EP0253113A2 - Training apparatus for tennis - Google Patents

Abstract

The training apparatus has a height-adjustable stand (2, 3) and a ball holder (4) attached movably thereto. The ball holder (4) consists of a preferably curved arm (5) which is connected at one end side via a bearing element (8) to the stand (3) and is provided with a clamp-type ball receiver (6), from which an inserted tennis ball (7) can be hit off. The bearing element contains a hinged joint which is arranged horizontally transversely to the hitting direction and preferably a vertical axis of rotation, the arm (5) being connected to the hinged joint (13, 14). No elastic restoring elements are contained on the ball holder or on striking surfaces, with the result that the ball holder (4), when the tennis ball (7) has been hit out of the ball receiver (6), simply swivels away. There is no risk of injury with this training apparatus (1) which is of very simple and inexpensive construction. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a training device for tennis according to the preamble of claim 1.

There are a number of methods to learn how to play tennis. Usually a tennis ball or a ball throwing machine is used to pass a tennis ball to a beginner at low speed, after which the beginner has to try to hit and hit this ball. This is particularly difficult in the first stage, since neither the jump height nor the speed of an incoming ball can be estimated. As is known, there is an ideal location, especially for the so-called basic strokes, in relation to the player at an angle in front of the hitting hand where the ball is to be hit. This location is usually not recognizable to a beginner, and he can not position himself in the required fast movement sequence when a ball jumps towards it.

To learn the technique of striking, it would therefore be desirable to hold a ball in a resting position at the ideal location.

For this purpose, a tennis ball holding device is known (US Pat. No. 3,876,203), which essentially consists of a foot part from which a height-adjustable arm points upwards and to the side via a gimbal spring suspension. This arm carries a plate-shaped ball holder at the end into which a tennis ball can be inserted.

In the event of a stroke on the statically held tennis ball, the support arm or the ball receptacle is hit at the same time, so that the support arm is caused to rotate and oscillate after a stroke. A rigid design of the return springs for the arm is not possible for practical reasons, since on the one hand the ball could not be knocked off in the desired manner and on the other hand the braking effect on the racket or the striker would be too great. With a relatively soft spring design, on the other hand, the support arm clearly makes large swings and pendulum swings after one stroke until the upright basic position is restored. Because of the required height of the support arm, there is therefore a risk of injury for the already unsafe beginner. A reference to the quality of the blow or a properly executed striking technique cannot be taken from a position of the holding arm, since it swings back immediately after the blow with considerable rotary pendulum movements. The plate-shaped ball intake is also considered to be disadvantageous. Such a ball holder can only support the tennis ball from below, so that the position of the support arm or the arrangement of the ball holder is largely fixed and cannot be freely selected. Various striking techniques, such as for undercut balls, cannot be practiced with the known device. In addition, a plate-shaped ball intake is mandatory Often large in their spatial extent, so that they are hit very early in a stroke or already together with the tennis ball. As a result, a significant part of the impact energy is not transmitted to the tennis ball, but to the ball holder and thus the holding device, in an undesirable manner. Because of the above disadvantages, such a device has not been able to establish itself in practice.

A striking aid is also known (DE-GM 84 31 159), in which an angle lever carries a ball firmly connected at the end. The angle lever is connected on the bottom side with a hinge joint with a horizontal axis to a base plate. The horizontal axis is transverse to the direction of lay. After hitting the ball, the angle lever is struck on a rubber buffer at a distance, after which it springs back into its upright position and is ready for a new hit with its fixed ball.

This facility is described for training golf golf technique; however, it is mentioned in passing that the striking aid should also be used for tennis training. This is hardly conceivable, since the considerable force of a tennis impact would be given to a firmly attached tennis ball (rebound speeds of up to 200 km / h are measured), which would cause the angle lever to hit the rubber buffer with appropriate force and rebound at the appropriate speed. This may be possible when training golf golf technique because the ball and club face are small, the process takes place near the ground and the lever lengths only need to be small. Given the large, required lever lengths for a tennis stroke, whereby the ball would generally have to be held at least at waist height, there would be a considerable risk of injury, particularly even if a stroke is not completely "pulled through". Through the held ball you can see striking tech Techniques not possible for overcut or undercut balls. Furthermore, it is not possible to control a good striking technique either by a ball flying away or by a permanent position of the angle lever.

The object of the invention is to develop a generic training device so that the least possible reaction of the training device or the ball holder to a tennis shot and a tennis player performing the tennis shot, and thus the least possible influence on the striking technique by the device with little risk of injury to the exerciser is present.

This object is achieved with the characterizing features of claim 1.

The training device consists of a support part with a relatively heavy base plate and a height-adjustable standpipe. A ball holder is movably connected to the standpipe and consists of an arm with a receptacle for a tennis ball attached to it at the end. A tennis ball can be knocked out of this shot with the help of a tennis racket.

According to the invention, the ball holder or the movable arm is connected to the standpipe via a hinge joint, the joint axis lying horizontally transverse to the direction of impact. No elastic return elements for the ball holder are installed. The ball receptacle is designed as a U-shaped elastic clamp, the U-legs lying transversely to the stroke direction.

For training the striking technique, the standpipe and thus the ball holder are adjusted to the desired height, so that the tennis ball is held in a suitable striking position by the U-shaped elastic clamp. When struck, the ball is knocked out of the clamp, the force of the blow ges is essentially transferred to the tennis ball in the desired manner. The ball holder itself either swings back to the tennis ball immediately due to the clamping force or is only slightly hit by the racket after the tennis ball has been knocked out of the ball holder. Since there are no spring return elements built in, the ball holder offers little resistance to the stroke. The ball holder swings away around the horizontal axis. The flight of the ball is therefore only slightly influenced by the ball holder, so that the striking technique can be controlled. Since the ball holder only tilts away and does not strike back due to the lack of elastic return elements, there is practically no risk of injury to the exerciser or the risk of the tennis racket getting caught on the ball holder. Because of the U-shaped elastic clip as a ball holder, the tennis ball can also be held from above, so that its underside is free for undercut striking techniques.

A particularly advantageous development of the training object is given with the features of claim 2. It is proposed that the ball holder be rotated about a horizontal pivot axis in addition to being supported via a vertical axis. For example, if the ball holder were struck in the direction of the pivot axis, it can be seen that the ball holder would not fold away as a result, but would act as a practically rigid element. In the correct position to the ball holder, this extreme case does not occur, with an unclean striking technique or deliberate strikes to the side, but also a force component occurs that acts laterally to the swivel plane, which means that the ball holder can counter the stroke with a greater counterforce. This is reduced by the fact that the ball holder can also be rotated about a vertical axis. On the one hand, this reduces the possible resistance and thus the risk of injury, and on the other hand the ball holder swivels in the direction of the stroke. This is in addition to the ball flight direction a way to recognize and correct the direction of the shot and possible errors in the striking technique. In particular, if the ball holder is attached above the standpipe (claim 8), the ball holder remains in the struck direction after it has tilted away, so that permanent control is possible here. This makes it possible to see, for example, whether the straight-ahead phase at the ball position is too short and the club is swung out too early.

To improve the above-mentioned effect, it is advantageous according to claim 3 not to arrange the pivot axis and the axis of rotation directly below one another, but the pivot axis with respect to the axis of rotation in the direction of impact z. B. to be offset on a platen. This creates a kind of "lag effect". In the case of oblique strokes, the ball holder dodges more easily and points in the given direction.

Claim 4 specifies a simple, inexpensive and stable design of a hinge joint as a mounted roller with which the arm is firmly connected.

According to claim 5, it is possible to mount the stored ball holder standing or hanging on the standpipe, the ball receptacle should be approximately above or below the bearing point, at least seen transversely to the direction of impact. This results in a good introduction of force into the swivel bearing (even when the arm is bent).

With the arched shape of the support arm as claimed in claim 6 it is advantageously achieved that the arm itself cannot be hit with the racket, for example the racket edge, but in the desired manner first the ball and then the ball pick-up is hit only with the racket covering. Furthermore, it is excluded by the claimed form that the racket on Ball holder imposed or overall the stroke is obstructed in its direction of movement.

According to claim 7, the arm can also be designed so that it extends in the direction of impact laterally away from its bearing point. Such an embodiment of an arm or ball holder is particularly useful for training the impact technique or the impact technique for high balls.

If the ball holder is to stand up in its initial position, i. H. the swivel axis is below the ball holder, it is necessary to hold the ball holder in this position before the shot. This is most easily achieved according to claim 8 in that the ball receptacle is offset towards the player against the swivel direction relative to the swivel axis and the arm is supported on its underside in the region of the swivel axis. If the weight is appropriately dimensioned (with the ball inserted), the center of gravity of the ball holder is on the swivel axis side towards the player and the ball holder holds itself in this position. This displacement should only be slight so that the ball holder tilts slightly when struck. A favorable design and dimensioning results according to claim 9 when the ball holder is approximately above the axis of rotation and the pivot axis slightly in the direction of impact, for. B. is offset by about a ball width in the direction of impact.

Claim 10 specifies an expedient embodiment of the standpipe for a hanging attachment of the ball holder.

Three exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail with the aid of a drawing with further details, features and advantages.

• Fig. 1 eine erste Ausführungsform eines Trainingsgeräts in einer Seitenansicht,
• Fig. 2 eine Frontansicht einer Ballaufnahme,
• Fig. 3 eine zweite Ausführungsform eines Trainingsgeräts in Seitenansicht,
• Fig. 4 eine dritte Ausführungsform eines Trainingsgeräts in Seitenansicht,
• Fig. 5 eine Frontansicht des Trainingsgeräts nach Fig. 4.

Show it

• 1 shows a first embodiment of a training device in a side view,
• 2 is a front view of a ball receptacle,
• 3 shows a second embodiment of a training device in side view,
• 4 shows a third embodiment of a training device in side view,
• 5 shows a front view of the training device according to FIG. 4.

In Fig. 1, a training device 1 is shown, which consists essentially of a base plate 2, a height-adjustable standpipe 3 and a ball holder 4.

The ball holder 4 in turn consists of an arm 5 which carries a ball holder 6 for a tennis ball 7 on its upper end side and is connected to the standpipe via a bearing element 8.

The bearing element is constructed from an approximately horizontal support plate (9) which carries a bearing pin 10 which projects downwards and which engages in the standpipe 3 as an axis of rotation, as a result of which a rotational movement about the standpipe 3 is possible (arrow 11). A horizontally mounted roller 13 is attached to the bearing pin 10 in the direction of impact (arrow 12), the bearing axis 14 being transverse to the direction of impact (arrow 12). The lower part of the arm 5 is firmly connected to the roller.

The end part 15 of the arm 5 is supported on the support plate 9 in its upward position. The arm 5 is bulged in the direction of the stroke, the being given diameter A be about 360 mm and B about 250 mm. The tennis ball 7 or the ball receptacle 6 are offset from the pivot axis 14, as a result of which the ball holder 4 remains in its upright position, but can tilt away in the direction of the stroke (arrow 16 or dashed ball holder 17).

From Fig. 2 the execution of the ball holder 6 can be seen as a U-shaped bracket. For example, soft plastic could be used as the material for this.

The training device 1 shown has the following function:

Before a stroke, the training device is brought into the position shown in FIG. 1 by pivoting the ball holder 4 upward and inserting a tennis ball 7. The ball 7 is then knocked away, causing it to fly out of the ball receptacle 6. At the same time or shortly thereafter, the ball holder 6 is also hit by the racket covering, as a result of which the ball holder 4 folds downward about the bearing axis 14. If a force component was contained in the stroke at an angle to the folding direction, the ball holder 4 rotates correspondingly about the bearing axis 10 and remains essentially in the folded-down position in the direction of the stroke. In order to mitigate the impact of the folded-down ball holder 4, damping means which act as far as possible without a restoring force can be used.

Before a new stroke, the ball holder 4 is to be erected again and equipped with a tennis ball 7.

A base plate 2 and a height-adjustable standpipe 3 are also provided in the embodiment according to FIG. 3. This standpipe is bent downward again in its upper region 18 and a bearing element 8 and a ball holder 4 according to FIG. 1 are suspended in the region 18.

The function of this embodiment is similar to that in Fig. 1, except that the ball holder 4 folds up here. A locking device (not shown) could be provided, which catches the ball holder in the folded-up position and holds it until a new stroke. However, this is normally not necessary since the ball holder 4 itself is relatively light and, when it swings back due to gravity, can neither hinder the blow nor lead to injuries, since it does not contain any resilient spring means.

The embodiment according to FIG. 1 is particularly intended for straight basic strokes and overcut balls, while the embodiment according to FIG. 3 is also suitable for straight basic strokes and undercut balls.

4 and 5, a third embodiment is shown, which is particularly suitable for high balls and serve training. The ball holder 4 is thus mounted correspondingly high above the head height of a player. The ball receptacle 6 is also a U-shaped spring clip in which the tennis ball is held. In the side view (FIG. 4), this third embodiment corresponds to the embodiments according to FIGS. 1 and 3. However, while in the embodiments according to FIGS. 1 and 3 the ball receptacle 6 is also above or below in a front view or in the direction of impact of the bearing elements 8, this third embodiment differs in that the arm 5 is guided to the side in a front view (FIG. 5). This results in a more optimal ballage, especially for serve training. Due to the lateral displacement, the ball holder 4 can also be rotated in a stroke. However, this is not critical in the case of a stroke in a high position, since then the racket is guided downwards anyway and neither the player nor the racket are influenced by the rotary movement.

In summary, it is found that the invention provides a training device for tennis that is very inexpensive and that practically no risk of injury enables beginners to learn the tennis ball technique on the static ball. A special area of application is therefore seen in schools to familiarize students with the beginnings of tennis tennis.

Claims (10)

1. Training device for tennis
with a support part from a relatively heavy base plate and a height-adjustable standpipe and
with a ball holder movably attached to the standpipe from one arm and a receptacle for a tennis ball attached to it at the end, from which it can be knocked off with the help of a tennis racket
characterized,
that the movable attachment (8) of the ball holder (4), or the arm (5) with the standpipe (3) via a hinge joint (13, 14) with a horizontal axis (14), the horizontal axis (14) transversely to the direction of impact (arrow 12),
that no elastic return elements for the ball holder (4) are installed, and
that the ball receptacle is designed as a U-shaped elastic bracket (6), the U-legs lying transversely to the direction of stroke (arrow 12). 2. Training device according to claim 1, characterized in that the movable fastening (8) of the ball holder (4) or the arm (5) with the standpipe (3) additionally via there is a vertical axis (10) so that the arm (5) can perform a pivoting or tilting movement about the horizontal pivoting axis (14) of the hinge joint (13, 14) and a rotating movement about the vertical axis of rotation (10) after one stroke . 3. Training device according to claim 2, characterized in that the axis of rotation (10) and the pivot axis (14) are laterally offset, the axis of rotation (10) in connection with the standpipe (3) and the pivot axis (14) in the direction of impact (arrow 12) is offset. 4. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the hinge joint (13, 14) consists of a horizontally lying and mounted roller (13) with which the arm (5) is fixedly connected. 5. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the ball receptacle (6) (before the stroke) is approximately in the area above or below the attachment of the arm (5) with the standpipe (3), at least transversely to Direction of impact (arrow 12) seen. 6. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the arm (5) seen transversely to the direction of impact (arrow 12) has a curved shape in the direction of impact (arrow 12), the curvature of the arm attachment with a larger radius, preferably approx. A = 180 mm, begins, then becomes smaller in radius over a larger arc region, preferably approx. B = 125 mm, and bends in an approximately perpendicular direction against the curvature direction with a small radius in order to form a ball receptacle. 7. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the arm (5) in the direction of impact (arrow 12) seen laterally extending obliquely from its attachment, preferably by an amount of approximately C = 500 mm. 8. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the arm (5) can be pivoted upwards from its attachment, and can be supported against a stop (15 and 9) in such a way that the ball receptacle (6) counteracts the Direction of impact (arrow 12) is slightly offset above the swivel axis (14). 9. Training device according to claim 2 and 8, characterized in that the ball holder (6) lies approximately above the axis of rotation (10). 10. Training device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the arm (5) hangs down from its attachment, the standpipe (3) in the upper region (18) being bent down in an arc.

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