Patent Application
20210038959
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The disclosure relates to baseball swing teaching assist device and more particularly pertains to a new baseball swing teaching assist device for teaching a person muscle memory as they move from a set position, through a load position and into a swing.
The prior art relates to baseball swing teaching assist devices that are attachable to a person so as to direct the person through a swing. Prior art devices, however, tend to attach to the person and do not properly create a pulling on the baseball bat for the purpose of enhancing muscle memory throughout a baseball bat swing.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally including the steps of attaching a leg coupler to a lead leg of a batter adjacent to a knee of the batter. The leg coupler is configured to be extendable around the lead leg. A baseball bat is provided having a grip terminating with a knob. A tether is attached to the baseball bat grip adjacent to the knob. The tether is attached to the leg coupler. The tether includes a resiliently stretchable area and an area resistant to stretching. A length of the tether is adjusted such that the tether is taut as the batter is positioned in a set position before the batter moves toward a batting swing load position. Resistance to stretching of the tether increases as the batter moves to the batting swing load position.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a leg coupler configured to be attached to a lead leg of a batter adjacent to a knee of the batter. The leg coupler is configured to be extendable around the lead leg. A tether is provided which is configured to be attached to a baseball bat grip adjacent to the knob. The tether is attached to the leg coupler. An attachment point between the tether and the leg coupler is movable on the leg coupler. The tether has an adjustable length and includes a resiliently stretchable area and an area resistant to stretching. A length of the tether is adjusted such that the tether is taut when a batter is positioned in a set position. The assembly is configured to increase resistance to stretching of the tether as the batter moves to a batting swing load position.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A generally conventional baseball bat 26 is provided and includes a grip 28 terminating with a knob 30. The term “baseball bat” is being used to describe any type of bat used for hitting balls and is not limited to those only used for baseballs. Thus other bats, such as softball bats, may also be used with the assembly 10. Moreover, the materials used for the construction of the baseball bat 26 are not limited and may be any conventional material including wood, metals and composite materials.
A tether 32 is attached to the baseball bat 26 grip 28 adjacent to the knob 30. The tether 32 is also attached to the leg coupler 12 to releasably secure the baseball bat 26 to the leg coupler 12. An attachment point 34 between the tether 32 and the leg coupler 12 may be movable on the leg coupler 12. As can be seen in
The tether 32 includes a lower portion 36 and an upper portion 38. The lower portion 36 is coupled to the leg coupler 12. Moreover, the lower portion 36 is resiliently stretchable such that its resistance to stretching increases as its length increases. A lower coupler 40 releasably couples the lower portion 36 to the leg coupler 12. The lower coupler 40 may include a clip, such as a carabiner to allow the user to easily swap out one lower portion 36 for another lower portion 36 having a different resistance to stretching and/or length. In one embodiment to achieve the resistance properties desired, the lower portion 36 may comprise a first elastic band 42 and a second elastic band 44. The first 42 and second 44 elastic bands are each comprised of a similar material wherein the first elastic band 42 is shorter than the second elastic band 44, such as for example 4.0 inches and 8.0 inches, respectively. Thus, the first elastic band 42 has a greater resiliency to stretching than the second elastic band 44 when both of the first 42 and second 44 elastic bands are taut. In another embodiment each of the first 42 and second 44 elastic bands has a similar length, but the first elastic band 42 is comprised of a material having more resistance to stretching than the material comprising the second elastic band 44. Each of the first 42 and second 44 bands may have terminal ends 46 formed into loops as shown in
The upper portion 38 is removably coupled to the baseball bat 26. The upper portion 38 includes a first section 50 and a second section 52. The first section 50 has an upper end 54 formed into a loop that is extended around the baseball bat 26. As can be seen in the Figures, the upper end 54 may form a slip loop for loosening or tightening around the baseball bat 26. The second section 52 will typically be provided with an adjustable length. A connector 56 releasably couples a lower end of the first section 50 to the second section 52. The connector 56 may include a conventional male and female mating coupler. A securing member 48 releasably couples a bottom end 58 of the second section 52 to the lower portion 36. As can be seen in
The second section 52 may have a slide 60 positioned thereon wherein the second section 52 extends through the connector 56. By adjusting the length from the securing member 48 to connector 56, the length of the second section 52 and thus the entire tether 32 is altered. A loose portion 62 of the second section 52 is then extended through the slide 60 to retain it in place which aids in preventing the second section 52 from sliding through the connector 56.
In use, the tether 32 length is adjusted so that that the tether 32 is taut as the batter is positioned in a set position. The set position is one where the batter 70 is relaxed in the batter's box and has not yet started to move toward a batting swing load position. As the batter 70 moves toward the batting swing load position, the tension on the lower portion 36 increases to give the batter muscle memory feedback. Furthermore, the tension on the tether 32 helps to keep the batter's hands inside throughout the batter's swing. The ability to alter the resilience of the lower portion 36 and the length of the upper portion 38 facilitates tailoring the assembly 10 for all users as well as allowing a same user the ability to adjust the tension experienced during the batting swing load position.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
