Athletic training apparatus and method

Abstract

An athletic training apparatus to train a player with or without a coach is disclosed. The machine includes a collapsible frame, a striking structure, a coaching cage, and one moveable member. The collapsible frame provides a height adjustment mechanism to allow partial collapsibility of the frame during storage or movement. The striking structure couples detachably to the collapsible frame. A player or coach selects the striking structure in accordance with desired goals of an athletic training session. The coaching cage is incorporated within the collapsible frame. The coaching cage assists the coach to in real-time provide an unobstructed view of a player's body position and player motion; thereby, coach's real-time observations and feedback train a player's movements to achieve a hit to a defined target or objective. A movable member transports the collapsible frame between a first location and a second location with minimal disassembly.

1 . An athletic training machine to train a player with or without a coach, the machine comprising:
 a collapsible frame;   a striking structure detachably coupled on a first and a second end through at least one selected tension cable to the collapsible frame, the striking structure having a striking resilience and compressibility factor at least partially selected in accordance an estimated skill level of the player and athletic sport of choice of the player;   a coaching cage incorporated within the collapsible frame to provide the coach a substantially unobstructed real-time view of a player's striking position relative to the striking structure and a trajectory path of the striking structure to reach a player defined target or a coach defined target; and   at least one movable member to allow repositioning of the collapsible frame between a first location and a second location along a selected transport path with little or no disassembly of the athletic training machine;   wherein the collapsible frame comprises at least one adjustable height position member that comprises a first height level adjustment in an open position and a second height level in a closed position.   
   
   
       2 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the substantially unobstructed real-time view of a player's striking position comprises a real-time front view of a player's physical hitting setup before and while swinging a striking item through contact of a striking surface of the striking structure and follow through of the striking item along the trajectory path of the striking structure toward the player defined target or the coach defined target. 
   
   
       3 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the striking structure comprises a shape selected to substantially model an object encountered during active participation in the athletic sport of choice by the player and being disposed at an actual positional level of the object and having an actual compressibility level thereof, and wherein the actual compressibility level comprises a selected resistance level and a striking structure type having a selected compressibility rating at least partially responsive with the estimated skill level of the player. 
   
   
       4 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the collapsible frame comprises a pivotally connected multi-segment structure that pivots and swings open to occupy a substantially half semicircular perimeter area; and wherein the collapsible frame has at least one locking member to secure the collapsible frame in the substantially half semicircular perimeter area while the athletic training machine is utilized by the player. 
   
   
       5 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one height position member comprises at least four positional levels to adjust a height of the collapsible frame to be at least partially responsive to a physical height of the player or a selected play type of the athletic sport of choice by the player to be modeled by a positional level of the striking structure. 
   
   
       6 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one movable member provides movement flexibility of the athletic training machine while in the open position from a first location to a second location along a selected transport path. 
   
   
       7 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one movable member provides movement flexibility of the athletic training machine while in the closed position from a first location to a second location along a selected transport path. 
   
   
       8 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , wherein the coach leans into and holds at least one of the multi-segment frame of the collapsible frame that forms the coaching cage to support a selected physical viewing angle in the substantially unobstructed real-time view of a player's striking position relative to the striking structure and the trajectory path of the striking structure toward the player defined target or the coach defined target. 
   
   
       9 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , further comprising a batting plate pivotally connected to the athletic training machine to provide a reference positional marker to aid alignment a player's body and a player's bat when swinging at the striking structure and provide an additional stabilizing member of the collapsible frame. 
   
   
       10 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , further comprising a batting plate pivotally connected to the athletic training machine; wherein the batting plate provides the coach a moveable reference to aid in a coach's evaluation of and a player's self evaluation of alignment of a player's body and a player's bat before, during, and after striking the striking structure to model a selected hitting position. 
   
   
       11 . The athletic training machine of  claim 10 , wherein the selected hitting position comprises alignment of the player's body and the player's bat to hit a type of ball pitch selected from a group consisting of knuckle ball, slider, fast pitch, slow pitch, inside left corner of the batting plate, outside right corner of the batting plate, high pitch fastball, low pitch fastball, high pitch softball, and low pitch softball. 
   
   
       12 . The athletic training machine of  claim 11 , further comprising a directional guide, the guide comprises an arrow marker to provide a suggested trajectory guide path to at least partially determine the players' body and the player's bat swinging position to aid the player to achieve a ball hit into a selected quadrant of a ball field. 
   
   
       13 . The athletic training machine of  claim 12 , wherein the batting plate pivotally connected comprises a batting plate rivetally attached to a series of segmented metal pieces; and wherein the player moves the batting plate in a piece-wise segmented fashion to aid in alignment of the batting plate to a selected hitting position. 
   
   
       14 . The athletic training machine of  claim 1 , further comprising a batting alignment marker coupled to the collapsible frame structure and a batting plate; wherein the batting plate is pivotally coupled to the athletic training machine to allow at least one of the coach or the player to choose a positional location to aid alignment of a player's body, a player's bat, and the batting alignment marker to substantially in real-time model a hit to a selected portion of a batting infield or a batting outfield. 
   
   
       15 . The athletic training machine of  claim 14 , wherein the selected portion of a batting infield or a batting outfield is selected from a group consisting of: first base, second base, short stop, and third base and the selected portion of a batting outfield is selected from the group consisting of: right field, center field, and left field. 
   
   
       16 . A batting training machine to train a player and to provide to a coach an ability to monitor in real-time athletic training progression of the player, the machine comprising:
 a collapsible frame comprising a multi-segment frame, the collapsible frame having at least one adjustable height position member to provide an ability to open the collapsible frame during use by the player and to at least partially close the collapsible frame during storage;   a ball detachably coupled to the collapsible frame, the ball having a striking resilience and compressibility factor at least partially selected in accordance an estimated current skill level of a player and athletic sport that the player is participating in;   a coaching cage incorporated within the collapsible frame to provide the coach a real-time unobstructed view of a player's striking position relative to the ball and trajectory path of the ball;   a batting alignment marker coupled to the collapsible frame and a batting plate thereto,   a batting plate pivotally coupled to the collapsible frame along a lower section of the collapsible frame to allow at least one of the coach or the player to choose a positional location to aid alignment of a player's body, a player's bat, and the batting alignment marker to substantially in real-time model a ball hit into a selected portion of a batting infield or a batting outfield; and   at least one movable member to aid movement of the collapsible frame between a first location and a second location with little or no disassembly of the batting training machine.   
   
   
       17 . The batting training machine of  claim 16 , wherein the batting plate provides the coach a moveable reference to aid in a coach's evaluation of and a player's self evaluation of alignment of the player's body and the player's bat before, during, and after striking the ball to model a selected hitting position. 
   
   
       18 . The batting training machine of  claim 16 , wherein the coach leans into and holds at least one of the multi-segment frame of the collapsible frame that forms the coaching cage to support a selected physical viewing angle in the real-time unobstructed view of the player's striking position relative to the ball and the trajectory path of the ball toward a player defined target or a coach defined target. 
   
   
       19 . The batting training machine of  claim 17 , wherein a selected hitting position comprises alignment of the player's body and the player's bat to hit a type of ball pitch selected from a group consisting of knuckle ball, slider, fast pitch, slow pitch, inside left corner of the batting plate, outside right corner of the batting plate, high pitch fastball, low pitch fastball, high pitch softball, and low pitch softball. 
   
   
       20 . The batting training machine of  claim 19 , wherein the batting plate pivotally coupled to the collapsible frame along a lower section of the collapsible frame comprises a batting plate rivetally attached along a series of segmented metal pieces; and wherein at least one of the player or the coach moves the batting plate in a piece-wise segmented fashion to align the batting plate to assist in achieving the selected hitting position. 
   
   
       21 . A process for training a player using a batting training machine that allows a coach to assist in the training process, the process comprising;
 transporting a multi-segment collapsible frame to a desired batting location;   opening and securing the multi-segment collapsible frame to one of a series of an adjustable height position members in accordance with a height of the player to occupy a substantially half semicircular perimeter area;   selecting a striking structure having a striking resilience and compressibility factor at least partially selected in accordance an estimated current skill level of the player and athletic sport of the player;   detachably coupling the striking structure at a first end and a second end to the collapsible frame using at least one selected tension cord to achieve a selected hitting location;   adjusting a batting alignment marker coupled to the collapsible frame and a batting plate to allow at least one of the coach or the player to choose a positional location to aid alignment of a player's body and a player's bat to substantially in real-time model a ball hit to a selected portion of a batting infield or a batting outfield;   analyzing by the coach through a coaching cage incorporated within the multi-segment collapsible frame a real-time unobstructed view of a player's striking position relative to the striking structure and a trajectory path of the striking structure detachably attached to the at least one selected tension cord; and   readjusting the batting plate pivotally coupled to the collapsible frame along a lower section of the collapsible frame or the ball alignment marker to improve likelihood of the player swinging at the striking structure to model a ball hit to the selected portion of the batting infield or the batting outfield in response to feedback obtained by real-time observations by the coach of one or more previously coach monitored ball training sessions by the player.