rectangular or square shape. Other shapes include but are not limited to: substantially triangular, five-sided, oval, key-shaped, etc.  
         [0020]    In operation, a plurality of participants hold the mat  10  using the handles  20 . See FIG. 1. The “faller” would stand in front of the mat, typically facing away from the other participants, and would let himself or herself fall backwards into the mat. The trust fall would thus be completed, with improved safety due to the superior catching ability of the mat.  
         [0021]    One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the preferred embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation.