Football place-kicking tees are typically used to support the football in a kick-off situation. During windy conditions, it is often necessary for one of the players to hold the ball on the tee with a finger in order to prevent the ball from blowing off the tee. This delays the ball-holding player in advancing down the field to defend the kick-off. Further, the value of accurate place-kicking for scoring field goals and extra points has been recognized by modern football squads as a key component of offense in addition to their running and passing games. In order to develop and maintain place-kicking proficiency, kicking specialists realize that long hours of practice kicking are involved, generally requiring the participation of at least a holder to simulate actual game playing conditions. However, a holder cannot always be made available and the kicker must then resort to a holding device or a tee to maintain the football in a kicking position.
One device addressing the above problems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,395 issued Dec. 30, 1986 to Ferrebee. In this arrangement, a football holding training device comprises a base and a series of pivotable arm elements mounted to the base, the outermost arm element of which terminates in a point for engaging the end of a football. Another holder is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,122 issued Jan. 6, 1987 to Kline. The Kline device, which simulates the arm and holding finger of a human holder, includes a pivotal arm having a finger in the form of a flexible tube and tension adjustable means in the form of a weighted body mounted for movement along the arm. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,165 issued Aug. 7, 1990 to Rambacher, a football holder is disclosed in which a holding arm is pivotably attached to a vertical support member, tension being created on the holding arm by a stud and helical spring mechanism. While each of the aforementioned holding devices permit place-kicking without a human holder, certain disadvantages become readily apparent. For example, each device has rigid main components which may be contacted by a holder's foot and result in injury to it. In addition, each of these prior art holders has a relatively complicated tension adjusting mechanism which often creates a substantial drag on the football when it is kicked. Moreover, each device has multi-adjustable, pivotable connections which make manufacture and use of the device more complex and expensive than desired.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved football kicking tee which offers a greater degree of simplicity in construction and operation, and which will allow kickers to simulate their kicking game without human holders regardless of the type of playing surface or style of kicking employed. It is further desirable to provide a football tee which can easily tension the football in a substantially vertical or angular position so that it will not fall from or be blown from a kicking position.