EP0623035B1 - Multiple purpose structure for the simultaneous playing of at least one sport - Google Patents

Abstract

Multiple purpose structure for training and playing of at least one individual or team sport comprising vertical walls (1, 2, 3, and 4) opening onto training areas (E, G, H and I), a gangway (9) in its upper part for supervising players on each of the training areas, means associated with the sport, for example, basketball nets (16, 17, 18 and 19) and openings (10, 11) serving as goals in games such as football.

Description

The practice of sports is nowadays all the more important since the habits of life and the concentration of populations in large complexes, respectively their dispersion in very geographically spread out subdivisions, sometimes over tens of kilometers around urban centers. , makes finding a physical balance for humans more difficult, as well as more imperative.

It is not only a question of dissipating the stress inherent in the professional activity of most people, young or old, caused either by an excess of activity or, on the contrary, by the depressing effects of unemployment, but also to hold takes into account transport problems and time constraints which often prevent the mobility necessary to go from one place to another to seek different types of sporting activity.

The practice of sports also plays a preponderant role in the psychic balance of people, in particular young people, by making it possible to transform positively the violence or the anxiety which generate the concentrations of population and the accelerated rhythm of professional necessities, as well as idleness or unemployment, or the negative influence of a large part of audiovisual productions.

It has certainly already been proposed and successfully implemented sports practice centers of variable dimensions, generally of the "fitness" type, or on the contrary, installations significant in volume associated with sports stadiums. In practice, access to "fitness", which is also relatively expensive to operate, where intensive work is carried out on the body (of the "body-building" type), remains reserved for a small number of members and geographically. limited to urban centers only. If the stadiums and their peripheral facilities allow the practice - less physical exercises of the "body-building" type associated with devices - than a variety of real sports, it must be noted that the rarity and cost of these sports infrastructures do not allow to satisfy a general need, nor to be managed in a very flexible way.

A great step forward has been made to facilitate the practice in a given place of several sports, on a small surface and with relatively inexpensive means, by designing compact multipurpose installations mainly comprising a field delimited by a fence, a versatile marking of the surface of the field to correspond to different rules of sports game, a palisade type structure bordering at least a part of the field and accessories associated with this structure to respond to each particular sport.

Such fields make it possible to practice several sports jointly or alternatively, without appreciable modification of the installations, but are more sites of recreation than places of training. If they are ideal for setting up neighborhoods or suburban areas, they are nevertheless linked to the use of a fairly large horizontal surface and are not intended for intensive training for competitions.

Wooden structures are also known for children's play and recreation, the installations of which have multiplied in recent years, in particular in all public or school places reserved for such activities. These structures allow a large number of variants of exercises, but in no way constitute places suitable for practicing or training for a given sport, as practiced in the adult world.

In parallel with the need to satisfy the sporting needs of a growing number of people, in places not far from their homes, and for a modest installation cost, we note that the preparation and the friendly or professional competition of a variety more and more team sports are creating an increasing demand for training for individuals and the teams they form. We have indeed seen that in major regional or international sporting events, the performance of the teams largely depends on the quality of the prior training. This is particularly the case for sports that use a ball, such as basketball, football, handball and rudby among others.

The present invention seeks to solve both the problem of practicing ball or other sports and training individuals and teams for these sports, by giving access to as many people as possible to the exercise grounds, and this with a minimum of training personnel and by means of versatile equipment can be costly, suitable for outdoor or indoor installations, in the suburbs or in village sports activities areas.

It therefore offers a versatile structure for the exercise and simultaneous practice of at least one sport by several individuals or teams.

This structure is characterized by the fact that it occupies a central position and comprises at least two walls rigidly connected to each other and having on their outer faces means associated with said sport, by the fact that each wall opens on at least one delimited exercise area, by the fact that at least one walkway connects the upper part of the walls and by the fact that climbing means associated with at least one of the walls give access to said walkway.

The structure according to the invention may have two, three, four, five or more walls in plan form as polygons, or even be circular to open by a variable number of sectors of its wall over as many areas outdoor exercises.

Such a structure therefore takes the general form of a functional center around which several identical or different sports activity sectors are deployed.

The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example, an embodiment of the multipurpose structure according to the invention, as well as variants.

Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of a first variant of the structure, seen from the angle of two adjacent walls.

Figures 2 to 6 schematically show in plan five other variants of the structure according to the invention.

Figure 7 is a perspective elevation of another structural variant according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, we see that the structure shown is square and has four walls 1, 2, 3 and 4, the outer faces of which open onto four exercise areas F, G, H and I. These walls are joined by corner posts 5, 6, 7 and 8 and form a rigid hollow construction. The inner upper part of the walls is bordered by a walkway 9 running along them, in such a way that the upper part of the walls forms an outer railing, while a handrail running along the inside part of the walkway allows avoid falls in the center of the structure.

We see in the drawing that the visible walls 2 and 3 have in their lower half an opening overlooking the open center of the construction. These openings 10, 11 constitute both an access to the center of the structure and a goal for ball games. Each goal is delimited laterally by panels 12, 13 and at its bottom by, for example, a net 14.

To access exercise grounds F, G, H and I to the walkway of the structure, there is shown a ladder 15 which can be climbed from the center of the construction.

In the example of the drawing, each of the four walls opens onto an area for exercising and practicing the same sport, here basketball, a ball game the receptacle of which is a basket 16, 17, 18 and 19 mounted on a panel 20, 21, 22 and 23 respectively.

The structure shown therefore allows the exercise and simultaneous practice of basketball on four ends of different terrains, each wall suitable for training one or more players united in a team.

When the structure according to the invention is thus used for the same sport by several teams, the bridge is the dominant place from where one or more coaches can animate the development of the players on each of the exercise areas.

It is easy to imagine that such a central structure occupies, with its peripheral exercise areas, only a reduced total surface, and can therefore find its place, not only on low surface areas with open sky , but also indoors.

This first example relating to handball could be followed by other examples, notably that of football. There, the lower part of each wall constituting a goal would allow the training, from four exercise areas, of several groups or teams of players.

Of course, if the coach of a sport can, when the walls of the structure are equipped for this single sport, train several teams, it is also possible to imagine that different sports are played simultaneously on the various walls of the structure. Moreover, the bridge is not only the place which allows the coach to face each of the playing areas successively, it is also a possibility of welcoming spectators from the training of these players.

For simplification, the variants shown in Figures 2 to 6 are schematic and also relate to the sport of basketball.

In the plan view according to FIG. 2, only two walls are provided which open onto the two exercise areas A and B. These walls, connected to each other, are each bordered by a walkway.

The structure seen in plan in Figure 3 has three walls opening onto the exercise areas C, D and E, and operate similarly to the previous one.

Figure 4 is a schematic plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1, where there are more clearly the four walls opening onto the four areas F, G, H and I.

Figure 5 shows a pentagonal structure with five adjoining walls and play areas.

Finally, there is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 6 a circular structure delimiting an arbitrary number of vertical wall sections opening onto as many playing areas, here designated by the letters O, P, Q, R, S, T, U and V. The footbridge which borders this continuous peripheral wall is itself annular.

When the areas are relatively numerous, respectively that the surface area of the structure is quite large, one can imagine that one of the areas shown opens onto an access door inside the structure, to facilitate the communication between inside and outside.

The means of practicing different sports obviously depend on the choice that is made for the animation of the field. One can imagine that the interior part of a structure also has various gymnastic or sporting equipment associated or not with sports played or exercised on outdoor areas.

If access to the upper walkways can be done by a ladder, as shown in Figure 1, it can obviously also consist of a rope ladder or even climbing pitons fixed on one or more walls.

The pivot of sporting activity proposed by the versatile structure according to the invention can natively be supplemented with various comfort or adjustment arrangements to local needs. It is thus not excluded to cover the gangway with a roof shelter from bad weather, or to provide a minimum of sanitary reception in the center of the construction.

If it may seem preferable to manufacture the structure according to the invention in so-called ecological materials, in other words natural materials, such as wood, fiber, etc., it is of course not excluded to use metallic materials or synthetic, insofar as the manufacturing cost, the lightness and the resistance of the whole do not suffer.

It has so far been shown that the walkways line the walls of each structural variant. It will be easily understood that it is also possible to have all or part of the walkways arranged perpendicular to these walls. In a structure comprising only two walls, as shown in FIG. 2, the walkway could thus be a simple junction perpendicular to the center of the walls.

In an additional variant shown in Figure 7, the structure is generally triangular in plan and has three walls 24, 25, 26 opening onto three exercise areas W, X, Y. In the center of the structure, a central pillar 27 supports both the gateway 28 which occupies the entire surface between the walls 24, 25 and 26, on the one hand, and on the other hand connects the sides 29, 30 and 31 of said walls by partitions which are here nets 32, 33 and 34.

As can be seen, two adjacent nets, for example 32 and 33, form a goal, here for the exercise area W.

The ladder 35 makes it possible to climb the structure and access the gangway 28.

Depending on the weight of the assembly, means of mooring on the ground will be necessary or superfluous. It is conceivable that certain types of structure according to the invention can advantageously be assembled and disassembled as desired for easier transport from one place to another. The embodiments described or shown are not limiting, but simply illustrate some possible embodiments among others.

Claims (17)

1. Multiple purpose structure for the simultaneous exercise and playing of at least one sport by several persons or teams, characterized in that it fills a central position and comprises at least two walls rigidly connected with each other and presenting on their external side means related to this sport, in that each wall is opening on at least one playing surface and in that at least one foot-bridge connects the high part of the walls and in that climbing means associated with at least one of the wall lead to said foot-bridge.
2. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises three walls forming a triangle and defining at least three playing surfaces around them.
3. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises four walls forming a square and defining at least four playing surfaces around them.
4. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises five walls forming a pentagon and defining at least five playing surfaces around them.
5. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises six walls forming a hexagon and defining at least six playing surfaces around them.
6. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it has a circular section and that its circumference defines several vertical wall segments, each of them opening on a playing surface.
7. Structure as claimed in one of the foregoing claims, characterized in that said means provided on a wall are formed by at least one basket fixed directly or by means of a pannel on said wall.
8. Structure as claimed in one of the foregoing claims characterized in that said means comprises goals arranged in said walls.
9. Structure as claimed in one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the playing surfaces are demarcated by a signalling extending radially along a line beginning at the geometric center of the structure, passing through the intersection of two walls and going up to the external end of each surface.
10. Structure as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the foot-bridge is arranged on the innerside of the wall and in parallel direction to it.
11. Structure as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the foot-bridge extends at least partially in a perpendicular direction to the wall.
12. Structure as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, 10, and 11, characterized in that the climbing means are formed by at least one staircase.
13. Structure as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, 10 and 11, characterized in that the climbing means are formed by at least one ladder.
14. Structure as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, 10 and 11, characterized in that the climbing means are formed by pistons or rock-climbing supports arranged on at least one side of the wall.
15. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the central part delimited by the walls comprises gymnastic devices associated or not to the playing of one sport or encouraging its exercise.
16. Structure as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises further a central shaft on which a foot-bridge fulling the most part of the space comprised between the walls is laying on and in that a radial separation connects said shaft to the lateral ends of the walls opening on the playing surfaces, two adjacent radial separations forming a goal for the ballsport.
17. Structure as claimed in claim 16, characterized in that the separations are nets.

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