Abstract:
A soccer training device, which fits into and is used in conjunction with a standard backyard soccer goal, uses a motorized simulated goalie. The goalie traverses across the mouth of the goal and a cam mechanism is used to impart an oscillating motion about the vertical axis of the goalie while traversing. A ball return device is included which returns the ball to the player after it has entered the mouth of the goal. A speed control varies the speed of the goalie enabling players of various ages and levels of skill to use the training device to hone their skills.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a soccer training device and a soccer training assembly wherein the device is used in conjunction with a standard backyard soccer goal. 
     The growth of soccer in the United States during the past two decades has been quite rapid. U.S. Youth Soccer is the youth division of the United States Soccer Federation, the governing body of soccer in the United States. U.S. Youth Soccer registers young players between the ages of 5 and 19 and is made up of 55 member state associations, one in each state, with two in California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The U.S. Youth Soccer Association has seen exponential growth in recent years. It had 1.4 million members in 1988 and 1.7 million in 1991. It now has more than 3,000,000 registered members. It is a member of a much larger soccer community. Boys and girls register to play with one of the 6,000+ clubs and leagues formed by their state association. U.S. soccer, along with more than 197 other national soccer organizations are members of the FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association. The FIFA serves as the international governing body for soccer and U.S. Soccer has been a member since 1913. 
     In 1986, the United States Amateur Soccer Association, which represents players 19 years old and older, had only 96,000 members. It now counts more than 3,000,000 registered members. But the formal registrations figures only tell part of the story. According to the 1996 National Soccer Participation Survey, conducted by the Soccer Industry Counsel of America, there are nearly 17 million soccer participants in the U.S., more than 7 million are classified as frequent players (25 days or more a year). 
     It should be noted that approximately 44% of soccer playing Americans are women, showing that soccer has truly taken over as a sport for all young people. Now, with major league soccer having been launched, all these young players have new heroes to emulate, more news coverage to read and dreams to aspire to you, all of which combine to create a much stronger marketplace for soccer equipment and training devices than in the past. 
     Today, soccer is already, by far, the most popular participant sport among American youth, far out pacing the more traditional sports of baseball, football and basketball. In fact, soccer surpassed little league baseball more than 15 years ago and has continued to attract more youth players than any other widely organized team sport. 
     The problem is that, as with most team sports like baseball and football, it is difficult for individuals to practice the game of soccer alone. The solution then, is to create a device that will enable individuals to train for soccer, while maintaining long term interest, economically offering a variety of degrees of difficulty and making the product portable and easy to assemble by one person. Our research indicates that soccer is the most deficient of all sports with regards to individual training devices. Currently, there are no products on the market designed to help players hone their kicking and aiming skills without the help of a trainer/coach or other players. Previous attempts as such products have fallen short with regard to varying degrees of difficulty, maintaining the individual interests for extensive periods of time, and simulating true conditions of soccer as it is played. 
     Various types of sports training devices are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,210 (Brantley) discloses a football dummy 36, flexibly suspended between two posts on a cable 15, which offers a moving target. The vertical height at one end is raised or lowered with crank 11 at the bottom of post 1 which causes the dummy to traverse between post 1 and post 2. A tubular spring housing 32 on the dummy 36 causes the dummy to reverse direction when it reaches the end of its traverse. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,675 (DiMarzio) discloses a simulated hockey goalie 11, which moves across the mouth of a simulated hockey net 17 via threaded column 13 riding a feed screw 14. The goalie 11 slides back and forth across the mouth of the simulated net 17 propelled by an electric driving motor 23. The player 26 stands at one end of a rectangular shaped room and shoots pucks 24 onto a surface 25 toward the net. An endless belt 31 moves the pucks toward the depressed trough 34. Another endless belt may be used to return the pucks to the player. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,228 (Greaney) discloses a device 22 which is fixedly attached to a ordinary hockey goal 11. The goalie is pivoted on the device 22 and the device is V-shaped so that when a player 16 propels the puck 17 toward the goalie, the puck is diverted to the right or the left. The player may score by propelling the puck through an opening through the legs of goalie. However, in this case the goalie and is stationery and, therefore, does not challenge the player as much as does a moving goalie. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,210 (Patsy) discloses a soccer training device consists of a moving target 18 mounted on a slide 17 driven by endless belt 27 attached to a motor. Limit switches 30 and 36 stop travel at each end or reversing switches are used to change the direction of the target. The target is open and may be in the shape of a square or circle. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,725 (Leras, et al.) discloses a soccer training shooting target which has a weight 22 attached to a top rope 24 which is connected to the upper edge of a target 21. The target 21 has an upper target 30, a center target 38 and lower target 48 at which the player 2 aims. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,624 (Sciortino) discloses a weighted body 2, which is attached to, and hangs down from, the cross-bar of a soccer goal G. The weighted body 2 defines a space between itself and the side post of the goal G at which a player P aims a ball B. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,402 (Moss, Jr.) discloses a practice focal device 12 which is removably attached to both a cross-bar member 82 and an upright post 88 of a soccer goal 82, defining an area at which the player aims a ball. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,515 (Levy) discloses a soccer training system having a visual target 12, which is mounted to the side post 36 of a soccer goal 30. The player practices by aiming a ball at the visual target which is attached to a hinge 22 to absorb the impact of the striking ball. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is the general object of the invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device which improves upon, and is more effective and realistic than, exiting devices. 
     It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device, which simulates conditions of an actual soccer game. 
     It is a yet a further object of the invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device which employs a simulated goalie which traverses the mouth of a standard backyard soccer goal while oscillating about its own axis. 
     It is still yet a further object of the instant invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device which is used in conjunction with a standard backyard soccer goal. 
     It is another object of the instant invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device with speed control to vary the difficulty faced by the player who is using the device. 
     It is still another object of the instant invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device which is inexpensive and easy to assemble and apply to a standard backyard soccer goal. 
     It is still yet another object of the instant invention to provide a soccer training assembly and device with an easily removable simulated goalie, so that the standard backyard soccer goal can be used for game play. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These an other objects of the instant invention are achieved by providing a soccer training assembly and device with a motor driven simulated goalie which traverses the mouth of a standard backyard soccer goal. The simulated goalie also oscillates about its own axis while it traverses the goal mouth. A ball return means is also included which returns the ball to the player after the ball has entered the mouth of the goal. The device includes a pair of uprights attached to a motor drive enclosure. The simulated goalie is attached to a motor driven goalie motion device mounted within the enclosure, which imparts a transverse and oscillating motion to the goalie A speed control varies the traversing and oscillating speeds of the simulated goalie. A disconnect pin allows the simulated goalie to be removed from the mouth of the goal, so that the goal can be used for game play. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other objects of many of the intended advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated when the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of the training device installed within a standard backyard soccer goal; 
     FIG. 2 is a side end view of the training device installed within a standard backyard soccer goal; 
     FIG. 3 is the front view of the actuator assembly of the soccer training device; 
     FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of the motor drive assembly of the soccer training device; 
     FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of the goalie motion assembly of the soccer training device; 
     FIG. 4A shows the motion of the cam profile follower as it moves along the undulating surfaces of the cam profiles of the soccer training device; 
     FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of the cam profile follower as it traverses along the cam profiles; 
     FIG. 5 shows the attachment of the cam follower to the clevis to which the simulated goalie is connected; 
     FIG. 6 shows the wiring layout of the soccer training device; and 
     FIG. 6A is an enlarged view of the electrical components and wiring of the soccer training device. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now in detail to the various figures of the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the soccer training device of the instant invention, which is installed in a standard backyard soccer goal  4 . Typical dimensions for a backyard soccer goal are  6 ′wide,  5 ; high and  4 ′deep. The soccer training device  2  comprises a pair of uprights  6 , one upright on each side of the entrance to the goal. A motor driving enclosure is shown having each end supported on the top end of one of the uprights opposite the other end supported on the top end of the other upright. 
     A goalie motion assembly is arranged to ride back and forth in the motor driving enclosure from one upright to the other. 
     A simulated goalie hangs from the goalie motion assembly. The simulated goalie hangs in a vertical “frontal” plane defined by the two uprights and travels back and forth between the uprights. The coupling of the goalie to the goalie motion assembly is arranged to cause the goalie to oscillate rotationally about a centerline (vertical axis) of the goalie as the goalie travels back and forth from near one upright to near the other upright. Power is applied to the device from a 12 volt rechargeable battery through a power cable  16 . A switch controls power to the device and varies the speed of the simulated goalie. 
     The soccer training device  2  also includes a rear ball return plate  20 , and a front ball return plate  22 . The device also has a pair of rear sloping rods and a stabilizing rod  23  (FIG. 1) which is connected to the bottom of the simulated goalie  18 . The stabilizing rod  23  rides along the front of the ball return plate  22  as the simulated goalie  18  traverses across the mouth of the goal  4 , as will be explained later. 
     One end of each of the rear sloping rods  24  is connected to the bottom rear of the motor drive enclosure  8  (FIG.  2 ). The rear ball return plate  20  has a pair of openings  26 , through which the other end of the rear sloping rods  24  are placed. One end of each of the uprights  6  is connected to the bottom of the motor drive enclosure  8  and the front ball return plate  22  has a pair of openings  28  through which each of the other ends of the uprights are placed. The ball return plates  20  and  22  may be made of steel or any other strong plate material. 
     FIG. 2A shows the entry of the rear slopping rods  24  through openings  26  into the rear ball return plate  20 , while FIG. 2B shows the entry of the uprights  6  through the openings  28  in the front ball return plate  22 . 
     The connection of the device  2  to the backyard standard goal  4  will now be explained. The rear ball return plate  20  has a second pair of openings  29  and the goal  4  has a pair of rear supports  25 , each of which is placed through an opening  29 . Similarly, the front ball return plate  22  has a second pair of openings  30  and the goal  4  has a pair of front supports  31 , each of which are placed through an opening  30 . Thus the front and rear ball return plates  20  and  22  are connected to the goal  4  and the rear sloping rods  24  and the uprights  6  of the device  2  are connected to the rear and front ball return plates  20  and  22  respectively as explained previously. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 3,  3 A and  3 B, the details of the motor drive are shown. As can be seen in the FIGS. 3 and 3A, the motor drive has a pair of housings  34  in each of which is mounted a motor  36 , a drive pulley  38 , a belt  42 , a driven pulley  40 , and a driven shaft  44  which has a cam sprocket  46 . The motor drive also includes a chain  48 , both ends of which connected to a goalie motion assembly  52  and which loop around each cam sprocket  46 . 
     As can be seen in FIG. 3, the goalie motion assembly  52  travels back and forth between the motor drives  32  as the motor cause the chain  48  to progress. The details of the goalie motion assembly  52  are shown in FIG.  3 B. The goalie motion assembly comprises a pair of vertical rollers  60 , a pair of horizontal rollers  61 , mounted in a housing  62 . The pairs of rollers are confined to roll in an upper track and lower track  58  which form a channel  54  that extends the entire length of the motor drive enclosure  8 , The rollers  60  and  61  ride in the channel  54  and serve to stabilize the motion of the goalie motion assembly  52  as it traverses back and forth between the motors  36 . (The device  2  further includes a pair of limit switches, not shown, one at each end of the path of the simulated goalie  18 , which reverse the direction of the simulated goalie  18  by reversing the polarity of the voltages to the motors  36 . The cam actuated follower  66  rides on the upper track  56  and abuts the cam profile  64  which has undulating surfaces as will be explained later. 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B, show the movement of the cam actuated follower  66  as it moves transversely across the goal mouth. The cam actuated follower  66  has a pair of rollers  80 , one on each side, which make contact with the cam profile  66 . The goalie motion assembly  52  also includes a drive block  74  (FIG. 3) driven by the chain  48  and a drive pin  76  (FIG. B), which is connected to the drive block  74 . As can be seen in FIGS. 4B and 5, the drive pin  76  rotates about its vertical axis (Z-axis) as the cam actuated follower  66  moves along cam profile&#39;s surface, the cam track  82 . 
     The goalie motion assembly  52  further includes a drive pin  76  pivotally mounted in housing  62 . A clevis  78  is secured by a drive block  76  to the drive pin  76 . The simulated goalie  18  (not shown here) is attached to the strap  70  of clevis  78 . The drive pin  76  is coupled to one end f the cam actuated follower  66 . The simulated goalie is attached to the clevis strap  70 . Thus the simulated goalie  18  is imparted with a rotational oscillation about the vertical axis through the drive pin  76  by the action of the cam actuated follower  66  coupled to the drive pin  76 . Removal of the disconnect pin  77  disconnects the clevis strap  70  and therefore the simulated goalie from the device  2 . 
     The simulated goalie  18  can be made of polycarbonate (LEXAN)TM or similar strong, lightweight material. In this case, wherein polycarbonate material is used, the simulated goalie  18  weighs only about  3  pounds, yet it is very strong and can withstand the shock of being struck with kicked soccer balls. Further, due to its light weight, the simulated goalie  18  can be easily removed from the front of the standard backyard goal  4  via the disconnect pin  77 . Thus the device  2  can be used as a soccer practice device and with the simulated goalie  18  removed the soccer goal  4  can be used to play soccer. 
     The electrical system and wiring for the device  2  are shown in FIGS. 6 and 6A. The electrical system includes a battery  90 , a cable  92 , a connector  94 , a combination speed control and on-off switch  96 , a controller  98  which connects a voltage, which varies in accordance with the desired speed, to the motors  36  via lines  104 ,  106  and  108 . Lines  100  and  102  carry the power input to the controller  98 . 
     A soccer training device, which fits onto, and is used in conjunction with, a standard soccer goal, has been described. A motor driven simulated goalie  18  traverses across the goal mouth, while simultaneously oscillating about its own axis. This closely simulates actual playing conditions. A combination speed control and on-off switch is employed to apply power and to vary the speed of the simulated goalie, enabling players of various ages and levels of skill to use this device. It not only helps train players, but it is fun to use as well. Thus, interest in using the device and in continually practicing is maintained. In fact, the training device can be used for individual competitions between players, to see how many goals they can score while kicking a ball repetitively at the goal. The soccer goal can be used in the usual way by disconnecting the simulated goalie and removing it from the front of the goal. The device is easy to set up and install by one person. 
     Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate my invention that others may, by applying current or future knowledge readily adapt the same for use under the various conditions of service.