BASKETBALL TRAINING DEVICE AND METHOD

Abstract: A method and device for controlled restraint of the natural hand of a basketball player to permit use of the unnatural hand and arm during practice in order to achieve facility in ball handling and dribbling. A waist loop (12) is connected by a connecting band (16) to a wrist loop (14). At least one loop or the connecting band must be elastic and preferably both loops and the connecting band are elastic. The method comprises providing limited elastic restraint between the wrist of the natural hand and waist of the player, and practicing ball handling and dribbling with the unnatural hand. The restraint of the natural hand is sufficient to prevent unintended use in handling or dribbling the ball while permitting the player to instantly raise or extend his natural hand and arm in order to protect himself in the event of a fall or collision.

Description: BASKETBALL TRAINING DEVICE AND METHOD BACKGROUND Field of the Invention Basketball players, as with most people, are naturally one-handed, being either right-handed or left-handed naturally. Very few are naturally ambi¬ dexterous. As such, basketball players tend to dribble and handle the ball almost exclusively with their natural hand be it right or left. Those who are naturally ambidexterous can with ease handle the ball and dribble with either hand and this facilit - provides them with a decided advantage with respect •to other players and, other things being equal, they are able to command a " higher salary since their advantage generally provides them with demonstrable playing advantage as well. Recognizing this coaches and other players have endeavored to train those players who are naturally ' one-handed in ball handling and dribbling with their unnatural hand. As far as this applicant ' knows there has been no training device available to assist in. this effort. The Prior Art U.S. Patent No. 3,888,244 is directed to a limb support for supporting a limb such as an arm in a relaxed position with the elbow bent. This device is intended for use for an injured elbow to restrain the limb during rest or healing of the painful joints while maintaining the limb ' in a comfortable position. Alter¬ natively, it is suggested as a preventitive or pro- phylactic measure and it does permit somewhat limited use of the limb. As used for an arm> straps which may be elastic or not are provided for the upper arm and the lower arm with a pad and connecting piece arranged between the straps to position the arm in a bent position of between 15° and 175°. There is no suggestion that the same has any usefulness as a basketball training device nor would it have. U.S. Patent No. 2,980,426 is a device for bowlers to enable persons having an infirmity in the shoulder, arm or elbow to bowl without discomfort and it is dis¬ closed as also useful for proper training. - The device comprises a harness encircling the waist of the user and extending up and over the shoulder of the arm to be used with an extension from the shoulder down to the forearm to be used which extension incorporates an elastic portion. It is disclosed as limiting the backswing thus improving accuracy. There is no dis¬ closure that the ' same is useful for training the unnatural hand of a basketball player. U.S. Patent No. 976,564 is a largely elastic harness that encircles the waist with other portions encircling each thigh and connecting portions between the thigh encircling members and the waist. The purpose of the device is to relieve the strains on a worker particularly those that must assume a stooping posture for long lengths of time. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to serve as a limited or controlled restraint for the natural hand in order to permit a basketball player to ^ practice ball handling and dribbling with " his unnatural hand which device is comfortable to wear, restrains the natural hand adequately for the purpose, and, at the 'B same time, the natural hand is not so severely re¬ strained as to prevent its use should it become necessary to break a fall, avoid severe contact with another player or an object such as the wall of the building or the like. The device comprises a single unit comprised of a waist encircling band, a wrist encircling band and a connection between them. At least one of these three sub-units must be elastic and ' in the preferred embodi- ent all three of the same are elastic. For comfort and to assist the encircling bands to move upwardly along the torso and arm when the restrained arm is extended the elastic is lined with a soft material such as cotton terrycloth. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS • The construction and use of the device will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the training device of this invention; FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic showing of only the elastic portion of the training J .. -- • __„ . FIG. 3 is a somewhat schematic showing of a basketball player's upper torso with the training device in place to restrain the left hand; and FIG. 4 is a figure like FIG. 3 in which the device is shown in the position it assumes when the player has extended his arm. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 the basketball training device is generally shown at 10 and comprises a waist encircling band gener- ally indicated at 12. A wrist encircling band generally indicated at 14 and a connecting band generally indicated at 16 which connects the waist band 12 and the wrist band 14. As shown, the band comprises a strip of material 18 which as shown in FIG. 2 without any lining may be a singley.-band of elastic-material..stitched at ' 20 ^ tσ'.'pro- vide the small wrist loop 14 and at 22 to provide the larger waist loop 12. As shown in FIG. 2 the strip of elastic material 18 is a single strip stiched at 20 and 22 although it -will be appreciated that separate strips could be provided for the waist or for the wrist loops 12 and 14 respectively and a separate third strip provided for the connecting band 16 or any combination thereof. That is, one or the other of the loops 12 and 14 qould be separately formed and the other loop be of the same piece of material as the connecting band 16 as desired. Never¬ theless, the preferred and most simple construction is to use a single long band of material 18 stiched as indicated at 20 and 22. ' The elastic material may be of any size with a two inch width of elastic material being currently preferred. The elastic material may be natural or synthetic rubber - woven into a fabric or embedded in the same, there being a number of such materials known. The dimension of the waist band 12 will depend upon the particular player who is to wear the device. While one size may fit a number of slightly diff «erently sized waists it will be apparent that a waist size suitable for an adult male would not be satisfactory for a very young (say 10 or 12 year old) boy. The dimension of the waist loop 12 must be such that it can be streched readily to put on the device while at the same time, once in place . it stays snugly in place about the waist without slack. At the same time, the dimension of the waist loop 12 combined with the degree of elasticity of the material must be such as to permit the waist band to "ride-up" onto the upper torso if the player suddenly extends his restrained arm to break a fall or avoid a collision or the like. Similarly, ' the wrist band 14 must be of a size that together with the degree of elasticity of the material will permit it to readily pass over the hand of the user and then grip snugly the wrist without cutting off circulation to the hand. At the same time, however, the dimension of the wrist loop 14 must be such that combined with • the degree of elasticity of the material it will readily move or-"ride-up" on the arm at least to the elbow and, preferably, beyond the elbow to the upper arm when the player suddenly extends his restrained ' arm for whatever purpose. The connecting band 16 should be short enough to significantly restrict the hand and arm yet together with the elasticity of the material and together with the elasticity provided in the loops 12 and 14 permit the arm to be extended in an emergency. For an adult using a two inch width elastic material' a length of about five inches for the unstreched length of the connecting band 16 has been found successful. In order to provide comfort for the user, to absorb body perspiration and to protect the elastic material 18, it is preferred to line the interior 24 of the waist band 12 as well as the interior 26 of the wrist band 14 with a ' suitably absorbant material such- • as cotton terrycloth. This may be conveniently done before forming the loops 12 and 14 by stitching a ' width of terrycloth material to the elastic band 18 folding the same over the edge thereof at the top 28 and the bottom 30 before stitching as shown in FIG. -1. Of course, the elastic material should be streched to or close to its elastic limit when measuring and applying the lining in order to insure that the lining does not restrain elastic extension of the elastic member during use. When applying the lining 24, 26 in this fashion it will be appreciated that the connecting band 16 becomes .lined as well. The device is shown in use in FIG. 3 restraining the - left hand of the player while his right hand is free to practice ball handling and dribbling. The natural hand of this particular player, would, therefore, be- his left, hand which is now restrained. Some minimum movement for purpose of balance is permitted but the restraint is sufficient as to prevent any unconscious inclination to take over the ball handling or dribbling from the right hand. As shown in FIG. 4 the player has suddenly ex¬ tended his arm which has caused the waist loop 12 to - become expanded beyond the dimensions of the ' player's waist and therefore capable of moving upward on the torso as force is applied thereto by the movement of the arm. It will be appreciated that at this point a small gap such as ; that shown at 32 may appear between the waist band 12 and the torso of the user. At the same time, the wrist loop 14 has been streched and moved upwardly on the arm to approximately the location of the elbow as shown due to the movement of the arm and the restraint provided by its connection through the connecting band 16 to the waist band 12. The wrist band 12 may also move above the elbow. In most situations a gap 34 will occur between the loop 14 and the forearm of the user when the arm is thus extended. The connecting band 16 has also been streched as shown in FIG. 4. The lining 24, 26 provides user comfort, but also is of a material that aids the upward sliding movement along torso ' and arm of members 12 and 14 as above disclosed. 0Λ It will be appreciated that this streching and moving of the device under the violent movement of the arm serves to help the player protect and defend himself from injury in the event of a fall or imminent collision with some object or other player. At the same time, readjustment of the device from its position in FIG. 4 to its normal position in FIG. 3 is readily achieved and the practice game or other practice exercise may be quickly continued with continued exercise of the unnatural hand. Various modifications are contemplated as falling within the invention and the language and spirit of the appended claims. ' For example, while it is preferred that all three elements comprising the waist band 12, the wrist band 14, and the connecting band 16 be elastic a satisfactory device can be constructed having less than all of the three elements elastic. This will in part depend upon the degree of elasticity in the material. For example, in most currently available materials the elasticity is insufficient to permit only the connecting band 16 to be elastic. If the connecting band ' 16 is made short enough so that in its unstreched state it adequately restrains the arm then, in that event, with most materials if the waist and wrist bands 12 and 14 respectively are not also elastic, the con¬ necting band 16 will not strech sufficiently upon extension of the arm to permit the player to adequately protect himself in a fall or collision. Conversely, if the connecting band 16 only is made of currently available elastic materials and of a length to provide in its fully streched condition for adequate extension of the arm then, in that event, in its unstreched condition it does not adequately restrain the arm. It is conceivable, however, that such strech characteristics may be available in some material unknown to applicant or in some material -8 - yet to be marketed in which event it may well be possible to make only the member 16 elastic while the waist loop 12 and wrist loop 14 are inelastic. Similar limitations exist with respect to making only the waist band 12 or the wrist band 14 elastic. Essentially, the invention contemplates a restraint which restrains the arm and hand sufficiently to effectively prevent it being used unconsciously to t≤ke over the ball handling and dribblin chores; which device, at the same time, permits instant use in an emergency of the restrained arm. It is con¬ ceivable, therefore, that some sort of "break-away" mechanism could be used such as loop and hook fabric sold under the trademark "VELCRO". Such an arrangement, however, requires a moment or two to replace the detached segments after emergency extension of the arm and for that and other reasons the all elastic system. above described is preferred.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A basketball training device for limited restraint of one arm comprising: means encircling the waist, means encircling one wrist, means connecting said wrist encircling means to said waist encircling means, at least one of said previoμsly mentioned means being elastic, the dimensions and elasticity of said device being such that said one arm is normally re- strained from unintentional use in dribbling or ball handling, and such dimensions and elasticity also being such as to permit prompt extension of the arm when necessary. 2. The device of Claim 1 in which all of said means are elastic. 3..The device of Claim 2 in which said elastic waist encircling means is of such dimension and elasticity as to ride upward on the torso of a user when the restrained arm is extended. 4. The device of either Claim 2 or 3 in which said elastic wrist encircling means is of such dimension "and elasticity as to ride upward along the restrained arm when the restrained arm is extended. 5. The device of Claim 4 in which at least said wai-st encircling means and said wrist encircling means are lined. 6. The device of Claim 5 in which said waist encircling means, said wrist encircling means and said connecting means include a single length of elastic material having its ends folded back upon itself to form loops with the ends stiched to the length of material intermediate its ends. 7. The method of training the unnatural hand of a basketball player in ball handling and dribbling comprising: providing a limited elastic restrain ' etween -BTTREAC OMPI A. 1P0 ■ the wrist of the natural hand and the waist of the player, so selecting the material and dimension of the restraint as to normally prevent use of the natural hand in ball handling or dribbling during practice, practicing ball handling and dribbling with the unnatural hand while the natural hand is so restrained, and so selecting the dimensions and elasticity of the restraint as to-permit prompt extension of the natural hand and arm when necessar 8. The method of Claim 7 including so selecting the dimensions and elasticity of the device as to permit said device to move upwardly on the torso of the player when the natural arm is extended. 9. The method of Claim 8 including so selecting the dimensions and elasticity of said device as to permit said device to move upwardly toward the shoulder along the natural arm when said arm is extended.

Inventors: MAGARACI R
Applicants: MAGARACI R
Application year: 1979
Main classification: A63B69
IPC codes: A63B69