Patent Application
20150367219
1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to sports equipment assemblies and more particularly pertains to a new sports equipment assembly for allowing a player to practice shooting and rebounding a basketball.
2. Summary of the Disclosure
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a pole. A tether is positioned in and extends through an interior of the pole.
A free end of the tether extends otuwardly of the pole. A ball is removably attached to the free end of the tether. A ball coupler releasably couples the ball to the free end of the tether. A backboard system is coupled to the pole. The backboard system includes a backboard, a hoop coupled to and extending outwardly from a front side of the backboard and a net coupled to and extending downwardly from the hoop.
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 base 28 has a top surface 30. A bottom end 32 of the pole 12 is attached to the top surface 30 of the base 28. The base 28 may be constructed from hard rubber or like material. The pole 12 may be offset from a center of the base 28. A plurality of wheels 34 is attached to the base 28. The wheels 34 are configured to facilitate movement of the device 10 on a supporting surface. A socket 36 extends into the top surface 30 of the base 28. The pole 12 is removably positioned within the socket 36. The socket 36 may be lined with a metal, such as iron, steel or the like.
A tether 38 is positioned in and extends through an interior of the pole 12. The tether 38 is retractable into and out of the pole 12. A free end 40 of the tether 38 extends outwardly of the pole 12. A reel 42 is positioned within the interior of the pole 12. The tether 38 is rotatably coupled to the reel 42 to store the tether 38 in a coiled manner on the reel 42 in a generally conventional manner. A resistance level of the tether 38 may be selected by the user. A counter 76 is positioned on the pole 12 and is operationally coupled to the tether 38 in a conventional manner to indicate a number of times that the tether 38 is pulled downwardly out of the pole 12. In this manner, the counter 76 indicates the quantity of rebounds performed using the device 10.
A ball 44 is attachable to the free end 40 of the tether 38 to allow the ball 44 to be suspended above a ground surface. A covering 45, which may be constructed from a thick material, such as leather or the like, may be positioned around the ball 44. An outer surface 47 of the covering 45 may include line indicia 49 so that the ball 44 resembles a conventional sports ball, such as a basketball, volleyball or the like. A ball coupler 46 releasably couples the ball 44 to the free end 40 of the tether 38. The ball coupler includes a first strap 48 coupled to the ball 44 and a first strap ring 50 coupled to the first strap 48. A pair of openings 51, 53 is positioned in the first strap 48. The first strap ring 50 extends through each of the openings 51, 53 of the first strap 48. A second strap ring 52 may also be provided and attached to both the first strap ring 50 and the free end 40 of the tether 38. It should be understood that only one of the first 50 and second 52 strap rings would need to be used. However, to better distribute weight exerted on the first strap 48, it is desirable that both the first 50 and second 52 strap rings be used. A second strap 54 may also be provided and coupled to the ball 44. The second strap 54 may extend though a central hole 55 positioned in the first strap ring 50. Portions of each of the first strap 48 and the second strap 54 may be sewn to the ball 44.
A backboard system 56 may be removably coupled to the pole 12. The backboard system 56 includes a backboard 58, a hoop 60 coupled to and extending outwardly from a front side 62 of the backboard 58 and a net 64 coupled to and extending downwardly from the hoop 60. The backboard 58 is positioned perpendicularly relative to the upper section 14 of the pole 12. The backboard 58 is attached to a front side 66 of the pole 12 such that the backboard 58 is positioned in front of the upper section 14 of the pole 12. The backboard 58 may be constructed from acylic, fiberglass or the like. A backboard coupler 68 releasably couples the backboard 58 to the pole 12. The backboard coupler 68 comprises a first mating member 70 coupled to a rear side 72 of the backboard 58 and a second mating member 74 coupled to the pole 12. The first 70 and second 74 mating members of the backboard coupler 68 are complementary relative to each other wherein the first 70 and second 74 mating members of the backboard coupler 68 are selectively engageable to releasably couple the backboard 58 to the pole 12.
The pole 12 may have a circumference between approximately 15.0 cm and 35.0 cm. The telescopic nature of the pole 12 allows the height of the pole 12 to measure between approximately 150.0 cm and 460.0 cm. The upper section 14 of the pole 12 may have a length between approximately 40.0 cm and 75.0 cm. The base 28 may have a length between approximately 100.0 cm and 140.0 cm; a width between approximately 65.0 cm and 100.0 cm; and a thickness between approximately 8.0 cm and 15.0 cm.
In use, as stated above and shown in the Figures, the ball 44 is attached to the free end 40 of the tether 38. The pole 12 is extended or retracted to position the ball 44 at a desired height relative to the ground surface. Preferably, the ball 44 should be positioned above the heads of the players. A player pulls the ball 44 downwardly such that the tether 38 retracts outwardly of the interior of the pole 12. This allows the player to practice rebounding the ball 44. After the player releases the ball 44, the tether 38 retracts into the interior of the pole 12 such that the ball 44 returns to its starting position. Alternatively, the player can use a volleyball for the ball 44 and can practice spiking the ball 44. The tether 38 will allow the ball 44 to return to its starting position after the ball 44 is struck by the player. The ball 44 can also be detached from the tether 38 to allow the player to practice shooting the ball 44 into the net 64.
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.
