The present invention pertains generally to equipment for training football players, and more particularly to equipment for increasing a football player""s strength while also improving the player""s functional technique, e.g., in blocking.
Successful players of American style football possess at least two important characteristics, physical strength and endurance, and highly developed functional skills and techniques for applying such strength and endurance to particular game situations and positions. For example, for a lineman, such as an offensive lineman, strength and endurance is required to block opposing players of similar size and strength repeatedly play after play. A finely honed functional technique is required to ensure that the lineman""s strength is applied properly so that the opposing player does not slip or evade the block or such that the block does not result in a penalty such as for holding. Thus, in training football players, such as lineman, it is important to develop both strength and endurance as well as functional playing technique.
For the most part, a football player""s strength and endurance and playing technique have been developed and trained separately. For example, strength and endurance can be gained in the weight room, by weight training using, e.g., free weights or other strength building equipment. Weight training can be very effective for the player in gaining raw strength and endurance. Furthermore, such weight training is measurable. A coach or trainer can easily see that a player is gaining strength and endurance as the player is able, for example, to press more weight for more repetitions.
The functional aspects of play, i.e., the application of raw strength and endurance to particular skills and techniques, may be learned in practice through game play and practice scrimmages, that is, through live practice. However, such live practice is naturally limited to specific practice times when skilled coaches and other players are available. Furthermore, rules in some leagues limit the numbers of such practices. Moreover, there is a significant risk of injury in any live practice situation. For these reasons, the use of live practice to enhance a football player""s functional technique is often very limited.
As a supplement to live practice situations, various types of football training equipment have been developed and used to allow players to practice their techniques without facing off against another live player and, in some cases, even without the need for the presence of a coach or trainer. A common example of such training equipment is the conventional football training sled for teaching functional techniques such as tackling and blocking. A typical football training sled includes a horizontal base including one or more sled like runners, and a padded vertical extension mounted at one end of the sled base. The padded portion of the sled may be sized and shaped to represent an opposing player. A lineman may practice blocking techniques, for example, by blocking against the padded portion of the sled, driving the sled straight backward as he would an opposing player. Weight may be added to the sled to increase the effort required to drive the imitated opposing player back off the line. Some more advanced training sleds include a mechanism which allows a player both to drive the sled backward and to lift the padded portion of the sled without lifting the entire sled. This simulates player hip rotation which converts the horizontal movement generated forwardly by the player into a force with a vertical component which tends to lift the opposing player so as to render him momentarily helpless. In at least one such training sled the padded portion of the sled is mounted on a telescoping arm. A mechanism is provided which prevents rotation of the blocking pad upward unless the pad mounted on the telescoping arm has been driven rearward by a sufficient amount. Spring resistance provides resistance to rearward movement of the arm. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,272.
Typical football training equipment, such as training sleds, are used as tools for training and practicing functional technique, such as blocking, but do relatively little to increase strength and endurance in the particular functional application being taught or practiced. Furthermore, such training equipment is a tool for qualitative training only. With the use of such equipment, a coach or trainer can observe a player""s technique and instruct him in required corrections and adjustments thereto. Such equipment does not provide for a quantitative measure of the effective application of the player""s strength and endurance to the particular functional technique being taught in practice.
What is desired, therefore, is a football training apparatus that provides simultaneously for developing both a player""s strength and functional technique in a manner such that the strength gain is both general in nature and concentrated as applied to the particular functional skills required of the player. Such a functional strength machine for football player training should provide for the quantitative enhancement of both the football player""s strength and technique, e.g., in blocking, with or without the need for a coach. Such a football training apparatus should be usable both indoors and outdoors, and should be adjustable to accommodate players of various sizes, strengths, and skill levels.
The present invention provides a football training apparatus which may be used as a functional strength machine. A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention allows a football player to develop his strength in a functional manner, such that physical strength is increased both generally and in a focused manner with regard to the particular functional technique to which the player""s strength must be applied in a game situation. In particular, the present invention provides a football training apparatus which allows a lineman to develop and enhance his strength as applied functionally to blocking technique. A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be used indoors and outdoors on all types of surfaces, with or without a coach or trainer. More than one player may use the apparatus simultaneously to practice combo or deuce blocking techniques. A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention is adjustable for variously sized players, for players of different skill and ability levels, and to increase the strength required to be exerted by a player during the performance of a particular blocking technique using the apparatus as the player""s strength increases. A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention thus provides for a quantitative measure of the increase in a player""s strength and ability, not just generally, but as applied functionally to a particular skill, e.g., blocking.
A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes a frame structure including a horizontally oriented base and a vertically extending portion formed at a front end of the frame base and extending generally vertically therefrom. The entire frame structure is preferably made of a structurally strong and durable material, such as steel, which is preferably welded and/or bolted together with sufficient cross pieces to form a sturdy frame structure. The vertically extending portion of the frame structure preferably extends from the front end of the horizontal base at a slight angle thereto, such that the vertically extending portion of the frame also extends slightly forward from the front end of the horizontal base.
The frame is preferably supported on wheels, e.g., wheels are preferably provided at each of the four corners of the horizontal base. For example, caster wheels maybe provided at the front ends of the horizontal base, below the vertically extending portion of the frame structure, with larger treaded wheels provided at the rear of the base of the frame structure. The rear wheels of the apparatus are provided with independently operable braking mechanisms, such that the rear wheels are normally locked into position when the brake mechanisms are engaged, and the rear wheels are allowed to rotate freely when the brake mechanisms are released. For example, each of the rear wheels may be mounted on a drum, with movable brake pads mounted within the drum to engage the inner surface of the drum to prevent movement of the wheels when the brake mechanism is engaged. Other braking mechanisms, such as a disc brake system, may also be employed.
An actuator system assembly is mounted on the vertically extending portion of the football training apparatus frame structure. The actuator system assembly includes a support structure by which the actuator system assembly is mounted to the vertically extending portion of the frame structure. The actuator system support structure is preferably adapted to be secured to the vertically extending portion of the frame structure in various user adjustable positions, thereby to allow the height of the actuator system with respect to the frame to be adjusted for players of various sizes. Two parallel extending arms are mounted onto the support structure such that the arms extend forward from the apparatus in an extended direction and may be pushed backward in the direction of the apparatus in a retracted direction.
Padded strike pads are mounted at the forward distal ends of the extending arms. The strike pads are preferably sized and shaped to represent an opposing football player. For example, a strike pad mounted on the left extending arm maybe sized and shaped to mimic one half of the torso of an opposing lineman, with the strike pad mounted on the right extending arm sized and shaped to mimic the other half torso of an opposing lineman. The extending arms are positioned closely adjacent and parallel to each other such that the strike pads together mimic the torso and shoulders of an opposing football player. The strike pads may preferably be mounted to the forward distal ends of the extending arms so as to be rotatable within a limited range about a horizontal axis. The strike pads are thus able to tilt when struck to drive the extending arms rearward, thereby simulating a player gaining leverage over an opponent.
The extending arms are mounted within the actuator system assembly so as to be movable backward and forward, i.e., retracted and extended therein. This may be achieved by supporting the extending arms on rollers which, in turn, are mounted on the actuator system support structure. The rollers support the extending arms to provide smooth movement of the extending arms between the extended and retracted positions thereof.
A resistance mechanism is provided which biases the extending arms forward toward the extended position thereof and which resists movement of the extending arms in the rearward retracted direction. Preferably, the resistance mechanism is adjustable to allow for adjustment of the force required to drive the extending arms rearward. The resistance force required to drive the extending arms rearward is also preferably independently adjustable via the resistance mechanism for each of the right and left extending arms. The extending arm resistance mechanism may be implemented, for example, using elastic tension bands or cords extending between the rear ends of the extending arms, opposite the ends thereof to which the strike pads are attached, and the actuator system assembly support structure. By selecting the number (or resistance) of cords attached to the extending arms, the resistance force required to drive the extending arms rearward can be adjusted. Other extending arm resistance structures employing e.g., springs, pneumatics, etc. might also be employed.
The actuator system assembly also includes a brake actuation mechanism. The brake actuation mechanism is engaged when the extending arms are driven rearward by at least a selected amount. Independent right and left brake actuation mechanisms are preferably provided in association with the right and left extending arms, respectively, and are coupled to the corresponding brake mechanisms in the right and left rear wheels attached to the horizontal base frame structure of the apparatus. In accordance with the present invention, the brake mechanisms in the rear wheels are normally engaged, preventing movement of the football training apparatus, until the extending arms are driven rearward by a sufficient amount, by a football player pressing against the strike pads, to engage the brake actuation mechanisms provided in the actuator system assembly.
The brake actuation mechanism may, for example, be implemented using a brake actuation lever mounted to the actuator system support structure. The brake actuation lever is mounted to the support structure in a position thereon such that the lever is engaged by a back side of a strike pad when the extending arm on which the strike pad is mounted it is driven into the fully retracted position, against the resistance provided, e.g., by the elastic tension cords attached thereto. The brake actuation lever is movably, e.g., rotatably, mounted on the actuation system assembly support structure such that the lever is rotated about a pivot point when the back side of the strike pad contacts the brake actuation lever. The brake actuation lever is coupled to the brake mechanism formed in the rear wheel of the training apparatus by, e.g., a brake cable. When the brake actuation lever is engaged by the back side of the strike pad, the resulting rotational movement of the brake lever pulls on the brake cable, thereby disengaging the normally engaged brake mechanism, allowing movement of the corresponding rear wheel.
Preferably, separate brake levers are provided in association with each of the right and left strike pads and corresponding extending arms, with each such brake actuator lever coupled by a corresponding brake cable to the corresponding braking mechanism in the corresponding rear wheel of the football training apparatus. Thus, in order for both rear wheels to be released for movement, both strike pads must be driven rearward against the restraining force of the resistance mechanism to engage both of the brake actuator levers. If neither brake actuator lever is engaged, the training apparatus will not move. If only one of the brake actuator levers is engaged, only one of the rear wheels will be released, and the football training apparatus will rotate away from the player striking the strike pads. This simulates an opposing player evading a block which is not well centered or evenly applied. Thus, a football player using a football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention is able to improve blocking technique while increasing strength functionally, that is, as applied to blocking.
Combo or deuce blocking techniques, wherein two linemen combine efforts to block an opposing player, can be performed and practiced using a football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention. To practice such a maneuver, each practicing player engages one of the strike pads. The football training apparatus of the present invention teaches accurate synchronization of such a maneuver, in that the apparatus will move straight backward only if both rear brake mechanisms are released by the players driving both the right and left strike pads rearward with sufficient strength and proper coordination in time.
A football training apparatus in accordance with the present invention may further include a secondary brake release mechanism. The secondary brake release mechanism may be implemented as a hand brake release mounted, e.g., on a handle extending vertically upward from a rear of the base portion of the training apparatus frame structure, i.e., on the opposite side of the frame structure from the vertically extending portion thereof to which the actuator system assembly is mounted. Separate hand brake release mechanisms, mounted on separate rear handles, positioned side by side, may be provided for release of the brake mechanisms provided in each of the rear wheels of the football training apparatus. Each of the hand brake release mechanisms may be coupled by a brake cable to the corresponding brake mechanism. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the brake mechanism in each rear wheel of the football training apparatus may be released alternatively by a player or players driving the strike pads positioned at the front of the training apparatus backward on the extending arms or by a coach or trainer positioned behind the football training apparatus and operating the hand brake release mechanisms. Thus, the coach or trainer may control release of the brake mechanisms to simulate various opposing player responses to a block. Alternatively, a player positioned behind the football training apparatus may disengage the rear wheel brakes using the hand brake release mechanisms in order to push the entire football training apparatus using the rear handles on which the hand brake release mechanisms are mounted. This allows the football training apparatus of the present invention to be used as a strength and speed developer without engaging the strike pads on the front of the machine.
Preferably, one or more vertical stanchions are provided on the horizontal base frame structure of the football training apparatus. The stanchions provide support for one or more conventional weight plates which may be loaded on the frame structure to increase the weight of the apparatus. Additional weight plates can be added to or removed from the frame to accommodate athletes of various strength levels for the pushing exercises, and to simulate opposing linemen of various sizes.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.