AU783554B2 - Football training device - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: MclNNES CRAIG THOMAS PENNING CRAIG THOMAS PENNING HODGKINSON OLD Invention Title: Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 3, 20 Alfred Street MILSONS POINT NSW 2061 FOOTBALL TRAINING DEVICE Australian Provisional Application No. PR5850 filed 21 June 2001 Details of Associated Provisional Applications: The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: FOOTBALL TRAINING DEVICE TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a football training device and in particular a football training device having a movable bag which can be used for various training drills.

Tackling bags are commonly used in football codes such as rugby league and rugby union for the purposes of carrying out tackling training drills. The bags are generally cylindrical in shape and of a size approximating an adult male. These known bags are made of soft or padded materials and in many instances contain foam padding. Their purpose is to allow football players to carry out tackles for training purposes, which they would normally carry out on other players. The use of the tackling bag minimizes risk of injury to the players in training and assists in teaching timing and correct tackling techniques. These bags are generally used in a stationary manner and are generally supported by coaches, trainers or other players during tackling training sessions. A disadvantage of the use of such tackling bags is that they do not simulate a moving player carrying a ball.

There are a number of training devices which allow a tackling dummy or bag to be suspended from a carriage which engages with one or more suspended cables. One such device is disclosed in US Patent No. 3,637,210 (Brantley) in which a tackling dummy is suspended from a carriage traveling on a plurality of cables. This device is intended for use for American football practice and has limitations in its operation. A biased means in the form of a spring arrangement is located in the hanger between the dummy and the carriage. The purpose of the spring in this arrangement is to absorb the shock when a player attempts to tackle the dumnry. This particular arrangement is not suitable for the codes of football such as rugby league or rugby union, as the carriage, cable and spring means are not adapted to allow the dummy to be tackled substantially to the ground, in a manner required in such codes of football.

The present invention seeks to ameliorate over the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a training device that is suitable for use in tackle training, for football codes such as Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Rules Football.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to a first aspect the present invention consists in a football practice device comprising a carriage supported by a cable spanning between two points elevated above the ground, said carriage having wheels therein and bearing against said cable to allow travel therealong, a bag pivotally connected and hanging from said carriage via a biased connector means, characterised in that said biased connector means has two stages of bias, the first stage of bias being provided by a first bias component of said bias connector means as said bag hangs from said carriage, and a second stage of bias which is provided by a second bias component when said bag is urged substantially downwardly away from said carriage, said second stage of bias providing a greater bias force than said first stage bias.

Preferably said first bias component is a coil spring.

Preferably said second bias component comprises at least one elastomeric member adjacent to and spanning between the bag and said carriage.

Preferably the bag is provided with a holding means to removably attach a football thereto.

4 4 Preferably the holding means is a belt removably attached to the bag.

Preferably at least one of the two points between which the cable spans is a point located on a post.

Preferably the cable is biasedly supported between said two points elevated above the ground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Fig. 1 is an elevation view of a football practice device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged exploded view of a tackle bag of the football practice device and the means by which it is supported.

Fig. 3 is an elevation view of the tackle bag shown in Fig. 2 with a means for holding a football attached thereto.

w Fig. 4 is a plan view of the tackle bag shown in Fig. 3.

Figs. 5(a) 5(c) show the tackle bag of Fig. 1 in various stages of bias.

MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION With reference to the figures a football practice device is shown having a cable 1 suspended between two posts 2, and a wheeled carriage 3 adapted to bear against cable 1 and allowed to travel therealong. The wheels (not shown) of carriage 3 are of the type which are grooved at their periphery to engage with cable 1. A bag 4 having support straps 9 is suspended from carriage 3 via a biased connector means 5 which includes a coil spring 6 and two elastomeric members 7.

In the present embodiment, posts 2 are of a type which may be erected for the purposes of use during the football season but may be demountable when not in use. As shown on one of posts 2, a winch mechanism 12 may be used to raise and lower the cable 1 to allow carriage 3 and bag 4 to be removed from the suspended cable when the device is not in use. Cable 1 is preferably biased by a cable biasing means 16.

The bias connector means 5 are of a type which allow two distinct stages of bias to be applied to the bag as it is urged downwardly. The different stages of bias can be seen with reference to Figures 5(a) Bag 4 is shown in Fig. 5(a) to hang from cable 1 with coil spring 6 of bias connector means 5 providing a first stage of bias. The coil spring 6 is able to provide the necessary bias not only when bag 4 is normally hanging under its own weight, but when bag 4 is traveling along cable 1 via carriage 3. In use, when bag 4 is urged downwardly away from cable 1 during a practice tackle being carried out by a football player, coil spring 6 continues to extend to a predetermined point at which the two elastomeric members 7 have extended to their full length as shown in Figure With continual urging downwards of bag 4, elastomeric members 7 then also begin to stretch, thereby adding further bias to that provided by coil spring 6. This combination of the bias provided by elastomeric members 7 and coil spring 6 is a "second stage of bias" which provides a greater bias force than that of coil spring 6 alone. The combination of coil spring 6 and elastomeric members 7 in the bias connector means 5, is in effect a "compound spring", which has two stages of bias. This is advantageous in that as a football player tackles bag 4 to the ground, the second stage of bias produces a greater force and encourages the player to work harder to ground the bag and hold it down, as would be necessary if they were tackling a real player from an opposing team. This greater bias assists in simulating a tackled player who is resisting being grounded.

The provision of belt 10 allows a football 11 to be secured thereto to simulate a player carrying a ball. In the games of rugby league and rugby union it is important for the tackling player to also focus on the ball. Whilst the rules of the games differ, it is advantageous to simulate the holding of a ball on bag 4. It should be understood that belt 10 is preferably removable from bag 4 and could preferably be held in place by a hook fasteners arrangement such as VelcroTM fasteners.

It should also be understood that in the embodiment shown in Figure 1, cable 1 is shown to incline downwardly from an elevated point on one post 2 to a lower point at the other post 2. This difference in height is slightly exaggerated to highlight the differences in height, and is preferable if the bag 4 will be used in drills where the bag is being moved along the cable. By inclining cable 1, it is far easier for a trainer, coach or other operator to propel or move bag 4 from one end of cable 1 towards the other.

It should be understood that coil spring 6 and elastomeric members 7 have a tube or sheath (not shown) of suitable material surrounding them, to prevent fingers or clothing getting caught in spring 6 and elastomeric members 7, when bag 4 is being used.

It is also preferable that various zones 13, 14, and 15 be marked or coloured differently on bag 4 to approximate the head, torso and legs of a player, respectively, as shown in Fig. 2. A football jersey may also be fitted to tackle bag 4 to add a further dimension of reality, and thereby allow players to grab the jersey in a similar manner as would be possible when tackling a player.

In another not shown embodiment the cable 1 can be supported by temporary posts that are erected for training purposes and removed at the end of the training session. Also in other not shown embodiment the cable may span between a fixture such as a wall and a post, or between two fixtures such as two walls. In a further not shown embodiment a post may be positioned on the rear of a vehicle, thus making the device readily portable, and allowing the cable to spin between the vehicle and another fixture.

Whilst the present invention is primarily described with reference to tackle training it may be used in numerous training drills where the movable bag is used as a moving obstacle. Also in other now shown embodiments a plurality of such devices may set up in parallel rows, for example three sets of posts, cables and bags may be set up in a parallel arrangement to provide three movable bags for use in obstacle drills.

The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "having" or "including" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting of'.

Claims (8)

1. A football practice device comprising a carriage supported by a cable spanning between two points elevated above the ground, said carriage having wheels therein and bearing against said cable to allow travel therealong, a bag pivotally connected and hanging from said carriage via a biased connector means, characterised in that said biased connector means has two stages of bias, the first stage of bias being provided by a first bias component of said bias connector means as said bag hangs from said carriage, and a second stage of bias which is provided by a second bias component when said bag is urged substantially downwardly away from said carriage, said second stage of bias providing a greater bias force than said first stage bias.

2. A football practice device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first bias component is a coil spring.

3. A football practice device as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein said second bias component comprises at least one elastomeric member adjacent to and spanning between the bag and said carriage.

4. A football practice device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the bag is provided with a holding means to removably attach a football thereto.

A football practice device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the holding means is a belt removably attached to the bag.

6. A football practice device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein at least one of the two points between which the cable spans is a point located on a post.

7. A football practice device as daimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the cable is biasedly supported between said two points elevated above the ground.

8. A football practice device as substantially hereinbefore described and with reference to the drawings. Dated this 16 t day of September 2005 CRAIG THOMAS PENNING HODGKINSON MclNNES PAPPAS Patent Attorneys for the Applicant o.. *i