GB2479545A

GB2479545A - Football training aid

Info

Publication number: GB2479545A
Application number: GB201006125A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Luke Leonard Martin Porter
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-04-13
Filing date: 2010-04-13
Publication date: 2011-10-19
Anticipated expiration: 2030-04-13
Also published as: GB201006125D0; GB2479545B

Abstract

A rebounder football training aid (10) having a rebound panel (12) and a support frame (14), the rebound panel (12) comprising a plurality of generally parallel hollow tubes (16) adapted to rebound a football, and the support frame (14) comprising one leg (18) or a pair of legs (18, 20) adapted to support the rebound panel (12) at a plurality of different angles relative to the ground, the rebound panel (12) and the support frame (14) being arranged to be packed flat to each other for transport of the rebounder.

Description

FOOTBALL TRAINING AID

This invention relates to a rebounder football training aid which rebounds a football.

It is known to want to rebound a football from a rebound box so that the user can practise their football skills: kicking the ball accurately enough to hit the rebound box, and hard enough so that is rebounds, and the reaction/ball control skills to control the rebounded ball. Examples of such devices include GB 2450772, GB 2264061, FR 2887464, US 5531449, GB 1220057, US 2003/0056907, and US 2004/0176193.

An aim of the present invention is to improve the football rebounder to make it more attractive to users and/or manufacturers.

According to the invention there is provided a rebounder football training aid having a rebound panel and a support frame, the rebound panel comprising a plurality of generally parallel hollow tubes adapted to rebound a football, and the support frame comprising one leg or a pair of legs adapted to support the rebound panel at a plurality of different angles relative to the ground, the rebound panel and the support frame being arranged to be packed flat to each other for transport of the rebounder.

The hollow tubes reduce the weight of the rebounder, which is advantageous when transporting it, and yet retain structural strength.

Moreover, hollow tubes can be more "whippy" then solid rods; they flex more easily for the same external diameter and so can add more spring to the rebound of the football.

Preferably the support frame can support the rebound panel in at least three different positions, namely a generally vertical configuration, a forward sloping configuration, and a backwards sloping configuration (forwards and backwards relate to a user of the device standing in front of the device).

This can enable a range of different drills to be performed. In a real football game, the ball often travels generally parallel to the ground, or down into the ground (and bounces up from the ground again). I have found that a backwards sloping rebound panel gives good practice for some types of ball trajectory but that the ability to alter the type of trajectory of rebounded ball would be more useful to a player to vary their training.

A system that is simple to adjust, and simple to make, is desired. This can be achieved by having the support frame or frames hinged to the rebound panel, for example at or near at top edge of the rebound panel, and staking the support frame and the bottom edge of the rebound panel to the ground, with the rebound panel and the support frame at desired positions/angles.

Whilst staking or pinning the rebounder down to the earth is possible for situations where the rebounder is to be used on real grass, it will not be suitable for use in the gym, and possibly not for artificial grass playing surface. Nevertheless, there are a great many people who train on real grass. U-shaped, or hook-shaped, pins may be provided to stake down the device. The lower most hollow tube may be staked to the ground.

The support frame may comprise a left and right support leg, and the legs may be staked to the ground in use. Alternatively or additionally the left and right legs may be joined by a generally horizontally extending linking bar which may be staked to the ground. The legs, and the linking bar, may be made of hollow tube, possibly the same hollow tube as is used for the rebound panel (this will reduce parts inventory and manufacturing cost).

The legs may comprise a frame panel, for example of trapezoidal or triangular or quadrilateral shape.

The invention may comprise, looked at in one way, using parallel hollow tubes as the rebound panel.

The rebound panel may comprise a left and a right tube-mounting brace to which the tubes are attached. The tubes may be screwed or bolted to the left and right mounting braces. A central mounting brace (or more than one intermediate mounting brace) may be provided between the left and right braces.

An attraction of having generally parallel, generally horizontally extending, tubes is that whilst this gives variability of rebound on the vertical place, there is little or no variability in the left-to-right horizontal rebound. I want the player to have some variability, but not so much that it is a lottery where the ball rebounds in all directions. Some rebounders are too variable.

Having a central mounting brace or intermediate mounting braces does add extra variability in the rebound because the hollow bars will be stiffer at their point of mounting and will not be able to flex so much there compared with points along the length of the bars midway between mounting braces.

Making most of the rebounder from tubes means little waste material -tube is not just cut to length. The tube may be metal (eg steel), but plastic tube may be rigid enough. The tube may have a corrosion-preventing coating or treatment.

Being able to set the rebound panel to slope upwards away from the ground or downwards into the ground is a new feature which gives a greater range of experiences for a user from a simple cheap device.

Having the rebounder be able to fold flat means that it is more portable and a football club coach can load three or four into the back of a (large) car one at a time and can get players to carry them to positions of use on a training field. They are much lighter than some products (eg about 20kg) which can be lifted and carried by one person.

The rebounder may be provided initially to the user as a self-assembly kit.

Each hollow tube of the rebound point may comprise a tube of external diameter about 16mm and wall thickness of about 1.5 -2.00mm, say 1.62mm. The length of the tubes could be between 2000mm and 500mm, preferably in the range 800mm -1500mm, most preferably about 1200mm.

Figure 1 shows a rebounder 10 having a rebound panel 12 and a support frame 14. The rebound panel comprises 21 steels tubes 16 of external diameter 16mm and internal diameter about 14.5mm. Only 10 tubes are shown in Figure 1 for clarity. The support frame 14 has a left leg 18 and a right leg 20 each pivotally coupled to the rebound panel 12 at brackets 22. The legs 18 and 20 are also steel tube. The legs 18 and 20 have a linking cross-member tube 24 joining their bottom ends. A number of stakes or pegs 26 pin the rebounder to the ground. In this example the stakes are U-shaped.

The rebound panel 12 has a pair of generally parallel mounting braces 28 and 30 at or near the laterally spaced ends of the hollow tubes 16, and the tubes are bolted to the mounting braces by bolts (see Figure 3).

The tubes 16 extend parallel and generally horizontally. Through-holes, to receive the bolts 17, are made (eg drilled) in the tubes 16 and in the mounting braces 28 and 30. The mounting braces 28 and 30 are flat metal strips (see Figure 2). The tubes are bolted to the front surface, referenced 32, of the braces. Nuts 32 co-operate with the bolts 17 to hold the tubes to the mounting braces 28 and 30.

Figures 3 and 4 show the attachment of the support frame 18 to the rebound panel 12 via the pivot brackets 22. A bolt 34 holds the tubular leg 18 (and 20) to the bracket 22 and allows it to pivot relation to the bracket. Two bolts 36, 38 are used to hold a respective bracket 22 to a respective mounting brace 28 or 30.

Figure 5 to 7 show how the angle of the rebound panel can be varied by the user to be generally vertical, or a forward sloping angle, or a backwards sloping angle. Different forward sloping angles can be used, as can different backward sloping angles, under control of the user.

The rebounder is cheap to make, robust, folds flat with the support frame attached to the rebound panel, and can be used to generate a range of ball trajectory rebounds. The simplicity of design belies its wide ranger of abilities, compared with prior art football rebounders.

KEY TO DRAWINGS

l.a 21 x 1200 mm tubes bolted to two metal strips. Each metal strip measures 1020 mm x 25 mm x 6 mm. The picture only shows 10 x ___________ rebound tubing.

1.b 2 brackets are bolted to metal strips.

1.c Back support hinges at brackets allowing back support to lie flat for _____________ storage and transport. Back support can be set and held at any angle.

1.d "n" shaped pegs pushed into ground and hold rebounder in place l.e The design uses the "tubing" design for both front rebound panel and ___________ folding back support.

2.a Side view of rebound tube bolted to metal strip.

3.a Side view of back support tube fixed to bracket. Bracket is bolted to ______________ metal strip.

4.a Bracket is bolted to metal strip by nuts and bolts through 2 holes in ____________ back of bracket and 2 holes in metal strip.

4.b Tube back support attached to bracket.

4.c Tube back support is held by bolt inserted through holes in bracket and ___________ hole in tube.

Q 6.a Side view of how rebound panel can be set with varying upward and downward angles.

CO l0.a Tubing is bolted to side arms by bolt being inserted through hole in tube Q ____________ and hole in front of side panel.

l0.b Side panels have small fold to front edge of panel in which holes are made 50 mm apart.

l0.c Steel tubing of length 1200 mm diameter 16 mm (5/8 inch) wall ___________ thickness 1.62 mm.

ll.a The customer assembles by using 22 bolts and nuts to attach 11 tube ____________ lengths to the side panels. The product is very sturdy and robust.

12.a Rebound box design 12.b Estimated weight: 2 side panels 5 kg approx; 11 lengths of steel tubing x 1200 mm x16 mm (1.62 mm thickness) 7.5 kg; nuts/bolts/feet 1.0 kg ___________ approx; and therefore total weight of unit is 13.5 kg approx.

The estimated weight of the rebound box components are listed in the following table: Estimated weights 21 x rebound tubing 14.2 kg 2 x metal strips 2.0 kg Back support tubing 2.6 kg 2 x Brackets 0.2 kg Nuts/bolts 1.0 kg Total weight (approx) 20.0 kg The main benefits of the new rebound box design can be summarised in the following: * Better/equal performance to present product: o Steel tubing provides more spring in order to rebound a ball.

* Much lower weight: o Lower cost of manufacture.

o Lower distribution cost.

o More attractive for retail and wholesale distribution.

* No steel waste.

* Simpler manufacture process.

Q * Product easier to move because the design folds flat.

* Product supports a varying angle for rebound front panel (to rebound the ball at different angles upwards and downwards).

Q * Lager rebound panel area to hit with the ball.

* Folding design product is appropriate for a large market where football clubs use public fields and have to transport training equipment to and from this location.

* The design is very robust and sturdy.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A rebounder football training aid having a rebound panel and a support frame, the rebound panel comprising a plurality of generally parallel hollow tubes adapted to rebound a football, and the support frame comprising one leg or a pair of legs adapted to support the rebound panel at a plurality of different angles relative to the ground, the rebound panel and the support frame being arranged to be packed flat to each other for transport of the rebounder.
2. A rebounder according to claim 1 wherein the support frame can support the rebound panel in at least three different positions, namely a generally vertical configuration, a forward sloping configuration, and a backwards sloping configuration.
3. A rebounder according to claim 1, or claim 2, wherein the support frame or frames is/are hinged to the rebound panel, optionally at or near at top edge of the rebound panel.
4. A rebounder according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein stakes or pins are provided to stake the support frame and the bottom edge of the rebound panel to the ground, with the rebound panel and the support frame at desired positions/angles.
5. A rebounder according to any preceding claim wherein the support frame comprises a left and right support leg, and the legs are staked to the ground in use.
6. A rebounder according to claim 5 wherein the left and right legs may be joined by a generally horizontally extending linking bar which may be staked to the ground.
7. A rebounder according to claim 6 wherein the legs, and the linking bar, are made of hollow tube.
8. A rebounder according to any preceding claim wherein the rebound panel comprises a left and a right tube-mounting brace to which the tubes are attached.
9. A rebounder according to claim 8 wherein a central mounting brace, or more than one intermediate mounting brace, is/are provided between the left and right braces.