Abstract:
A color-coded system of indicating professional evaluation of tennis skill of a person has emblems which include a plurality of skill-coded colors of color-coded-instrument emblems ( 1 ) or color-coded-background emblems ( 14 ) for display on tennis apparel, instruments and other items selectively. The emblem can include a plurality of coded colors of representations of preferably a tennis ball ( 25 ) or other tennis instrument in uniformly different-colored backgrounds. Optionally, the emblem can include uniformly colored representations of preferably a tennis ball or other tennis instrument in emblem backgrounds of a plurality of differently coded colors. The system is a combination of color-code indicia and a method of professional evaluation of players in accordance with a predetermined rating system that equals preferably zero-to-250 points for lowest-rated ability to highest-rated ability, respectively.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a method of professional evaluation of skill of a person and more particularly, a color-coded system for providing skill evaluation and incentive in the sport of tennis.  
           [0002]    There is color-coding for the marshal arts and there are a wide variety of emblems of achievement, status and rank that are very effective for promoting other activities, but there is no known color-coding indicia and method for professionally rating skills in the sport of tennis in a manner taught by this invention.  
           [0003]    Examples of most-closely related known but different coding for the sport of tennis are described in the following patent documents:  
           [0004]    Patent No. Inventor Issue Date  
           [0005]    (U.S. unless stated otherwise)  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,022 Grant, et al. Aug. 30, 1977  
           [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,633 Dombrowski Dec. 08, 1987  
           [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,953 Cleveland Jan. 06, 1998  
           [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,176 Poshadlo, Jr. Jun. 20, 2000  
           [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,372 Stoland Aug. 14, 1990  
           [0011]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,389 Frankowski Jun. 24, 1996  
           [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,725 Bengtson Jan. 07, 1998  
           [0013]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,352 Vcala Oct. 09, 1979  
           [0014]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,355 Pearce Jan. 20, 1976  
           [0015]    This is a color-coded incentive-based system for promoting continual participation and enthusiasm among tennis players. Students and players of tennis will be motivated to advance to higher levels of skill through a desire to achieve an ultimate gold-ball emblem of professional evaluation.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0016]    Objects of patentable novelty and utility taught by this invention are to provide a color-code system of rating tennis skills which:  
           [0017]    provides a publicly visible emblem of professional skill of an individual when playing tennis or participating in professional matches;  
           [0018]    adds attractiveness of an element of gradation of skill to the sport of tennis;  
           [0019]    increases popularity of the sport;  
           [0020]    tends to cause people to stay with it and to succeed in it after they start;  
           [0021]    adds another opportunity for professionally recognized personal success for people; and  
           [0022]    tends to increase the health and happiness of people.  
           [0023]    This invention accomplishes these and other objectives with a color-code system of indicating professional evaluation of tennis skill of a person having a plurality of skill-coded colors of an emblem for display on tennis apparel, instruments and other items selectively. The emblem can include a plurality of coded colors of representations of preferably a tennis ball or other tennis instrument in uniformly differently colored backgrounds. Optionally, the emblem can include uniformly colored representations of preferably a tennis ball or other tennis instrument in backgrounds of a plurality of differently coded colors. The system is a combination of color-code indicia and a method of professional evaluation having steps that include: 1) marking a target side of a tennis court according to target-graded zones of individual strength of a tennis student required to hit a tennis ball to a selected target-graded zone of the target side of the tennis court from an ability-graded distance from a return side of a tennis-court net; 2) evaluating the tennis student&#39;s ability to return-strike the tennis ball to a selected target-graded zone of the target side of the tennis-court net from the ability-graded distances for starter students, for intermediate students and for advanced students from the return side of the tennis-court net; 3) testing the tennis students forehand and backhand return abilities by serving a tennis ball from a central target-side end of the tennis court to the tennis student in the selectively return-graded zone; 4) testing the tennis student&#39;s abilities to volley, serve, drop-shoot, lob, rally and handle a racket for bounce control in accordance with predetermined point-grading; and 5) totaling points of professional evaluation of the student in accordance with a predetermined rating system that equals preferably zero-to-250 points for lowest-rated ability to highest-rated ability, respectively.  
           [0024]    The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0025]    This invention is described by appended claims in relation to description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the following drawings which are explained briefly as follows:  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 1 is a top view of a first five of eight colored gradation sets of three color-coded tennis balls which are colored emblems of ratings of eight levels of tennis skills and are surrounded by an emblem background with a single background color;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 2 is a top view of a second three of the eight colored gradation sets of three color-coded tennis balls and one set of two colored emblems of ratings of the tennis skills with the second three gradation sets of three color-coded tennis balls being surrounded by the single background color and with the color-coded tennis balls of the one set of the two colored emblems being surrounded by two separate background colors;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 3 is a top view of a first five of eight uniformly colored tennis balls surrounded by emblem backgrounds having colored gradation sets of three color-coded emblem backgrounds which are colored emblems of color-coded ratings of a first five of eight levels of the tennis skills;  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 4 is a top view of a second three of the eight uniformly colored sets of three uniformly colored tennis balls and one set of two of the uniformly colored tennis balls surrounded by emblem backgrounds which are colored emblems of color-coded ratings of a second three of the eight and one level of two of the tennis skills;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 5 is a top view of gradations of ratings of the eight levels of three and the one level of two tennis skills by points per skill level between zero points for a bottom rating in a first level and two-hundred-and-fifty points for a top rating in a ninth level;  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 6 is a top view of nine tennis courts having a plurality of evaluation-target zones marked from-A-to-O for indicating where tennis balls are targeted to land on the target side of the net of a tennis court when hit by X1 advanced players from an X1 starting position, by X2 intermediate players from an X2 starting position and by X3 starters from an X3 starting position on a ball-hitting side of the net for evaluation of the players&#39; tennis skills in accordance with the gradations of ratings for the eight levels of three and the one level of two tennis skills by points per skill level; and  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 7 is a top view of a point chart of numerical ratings of skills of achieving designated tennis feats. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0033]    Listed numerically below with reference to the drawings are terms used to describe features of this invention. These terms and numbers assigned to them designate the same features throughout this description.  
                                                    1. Color-coded-instrument emblems            2. Silver-grey tennis ball            3. Silver-green background            4. Golden-green tennis ball            5. Golden-grey background            6. White tennis ball            7. Yellow tennis ball            8. Orange tennis ball            9. Green tennis ball           10. Blue tennis ball           11. Red tennis ball           12. Brown tennis ball           13. Black tennis ball           14. Color-coded-background emblems           15. Silver-green emblem background           16. Golden-green emblem background           17. White emblem background           18. Yellow emblem background           19. Orange emblem background           20. Green emblem background           21. Blue emblem background           22. Red emblem background           23. Brown emblem background           24. Black emblem background           25. Tennis ball           26. Gradational scoring points           27. Tennis courts           28. Target side           29. Ball-hitting side           30. X1 starting position           31. X2 starting position           32. X3 starting position           33. A           34. B           35. C           36. D           37. E           38. F           39. G           40. H           41. I           42. J           43. K           44. L           45. M           46. N           47. O           48. Point chart                      
 
         [0034]    Referring to FIGS.  1 - 2 , a color-code system of rating tennis skills has a plurality of color-coded emblems that include color-coded-instrument emblems  1  which are color-coded in accordance with a predetermined rating of skills of tennis players to perform predetermined tennis feats which are evaluated by a Tennis Pro. The color-coded emblems are made for attachment to tennis clothing, tennis instruments and other items selectively.  
         [0035]    The color-coded emblems include an emblem image of a tennis instrument having one of a predetermined plurality of image colors surrounded by an emblem background that includes a uniform-color background of one or more background colors on each of the color-coded emblems. The tennis instrument includes a color-coded tennis ball and the plurality of image colors of the color-coded tennis balls are predetermined in accordance with a plurality of colored ratings of the skills of the tennis players to perform the predetermined tennis feats.  
         [0036]    The colored ratings of the skills of the tennis players include eight colored gradation sets of three and one set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills. The eight colored gradation sets of three and the one set of two colored emblems of the ratings of the skills each represent one level of nine levels of the skills successively intermediate a lowest level of emblem of rating for a first gradation set of three and a highest level of emblem of rating for the ninth gradation set of the two of the colored ratings of the skills.  
         [0037]    The eight colored gradation sets of three and the one set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills are each assigned numerically graded evaluations of the skills intermediate a lowest rating of a level and a highest rating of a level of each of the nine levels of the skills. The emblem backgrounds of the color-coded skills each include a sequentially alphabetical letter intermediate a first and a last of the color-coded emblems of ratings for a total of twenty-six alphabetical letters intermediate a lowest color-coded emblem and a highest color-coded emblem.  
         [0038]    The uniform-color background of the emblem backgrounds for levels of each of the nine levels of the color-coded skills include sequentially alphabetical letters intermediate a lowest and a highest color-coded skill of each of the nine levels. The alphabetical letter of the lowest emblem of rating of the skills being “A” as shown in the top left corner of FIG. 1 and the alphabetical letter of the highest emblem of rating of the skills being “Z” as shown in the bottom right corner of FIG. 2.  
         [0039]    The emblem backgrounds of the eight levels of three emblems of color-coded skills is preferably a golden-grey hue, but can be selected from a plurality of predetermined grey hues and other colors. The eight colored gradation sets of three colored emblems of ratings each include separate colors that are predeterminedly contrasting to the uniform-colored background.  
         [0040]    A first of the set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills includes a predeterminedly silver-grey tennis ball  2 . The emblem background of the first of the two colored emblems of the ratings of the skills is a predeterminedly silver-green background  3 .  
         [0041]    A second of the set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills includes a predeterminedly golden-green tennis ball  4 . The emblem background of the second of the two colored emblems of the ratings of the skills is a predeterminedly golden-grey background  5 .  
         [0042]    A first set of three of the colored emblems each include a white tennis ball  6 .  
         [0043]    A second set of three of the colored emblems each include a yellow tennis ball  7 .  
         [0044]    A third set of three of the colored emblems each include an orange tennis ball  8 .  
         [0045]    A fourth set of three of the colored emblems each include a green tennis ball  9 .  
         [0046]    A fifth set of three of the colored emblems each include a blue tennis ball  10 .  
         [0047]    A sixth set of three of the colored emblems each include a red tennis ball  11 .  
         [0048]    A seventh set of three of the colored emblems each include a brown tennis ball  12 .  
         [0049]    An eighth set of three of the colored emblems each include a black tennis ball  13 .  
         [0050]    The uniform-color background for each of the eight sets of three of the colored emblems is preferably the golden-grey background  5 .  
         [0051]    Color coding of tennis skills within this invention includes a corresponding reciprocal of uniform colors of the tennis instruments in combination with pluralities of colors of emblem backgrounds. Also included are selections of pluralities of colors of either the tennis instrument in combination with a selection of single colors of emblem backgrounds or selections of pluralities of colors of the emblem backgrounds in combination with a selection of single colors of the tennis instrument that preferably is the tennis ball for color coding a selection of tennis skills.  
         [0052]    Referring to FIGS.  3 - 4 , the color-code system of rating tennis skills has a plurality of color-coded emblems that can include color-coded-background emblems  14  with color-coded emblem backgrounds which are color-coded in accordance with the predetermined ratings of skills of tennis players to perform the predetermined tennis feats which are evaluated by the Tennis Pro. The color-coded emblems are made for attachment to tennis clothing, tennis instruments and to other items selectively. The color-coded emblems can include an emblem image of the tennis ball  25  in a single predetermined image color surrounded by an emblem background having a separate one of a plurality of predetermined background colors. The separate one of the plurality of background colors is selected in accordance with the plurality of coded-color ratings of the skills of the tennis players to perform the predetermined tennis feats.  
         [0053]    The single image color of the tennis balls is predeterminedly yellow. The coded-color ratings of the skills of the tennis players include eight colored gradation sets of three and one set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills. The eight colored gradation sets of three and the one set of two colored emblems of the ratings of the skills each represent one level of nine levels of the skills successively intermediate a lowest level of emblem of rating for a first gradation set of three and a highest level of emblem of rating for the ninth gradation set of the two of the colored ratings of the skills.  
         [0054]    The eight colored gradation sets of three and the one set of two coded-color emblems of ratings of the skills each indicate numerically graded evaluations of the skills intermediate a lowest rating of a level and a highest rating of a level of each of the nine levels of the skills.  
         [0055]    The emblem backgrounds of the color-coded skills each include a sequentially alphabetical letter intermediate a first and a last of the color-coded emblems of ratings for a total of twenty-six alphabetical letters intermediate a lowest color-coded emblem and a highest color-coded emblem. The emblem backgrounds of levels of each of the nine levels of the color-coded skills include sequentially alphabetical letters intermediate a lowest and a highest color-coded skill of each of the nine levels. The alphabetical letter of the lowest emblem of rating of the skills being “A” as shown in the top left corner of FIG. 3 and the alphabetical letter of the highest emblem of rating of the skills being “Z” as shown in the bottom right corner of FIG. 4.  
         [0056]    The plurality of colors of the emblem backgrounds of the eight levels of three emblems of color-coded skills and the one level of two emblems include separate colors that are predeterminedly contrasting to the predetermined yellow of the tennis ball  25 . A first of the one set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills includes a predeterminedly silver-green emblem background  15  and a second of the set of two colored emblems of ratings of the skills includes a predeterminedly golden-green emblem background  16  as shown at the bottom of FIG. 4.  
         [0057]    A first set of three of the colored emblems each include a white emblem background  17 . A second set of three of the colored emblems each include a yellow emblem background  18 . A third set of three of the colored emblems each include an orange emblem background  19 . A fourth set of three of the colored emblems each include a green emblem background  20 . A fifth set of three of the colored emblems each include a blue emblem background  21 . A sixth set of three of the colored emblems each include a red emblem background  22 . A seventh set of three of the colored emblems each include a brown emblem background  23 . An eighth set of three of the colored emblems each include a black emblem background  24 .  
         [0058]    Referring to FIG. 5, gradational scoring points  26  that are color coded as shown for the eight sets of three and one set of two of the color-coded-instrument emblems  1  that are alphabetically lettered sequentially A through Z with a tennis ball that is color-coded as shown in FIGS.  1 - 2  and the color-coded-background emblems  14  that are alphabetically lettered A through Z with background emblems that are color coded as shown in FIGS.  3 - 4  include:  
         [0059]    A: 0 to 34 points, B: 35 to 54 points, C: 55 to 69 points, White;  
         [0060]    D: 70 to 85 points, E: 86 to 95 points, F: 96 to 105 points, Yellow;  
         [0061]    G: 106 to 115 points, H: 116 to 123 points, I: 124 to 131 points, Orange;  
         [0062]    J: 132 to 139 points, K: 140 to 147 points, L: 148 to 155 points, Green;  
         [0063]    M: 156 to 163 points, N: 164 to 171 points, O: 172 to 179 points, Blue;  
         [0064]    P: 180 to 187 points, Q: 181 to 188 points, R: 189 to 195 points, Red;  
         [0065]    S: 196 to 202 points, T: 203 to 209 points, U: 210 to 216 points, Brown;  
         [0066]    V: 217 to 223 points, W: 224 to 230 points, X: 231 to 236 points, Black;  
         [0067]    Y: 237 to 243 points, Golden-grey and Z: 244 to 250 points, Golden-green.  
         [0068]    Referring to FIG. 6, tennis courts  27  are prepared for evaluation of tennis skills by marking them off into a plurality of positioning-target zones designated predeterminedly by zone ropes or otherwise to indicate where tennis balls are targeted to land on a target side  28  of a net of the tennis court  27  when hit by X1 advanced players, by X2 intermediate players and by X3 starters from a ball-hitting side  29  of the net for determining starting positions for the X1 advanced players, for the X2 intermediate players and for the X3 starters.  
         [0069]    The starting positions include an X1 starting position  30  proximate a centerline and on a far edge of the ball-hitting side  29  of the net for the X1 players; an X2 starting position  31  proximate the centerline and midway intermediate the far edge of the ball-hitting side  29  of the net and a far edge of the front court of the ball-hitting side  29  of the net for the X2 players; and an X3 starting position  32  proximate the centerline and on the far edge of the front court of the ball-hitting side  29  of the net for the respective players.  
         [0070]    A plurality of evaluation-target zones indicate where tennis balls are targeted to land on the target side  28  of the net of the tennis court  27  when hit by X1 advanced players, by X2 intermediate players and by X3 starters from the ball-hitting side  29  of the net for evaluation of the skills of the X1 advanced players, the X2 intermediate players and the X3 starters at performing predetermined tennis feats from the starting positions.  
         [0071]    For whichever of the color-coded emblems are used, the plurality of the evaluation-target zones include playing areas of the tennis court  27  designated by capital letters A  33 -through-O  47  in which:  
         [0072]    A  33  is an entire target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0073]    B  34  is a left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0074]    C  35  is a right half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0075]    D  36  is a left half of the left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0076]    E  37  is a right half of the right half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0077]    F  38  is the left half of the left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court in addition to a right-triangular area having a hypotenuse intermediate a diagonal from the centerline at proximate the net to a far target-side end of the tennis court midway between the centerline and a far-left corner of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0078]    G  39  is the right half of the right half of the target side of the tennis court in addition to a right-triangular area having a hypotenuse intermediate a diagonal from the centerline at proximate the net to a far target-side end of the tennis court midway between the centerline and a far-right comer of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0079]    H  40  is an inside half of the left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0080]    I  41  is an inside half of the right half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0081]    J  42  is a left half of the inside half of the left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0082]    K  43  is a right half of the inside half of the left half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0083]    L  44  is a left half of the inside half of the right half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0084]    M  45  is a right half of the inside half of the right half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ;  
         [0085]    N  46  is an inside half of the inside half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 ; and  
         [0086]    O  47  is an outside half of the outside half of the target side  28  of the tennis court  27 .  
         [0087]    Referring to FIGS.  6 - 7 , the tennis feats include Ground Strokes, Volleys, Serves, Specialty Shots, Rallies and Racket Skills which are evaluated by the Tennis Pro according to the color-coded rating system for whichever of the color-coded emblems are used. The tennis feats have numerical ratings for their achievement.  
         [0088]    The numerical ratings for Ground Strokes executed from starting positions for the X1 players, for the X2 players and for the X3 players, respectively, to the indicated target areas A  33 -through-O  47  include:  
                                                       Forehand (FH) to A 33   9 points           Backhand (BH) to A 33   9 points           Down The Line           FH or BH to B 34   9 points           FH or BH to C 35   9 points           FH or BH to D 36   9 points           FH or BH to E 37   9 points           Cross Court           FH or BH to F 38   9 points           FH or BH to G 39   9 points;                      
 
         [0089]    the numerical ratings for Volleys executed from starting positions for the X1 players, for the X2 players and for the X3 players, respectively, to the indicated target areas A-through-O include  
                                                       FH to A 33   9 points           BH to A 33   9 points           FH or BH to B 34   9 points           FH or BH to C 35   9 points;                      
 
         [0090]    the numerical ratings for Serves executed from starting positions for the X1 players, for the X2 players and for the X3 players, respectively, to the indicated target areas A-through-O include  
                                                       Serve to H 40   9 points           Serve to I 41   9 points           Serve to J 42   9 points           Serve to K 43   9 points           Serve to L 44   9 points           Serve to M 45   9 points           Overhead (OH)           OH Serve to A 33   9 points;                      
 
         [0091]    the numerical ratings for Specialty Shots executed from starting positions for the X1 players, for the X2 players and for the X3 players, respectively, to the indicated target areas A-through-O include  
                                                       Drop Shot               FH and BH to N 46    9 points           Lob           FH and BH to O 47    9 points           Rally           FH to A 33   10 points           BH to A 33   10 points           FH or BH to B 34   10 points           FH or BH to C 35   10 points           FH and BH to A 35                      
 
         [0092]    (Combined) 10 points; and  
         [0093]    the numerical ratings for a Racket Skill Test executed from starting positions for the X1 players, for the X2 players and for the X3 players, respectively, to the indicated target areas A-through-O include  
                                                       Upward Bounce    11 points           TOTAL   250 Points.                      
 
         [0094]    The points for achieving these tennis feats are listed on a point chart  48 .  
         [0095]    A method has the following steps for using the color-code system of rating tennis skills from the point chart  48 :  
         [0096]    determining a player&#39;s starting position in accordance with the player&#39;s X1, X2 and X3 level of advancement;  
         [0097]    testing and evaluating the player&#39;s forehand and backhand return abilities by serving a tennis ball from a central target-side end of the tennis court  27  to the player in the player&#39;s starting position in accordance with the predetermined point-grading;  
         [0098]    testing and evaluating the player&#39;s abilities to volley, serve, drop-shoot, lob, rally and handle a racket for bounce control in accordance with the predetermined point-grading; and  
         [0099]    totaling points of professional evaluation of the player in accordance with the predetermined rating system that equals zero-to-250 points for lowest-rated ability to highest-rated ability, respectively.  
         [0100]    The point chart  48  can be supplemented with  
         [0101]    one point when the ball bounces three times inside of court lines;  
         [0102]    two points when the ball bounces twice inside of the court lines;  
         [0103]    three points when the ball bounces once inside of the court lines;  
         [0104]    three points for a drop shot when the ball stops inside of a target zone;  
         [0105]    two points for a drop shot when the ball bounces twice inside of the target zone;  
         [0106]    one point for a drop shot when the ball bounces once inside of the target zone; and  
         [0107]    three points for a lob shot for hitting the target zone over a feeder&#39;s outstretched racket head.  
         [0108]    A new and useful color-code system of rating tennis skills having been described, all such foreseeable modifications, adaptations, substitutions of equivalents, mathematical possibilities of combinations of parts, pluralities of parts, applications and forms thereof as described by the following claims and not precluded by prior art are included in this invention.