Abstract:
Tethered practice ball apparatus including: an elastic tether; ball or a ball substitute for the game being practised operatively secured to the elastic tether; and a harness for securing the tether to a practising athlete, the harness including a body mount forming a termination for the tether and which may be selectively and securely positioned on a user&#39;s torso whereby the rebound force vector applied by a stretched tether will direct the returning practice ball toward a selected target on or adjacent the practising athlete.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates to elastically tethered practice balls. The invention has particular application to elastically tethered practice ball apparatus incorporating practice balls elastically tethered to a user and which may be used by an individual to practice ball skills. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Elastically tethered practice balls have been provided for practising many types of games. These vary from games such as tennis, where the ball is struck by a bat or racquet, to games such as football, where the ball is handled and propelled by the user. While such available practice apparatus are mostly simple in concept and inexpensive and may be suitable for introducing new players to a particular ball skill, most such practice apparatus have not achieved widespread adoption, especially for committed athletes wanting to improve their game skills. 
         [0005]    One of the major difficulties with such practice apparatus is the lack of replication of the ball travel as would occur in the game being practiced. Another disadvantage of such practice apparatus is the lack of variation of ball skills which may be practised with any one form of elastically tethered practice ball. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    This invention aims to provide elastically tethered practice ball apparatus and parts therefore which will alleviate at least one of the abovementioned disadvantages. Other aims and aspects of this invention will become apparent from the following description. 
         [0007]    With the foregoing in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in tethered practice ball apparatus including: 
         [0008]    an elastic tether; 
         [0009]    a ball or a ball substitute for the game being practised operatively secured to the elastic tether; and 
         [0010]    a harness for securing the tether to a practising athlete, the harness including a body mount forming a termination for the tether and which may be selectively and securely positioned on a user&#39;s torso whereby the rebound force vector applied by a stretched tether will direct the returning practice ball toward a selected target on or adjacent the practising athlete. 
         [0011]    In the preferred form of the invention and particularly when adapted for use with a football, swivel means is provided between the harness and the ball so that torsional loads which may be induced in the elastic tether during practice may be dissipated without causing the tethered ball to over rotate in reaction to the induced torsional loads. 
         [0012]    The swivel means may be incorporated in the elastic tether or in its mounting to the football or to the body mount. Preferably the swivel means is incorporated in, on or adjacent the body mount as this arrangement enables the elastic tether only to extend from the swivel to the practice ball whereby the possibility of injury or damage being caused by propelling the ball or by the returning ball, swivel and tether is reduced. 
         [0013]    The swivel means may include a through passage in the body mount through which the tether may extend and be terminated such that it is not restrained from rotating within the through passage. For this purpose the tether may be terminated within a bearing shell adapted for free rotational location within the through passage. This arrangement is preferred as it minimises projections from the body mount which may cause an athlete to move unnaturally during active practice through concern of injury by striking any such protrusion. 
         [0014]    The harness suitably includes height adjusting means, such as a shoulder support, which may be adjusted to selectively position the body mount on a user. The height adjusting means may be an adjustable mounting on the harness such as a velour-crochet (hook and loop) mounting. The harness also includes adjustment means for adjusting the harness to suit each user and preferably in a manner which enables the body mount to be secured in a substantially fixed position close to the user&#39;s torso. 
         [0015]    Preferably the harness includes an adjustable torso strap or straps which extends directly from the body mount so that in use, the torso strap or straps may be tightened to hold the body mount firmly against a user&#39;s torso whereby loads applied by the stretched elastic tether to the body mount may be taken directly by the torso strap or straps. The body mount may have provision for removably receiving one or both ends of the or each torso strap such as by having an accessible recess for a slide-in clip for each received strap end which form terminations for the torso strap ends or loops through which the strap ends may be returned to adjustment means which may be remote from the body mount. Each torso strap may be an assembly of strap portions extending from opposite sides of a back panel which may be a padded panel if desired. 
         [0016]    The height adjusting means may include an adjustable shoulder strap for locating the body mount at a selected height on the torso of a user. A single adjustable shoulder strap may connect between the front portion of the harness and the back portion of the harness or the single shoulder strap may extend across both shoulders and about the user&#39;s neck from the front part of the harness so as to hold the body mount at a selected height on a user&#39;s torso. Preferably a pair of adjustable shoulder straps is provided extending from a back connection to the torso strap or straps to a front termination on or adjacent the body mount. 
         [0017]    In a preferred embodiment the ends of a torso strap assembly has its ends terminated by respective opposite side parts of a slide-in clip assembly which forms the body mount. Preferably the clip assembly has a central receiving part for receiving the opposite side parts and being provided with a substantially centrally disposed swivel mount at which the tether is terminated. The swivel mount may be a through passage supporting a retained rotatable sleeve through which the tether may pass to an enlarged portion which may be constituted by a knot in the tether or other attachment to the tether. Preferably the central receiving part has side recesses therein to receive and secure spaced latching prongs of the respective side parts. 
         [0018]    In one embodiment of the invention adapted for practising football the connection of the tether to the practice ball is a connection formed centrally in the laced bladder opening of a football which is a reinforced part of the football remote from its preferred foot contact zone. Preferably the connection is a releasable connection such that the football may be released and used in conventional play or practice. 
         [0019]    In another embodiment of the invention the connection is an elastic strop which, when not in use retracts to lie closely against the football where it will not make a significant difference to normal use of the football and which may be pulled away from the football to enable the tether to be secured around the strop. 
         [0020]    The tether may be secured about the strop by returning the tether back upon itself and by securing the standing and returned parts of the tether with removable ties or elastic rings or by tying off if desired. The tether could also be connected to an end portion of a non-spherical practice ball if desired or to any location of a spherical ball such as a soccer ball. 
         [0021]    In another aspect this invention resides in a method of practising football by securing an elastically tethered football to a user in a manner whereby the tether is adjustably retained on the user for retention at selected positions of the upper torso of the user and adjusting the position of the tether mount such that the rebound force vector applied by a stretched tether will direct the returning practice ball toward a portion of the user&#39;s body selected for practising a particular catch such as a high or low catch or a running catch, for example as well as the kicking needed to provide such a catch to another player. In another form, a football provided with a laced bladder opening for access to the bladder has apertures at opposite sides of a bladder flange and a tether connection is provided by an elastic cord passed through the apertures and tied off so that the elastic cord bridges the bladder opening. 
         [0022]    In a further aspect this invention resides broadly in a harness for securing an elastically tethered practice ball to a user, the harness including: 
         [0023]    a body mount for securing a tether; 
         [0024]    height adjusting means for selectively adjusting the height of the body mount on a user&#39;s torso; and 
         [0025]    an adjustable torso strap assembly which connects directly to the body mount so that in use, the torso strap assembly may be tightened to hold the body mount firmly against a user&#39;s torso. 
         [0026]    Preferably the body mount includes swivel means for rotatably securing a tether thereto which may include a through passage in the body mount rotatably supporting a hollow retainer in which an enlarged end portion of a tether may be substantially confined for retention therein. 
         [0027]    In a further aspect this invention resides in a football having a laced bladder opening provided with tether connections at opposite sides of the bladder opening for a tether connection. The tether connections are suitably apertures through the opposed lacing portions of the football and suitably a short elastic cord is passed through these apertures and tied off so that the elastic cord bridges the bladder opening and is unobtrusive when not being used to connect the football to a tether for practising according to this invention. 
         [0028]    The detachable connection of the tether to the harness may be accommodated by providing a passage through the swivelling part of the swivel through which a short length of the tether may be passed, the passage being larger than the cross section of the tether. In such form, a wedge may be provided to insert into the passage from the front or the rear to hold the tether at the desired position. Alternatively, a screw may be provided with a tapered threadform which can be rotated into the passage to wedge the tether in place. In a further alternative, a clamp may be clamped onto the tether to abut the swivel. With each of the alternative forms, the tether may be quickly released and pulled through the passage one way or the other. Any excess length at the player end of the tether may be tucked under a shoulder strap or waist band according to the preference of the player. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0029]    In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, wherein:— 
           [0030]      FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic view illustrating use of one embodiment of elastically tethered practice football apparatus; 
           [0031]      FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic front view illustrating a typical arrangement for utilising the elastically tethered practice ball apparatus; 
           [0032]      FIG. 3  is a front view of one form of harness; 
           [0033]      FIG. 4  illustrates the arrangement of the elastic tether; 
           [0034]      FIG. 5  is an end view illustrating the connection at the laced bladder opening for releasably connecting the tether to the football; 
           [0035]      FIG. 6  is a plan view illustrating connection details to the based bladder opening; 
           [0036]      FIG. 7  illustrates another form of harness; 
           [0037]      FIGS. 8 and 9  are further diagrammatic views illustrating another use of the practice football apparatus; 
           [0038]      FIGS. 10 to 13  illustrate further connections to a football; 
           [0039]      FIGS. 14 and 15  illustrate a first arrangement for securing the tether to the harness; 
           [0040]      FIGS. 16 and 17  illustrate a second arrangement for securing the tether to the harness; 
           [0041]      FIGS. 18 and 19  illustrate a third arrangement for securing the tether to the harness; 
           [0042]      FIG. 20  illustrates a clip-on swivel for the harness; 
           [0043]      FIG. 21  illustrates a mid-section swivel clip for the harness; 
           [0044]      FIG. 22  illustrates a fixed strap arrangement for the harness; 
           [0045]      FIG. 23  illustrates a padded back plate for the harness; 
           [0046]      FIG. 24  illustrates a back buckle for the harness; 
           [0047]      FIGS. 25 to 28  illustrate the use of alternative arrangements of the elastically tethered practice ball apparatus according to the invention; 
           [0048]      FIGS. 29 and 30  illustrate two alternative arrangements for attaching the tether to a round ball; and 
           [0049]      FIGS. 31 to 34  illustrate arrangements for attaching the tether to an elongate ball. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0050]    The elastically tethered football apparatus  10  illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is adapted for practising AFL football plays such as, kicking and marking, bouncing on the run and hand balling and retrieving. These plays may be practised at a slow rate or at a fast pace as required to suit the user. To achieve the desired practice play, the harness assembly  12  which is secured to the upper torso of a user, is height adjusted by adjusting the shoulder straps so that the body mount  14  is located substantially centrally at a selected height on the chest of the user, as illustrated. 
         [0051]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 6  in particular, it will be seen that the harness assembly  12  includes a length adjustable chest strap  15  and a pair of shoulder straps  16  and  17  which loop over the chest strap  15  and which may be adjusted to selectively position the height of the chest strap  15  on the user. The chest strap  15  incorporates a clip-together buckle assembly  18  such that the harness assembly  10  may be readily put onto or released from the user. At the rear of the harness assembly  12 , the shoulder straps  16  and  17  and the rear parts of the chest strap  15  are interconnected by a back pad  20  so as to distribute the loads applied to the harness assembly  12  more evenly across the back and sides of the user. The backpack  20  may be padded or formed of mesh type material or of other material as desired. 
         [0052]    In this embodiment the buckle assembly  18  incorporates the body mount  14  which is formed to receive the prongs  21  of an adjustable strap mounting  22  into accessible cut-outs  19  to releasably secure the chest strap  15  to the user. The prongs  21  when engaged with the body mount  14  extend above and below a central swivel termination  23  which enables the elastic tether  24  to be secured to the body mount  14  such that when tensioned away from the user, the tether  24  is free to rotate irrespective of the angle at which the tensioned tether extends away from the body mount  14  as may occur during normal practice use of the apparatus  10 . 
         [0053]    For this purpose, as illustrated in cross-section in  FIG. 4 , the body mount  14  is provided with a central aperture or passage  25  supporting a flanged cylindrical bearing  26  therein such that the cylindrical bearing  26  may rotate freely about it longitudinal axis within the apertures  25 . The cylindrical bearing  26  also has a constricted inlet end  27  such that the elastic tether  24 , which in this embodiment is formed of hollow elastic tube, may be passed through the constricted inlet  27  and terminated at its end by tying a knot, such as illustrated at  28 , so that the tether  24  cannot be withdrawn through the constricted end  27  and wherein the knot  28  is retained within the interior of the cylindrical bearing  26 . This ensures that the knotted end does not rub or rotate against the wearer and hinder free rotation of the bearing  26 . In this respect the small area of the bearing  26  which may abut the user will not significantly impede rotation of the bearing  26 , particularly as the body mount  14  will normally be pulled away from contact with the user&#39;s torso when the tether  24  is tensioned. A cover may be utilised to close the rear of the cylindrical bearing  26  to capture the knotted end of the tether within the cylindrical bearing. 
         [0054]    The other end of the tether  24  is adapted to be looped over a strop  30  secured to the laced bladder opening  31  of a football  32 . In order that the length of the tether  24  may be readily varied to suit the user&#39;s requirements, this connection to the strop  30  is formed by bending the tube around the strop  30  and securing the free end part  33  to the adjacent standing part  34  by elastic bands  35  which hold the free part  33  and standing part  34  together. In this arrangement, the elastic bands  35  may be readily slid along the tether  24  to release the free end part  33  whereupon the length of the tether  24  may be adjusted and re-secured by sliding the elastic bands  35  back along the tether  24  and over the end part  33  which is returned against the standing part  34  whereby both the free end part and the standing part are secured to one another without leaving a tail portion to move independently of the tether. Suitably the elastic tether is formed from high tensile latex tubing. 
         [0055]    In order that the football  32  may be used in conventional manner when the tether  24  is not secured thereto, the strop  30  is preferably an elastic strop which extends between centrally disposed eyelets  40  and  41  in the opposed lacing portions  42  and  43 . The ends of the elastic strop  30  are knotted at the inside of the lacing portions so that the strop  30  is tensioned between the eyelets  41  and  42 . This ensures that the elastic strap  30  lies unobtrusively across the join in the opposed lacing portions  42  and  43  and preferably between lacing wraps  44 . The elastic strop  30  is formed of elastic material so that it may be readily pulled away from the football to enable the tether  24  to be bent about the strop  30  and secured thereto. 
         [0056]    In use, such as is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the user dons the harness assembly  12  by adjusting the shoulder straps  17  to position the body mount  14  at the desired height and by tensioning the chest strap  15  so that the body mount is firmly located in position. The tether  24  is then adjusted to length as described above, so that the ball hangs at the desired height or is disposed at the desired distance from the player. If the tether is adjusted to the length as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the player may practice kicking and marking, bouncing the football on the run as well as making hand ball passes and retrieving the football from the handball pass. Preferably for handball passing practice the harness and tether is adjusted as illustrated in  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
         [0057]    It will be seen that the harness assembly  12  for practising the abovementioned plays is positioned on the upper torso/chest area only. However it could be worn around the user&#39;s waist so that the user could use the practice apparatus  12  with a round ball for soccer training. Alternatively if the tether is shortened the practice apparatus  10  can be used for netball training, such as for throwing and receiving the tethered ball. 
         [0058]    In all of the above plays the provision of the swivel in the tether will enable the rotation imparted to the propelled ball to continue throughout the period the tether is tensioned such that the ball will be received by the user in much the same manner as it would be received by another player to whom the ball was practice propelled, such as by kicking, passing or handballing. This makes for more realistic plays and returns for effective individual training. 
         [0059]    Furthermore it is believed that relatively small adjustments to the height of the body mount on a user will enable predictable changes in the retrieval height of the ball to be made, such as when set up for AFL practice, retrieval may be adjusted for retrieval at a standard chest level, or head level, or at higher levels for marking the ball at head level to above the head at arm&#39;s length by making small height adjustments such as in the order of 20 mm to 50 mm. Accordingly the practice apparatus may be conveniently used to practice a full range of plays simply by adjusting the height of the chest mount and of course appropriate kicking of the ball which is another important skill to be learnt by the user. 
         [0060]      FIG. 7  illustrates an alternate form of harness assembly  50  in which the shoulder straps  51  are adjustably terminated on loops  52  moulded integrally with the body mount  54  and the complementary clip portion  55 . This provides a more positive location of the body mount  54  as it is restrained from upward movement by suitable adjustment of the chest strap  56 , and downward movement by the shoulder straps  51 . 
         [0061]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 10 to 13 , the connection of the tether  24  to a football  32  may also be formed by threading the strop  30  between existing lacing apertures  60  either bridging across the opening  31  as illustrated in  FIGS. 10 and 11  or extending diagonally across the opening. Alternatively the strop may extend alongside the opening  31  between apertures  60  at one side of the opening  31 . The strop  30  may be disposed symmetrically or asymmetrically along the bladder opening or pairs of strops  30  may be disposed at opposite end portions of the bladder opening and these may be coupled by looping the tether  24  through both pairs of strops all of which may be formed of elastic or non-elastic material as desired. 
         [0062]    The first arrangement  53  for securing the tether to the harness illustrated in  FIGS. 14 and 15  includes a swivel assembly  57  through with the tether  24  passes. The tether has a ball end  58  extending to the ball and a proximal end  59  extending from the swivel assembly from the proximal end beyond the swivel assembly. A wedge  61  in the form of a resilient frustoconical plug akin to a stopper is tied to the swivel assembly by a tie  62 , the wedge being shown in an uninstalled condition in  FIG. 14  and wedged into the aperture through which the tether passes being shown in  FIG. 15 . 
         [0063]    The second arrangement  63  for securing the tether to the harness illustrated in  FIGS. 16 and 17  has the tether and swivel assembly of  FIGS. 14 and 15 , but includes a screw  64  screwed radially into the rotatable part  65  of the swivel assembly, the screw being shown separated from the remainder of the apparatus in  FIG. 16  and installed in position to lock the tether in place in  FIG. 17 . The length of the tether is easily adjustable by loosening and retightening the screw. 
         [0064]    The third arrangement  66  for securing the tether to the harness illustrated in  FIGS. 18 and 19  includes the tether and swivel assembly of  FIGS. 14 to 17 , but has a spring loaded clamp  67  which may be opened and clamped around the tether at the location selected by the user when determining the length of the tether. The clamp in shown separately in  FIG. 18  and is shown installed in  FIG. 19 . Because the clamp has a size larger than what would pass through the aperture penetrating the swivel assembly, the tether is locked against being pulled through from the ball end. This arrangement has the advantage that the user may pull the tether through the swivel assembly and allow it be lead out when the user kick or hits the ball taking the tether with it. The tether is prevented from being pulled out all the way because of the clamp being installed on the tether in the desired position. The end of the tether can have a knot, knob or plug to prevent the tether from being pulled out of the swivel. 
         [0065]    The clip-on swivel  70  for the harness illustrated in  FIG. 20  includes an annular swivel assembly  71  with side release clasps  72  for fixing the swivel to the upper chest of a user. The mid-section swivel clip  73  for the harness illustrated in  FIG. 21  includes a rectangular swivel assembly  64  for fixing to the mid-section of a user. The fixed strap arrangement  75  for the harness illustrated in  FIG. 22  includes a similar arrangement to that illustrated in  FIG. 21 , except that the straps are fixed, the user donning the harness by pulling it over the head akin to donning a jumper or pull-over. 
         [0066]    The padded back plate  76  for the harness illustrated in  FIG. 23  includes two upper protuberances  78  and two lower protuberances  79  for receiving waist straps and shoulder straps respectfully. The back buckle  76  for the harness illustrated in  FIG. 24  is an alternative to the padded back plate if a user does not need or require the padded version. 
         [0067]    The alternative arrangements of the elastically tethered practice ball apparatus according to the invention illustrated  FIGS. 25 to 28 . In  FIG. 25 , when tethered to the waist, the apparatus is adapted for different sports by different suggested lengths, being for handball at  80 , soccer at  81 , baseball or softball fielding at  82 , tennis or squash at  83  in  FIG. 25 . When tethered to the chest harness as shown in  FIG. 26 , specific skills may be practised, being upper chest pass for football, netball and basketball at  84 , handball reflex training for fitness at  85 , batting for cricket, hockey, baseball and softball at  86 , foot skills for soccer, Australian rules football, rugby and American football at  87 , fielding practice for cricket, baseball and softball at  88  and tennis, squash and racquetball at  89 . The arrangements for large and small round balls are illustrated in  FIGS. 27 and 28 . 
         [0068]    The two alternative arrangements for attaching the tether to a round ball include a string loop  90  glued to a bladder  91  beneath the skin  92  of the ball  93  as illustrated in  FIG. 29  whereas in  FIG. 30 , the string loop is stitched to the underside of the skin of the ball and such arrangements are suitable for elongate balls as well. In the arrangement shown in  FIGS. 31 to 34 , the string loop is laced through two or more of the holes  95  in the flange  96  of the valve formation  97  of the bladder. The laces  98  of the ball are threaded through at least two of the holes as well in most arrangements for lacing of the ball. 
         [0069]    Pack designs with respect to the swivel will now be described. In one alternative, a separate swivel is built into the pack with side clips to release. In an alternative arrangement, a separate swivel is built into the pack with no side release clips, but instead, a quick fit set-up using a stretch fabric or such like. In a preferred arrangement, a swivel clip is designed to release at the same point of the swivel. The locking of the tether may be at any length to maximize the skill development of the user. The screw-in style hereinbefore describer is provided with a threaded screw which may be tightened against the rubber tether to stop it from moving through the swivel. The clamping style is to stop the tether at any point as hereinbefore described, preferably with rubber-on-rubber clips. The preferred arrangement is the push-in style wedge which is readily insertable and easily pulled out. 
         [0070]    Practice apparatus according to aspects of this invention may advantageously utilise all or some of the features described above which has been given by way of illustrative example of the present invention. All such modifications and variations to the inventions set forth above as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of these inventions as is herein set forth.