Baseball batting stance training mat and assembly

Abstract

The present invention provides a baseball batting stance training mat and assembly. The assembly essentially comprises a stance training mat for placement upon a baseball field or similar other playing field and at least one rearward foot-receiving cuff for removable or breakaway attachment to the stance training mat. The stance training mat essentially comprises two distinct zones, namely, a stance zone and a plate-alignment zone. The plate alignment zone comprises a zone vacancy for receiving a selected lateral half of a home plate. When a left-handed mat and a right-handed mat are used in tandem with one another, the mats form an hourglass-shaped batter's box type arrangement. Each stance zone may comprise a plurality of foot print indicia. The cuff is removably attached adjacent select rearward foot print indicia and is designed for breakaway from the stance training mat in the event of a cuff-removing force.

1 . A batting stance training assembly for improving a user's batting stance, the baseball training assembly comprising, in combination: 
 rearward foot-retaining means;    a home plate, the home plate comprising a medial dividing axis, the medial dividing axis dividing the home plate into first and second lateral home plate halves; and    a stance training mat, the stance training mat comprising an upper mat surface, a stance zone, and a plate-alignment zone, the stance zone being rectangularly shaped, the plate-alignment zone comprising a zone vacancy, the zone vacancy being sized and shaped for receiving a select home plate half, the select home plate half being selected from the group consisting of the first and second lateral home plate halves, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the plate-alignment zone and the medial dividing axis being trapezoidally shaped, the upper mat surface comprising surface indicia, the surface indicia comprising rearward foot placement indicia and forward foot placement indicia, the rearward foot placement indicia comprising distinct markings, each distinct marking being formed in the shape of a footprint, the foot placement indicia for guiding a user's feet into stance placement, the rearward foot-retaining means being cooperatively associated with the distinct markings for retaining the user's rearward foot in superior adjacency to a select distinct marking, the guided user's feet being properly positioned for improving the user's batting stance.    
   
   
       2 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 1  wherein the distinct markings each have a longitudinal foot placement axis, the foot placement axes being orthogonal to the medial dividing axis.  
   
   
       3 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 2  wherein the foot placement axes comprise coaxial foot placement axes and parallel foot placement axes, the foot placement axes for accommodating users of varying stature.  
   
   
       4 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 1  wherein the rearward foot-retaining means are defined by a cuff assembly and a plurality of mat-borne plug-receiving apertures, the cuff assembly comprising foot-receiving means and a plug, the plug being sized and shaped to be snugly received in each plug-receiving aperture, the plug-receiving apertures each having an aperture axis, the snugly received plug for preventing orthogonal cuff assembly displacement relative to the aperture axes.  
   
   
       5 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 1  comprising two stance training mats, the zone vacancies receiving the first and second home plate halves, the baseball training mats forming an hourglass-shaped batter's box, the batter's box for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       6 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 1  wherein the stance training mat comprises an indicia-bearing lower mat surface, the stance training mat being top-to-bottom, left-to-right reversible, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the baseball training system for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       7 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 1  wherein the home plate has a home plate thickness and the stance training mat has a mat thickness, the home plate thickness being greater in magnitude than the mat thickness for forming an exposed home plate thickness, the exposed home plate thickness for enhancing players' ability to sight the home plate as bound by the stance training mat.  
   
   
       8 . A batting stance training mat, the stance training mat for improving a user's batting stance, the stance training mat comprising: 
 an upper mat surface, a stance zone, and a plate-alignment zone, the plate-alignment zone comprising a zone vacancy, the zone vacancy being sized and shaped for receiving a select home plate half, the select home plate half being selected from the group consisting of first and second lateral home plate halves, the lateral home plate halves being divided by a medial dividing axis, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the plate-alignment zone and the medial dividing axis being trapezoidally shaped, the upper mat surface comprising rearward foot placement indicia, the rearward foot placement indicia comprising distinct footprint-shaped markings, the rearward foot placement indicia for guiding a user's rearward foot into stance placement, the guided user's rearward foot being properly positioned adjacent a home plate for improving the user's batting stance.    
   
   
       9 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 8  cooperable with rearward foot-retaining means, the rearward foot-retaining means being cooperatively associated with the footprint-shaped markings for retaining the user's rearward foot in superior adjacency to a select footprint-shaped marking.  
   
   
       10 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 9  wherein the rearward foot-retaining means are defined by a cuff assembly and a plurality of plug-receiving apertures, the cuff assembly comprising foot-receiving means and a plug, the plug being sized and shaped to be snugly received in each plug-receiving aperture, the plug-receiving apertures each having an aperture axis, the snugly received plug for preventing orthogonal cuff assembly displacement relative to the aperture axes.  
   
   
       11 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 8  wherein the footprint-shaped markings each have a longitudinal foot placement axis, the foot placement axes being orthogonal to the medial dividing axis.  
   
   
       12 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 11  wherein the foot placement axes comprise coaxial foot placement axes and parallel foot placement axes, the foot placement axes for accommodating users of varying stature.  
   
   
       13 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 8  comprising an indicia-bearing lower mat surface, the stance training mat being top-to-bottom, left-to-right reversible, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the stance training mat for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       14 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 13  usable in combination with a second batting stance training mat, the zone vacancies receiving the first and second home plate halves, the stance training mats thus forming a hourglass-shaped batter's box, the batter's box for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       15 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 8  wherein the select home plate half has a plate thickness and the stance training mat has a mat thickness, the plate thickness being greater in magnitude than the mat thickness for forming an exposed home plate thickness, the exposed home plate thickness for enhancing players' ability to sight the select home plate half as bound by the stance training mat.  
   
   
       16 . A batting stance training mat, the stance training mat for improving a user's batting stance, the stance training mat comprising: 
 a stance zone, a plate-alignment zone, and foot-guiding means, the plate-alignment zone comprising a zone vacancy, the zone vacancy being sized and shaped for receiving a select home plate half, the select home plate half being selected from the group consisting of first and second lateral home plate halves, the lateral home plate halves being divided by a medial dividing axis, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the plate-alignment zone and the medial dividing axis being trapezoidally shaped, the foot-guiding means for guiding a user's feet into stance placement, the guided user's feet being properly positioned adjacent a home plate for improving the user's batting stance.    
   
   
       17 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 16  wherein the foot-guiding means are defined by surface indicia, the surface indicia being formed upon an upper mat surface and comprising rearward foot placement indicia, the rearward foot placement indicia comprising distinct markings, each distinct marking being formed in the shape of a footprint.  
   
   
       18 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 17  cooperable with rearward foot-retaining means, the rearward foot-retaining means being cooperatively associated with the distinct markings for retaining a user's rearward foot in superior adjacency to a select distinct marking.  
   
   
       19 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 18  wherein the rearward foot-retaining means are defined by a cuff assembly and a plurality of plug-receiving apertures, the cuff assembly comprising foot-receiving means and a plug, the plug being sized and shaped to be snugly received in each plug-receiving aperture, the plug-receiving apertures each having an aperture axis, the snugly received plug for preventing orthogonal cuff assembly displacement relative to the aperture axes.  
   
   
       20 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 16  wherein the distinct markings each have a longitudinal foot placement axis, the foot placement axes being orthogonal to the medial diving axis.  
   
   
       21 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 20  wherein the foot placement axes comprise coaxial foot placement axes and parallel foot placement axes, the foot placement axes for accommodating users of varying stature.  
   
   
       22 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 16  comprising an indicia-bearing lower mat surface, the training mat being top-to-bottom, left-to-right reversible, the zone vacancy receiving the select home plate half, the training mat for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       23 . The batting stance training mat of  claim 16  usable in combination with a second mirror image mat, the mirror image mat having left-to-right image reversal of the training mat about the medial dividing axis, the zone vacancies receiving the first and second home plate halves, the training mat and the mirror image mat thus forming a hourglass-shaped batter's box, the batter's box for selectively improving either a left-handed or a right-handed user's batting stance.  
   
   
       24 . The batting stance training assembly of  claim 16  wherein the select home plate half has a plate thickness and the stance training mat has a mat thickness, the plate thickness being greater in magnitude than the mat thickness for forming an exposed home plate thickness, the exposed home plate thickness for enhancing players' ability to sight the select home plate half as bound by the stance training mat.  
   
   
       25 . A baseball training mat, the baseball training mat for selective placement adjacent a home plate, the baseball training mat comprising a plate-alignment zone, the plate-alignment zone comprising a zone vacancy, the zone vacancy being sized and shaped for receiving a select home plate half, the select home plate half being selected from the group consisting of first and second lateral home plate halves, the lateral home plate halves being divided by a medial dividing axis, the baseball training mat thus for selective placement adjacent a home plate.  
   
   
       26 . The baseball training mat of  claim 25  usable in combination with a second mirror image mat, the mirror image mat having left-to-right image reversal of the training mat about the medial dividing axis, the zone vacancies receiving the first and second home plate halves, the training mat and the mirror image mat thus forming a left-right sided training assembly, the training assembly for selectively training left-handed and right-handed batters.  
   
   
       27 . The baseball training mat of  claim 25  wherein the home plate has a home plate thickness and the stance training mat has a mat thickness, the home plate thickness being greater in magnitude than the mat thickness for forming an exposed home plate thickness, the exposed home plate thickness for enhancing players' ability to sight the home plate as bound by the stance training mat.