Basketball shooting training method

Abstract

Disclosed herein are embodiments of basketball shooting aids. In some embodiments, a basketball shooting aid includes a glove portion and at least one stiffener to at least partially restrain the thumb of a user. In some embodiments, a basketball shooting aid can include plural stiffeners, such as two stiffeners, with one positioned on either side of the user's thumb. In some embodiments, a basketball shooting aid includes a stiffener and at least one strap for securing the stiffener to a user's hand. In some embodiments, a basketball shooting aid can help a basketball player to practice his or her shot.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A basketball shooting training method for training a basketball player to shoot baskets with a basketball, the basketball player having a dominant hand and a non-dominant hand, each of said hands having a thumb and a plurality of fingers including an index finger, a palm side with a palm and a back side opposite to the palm side, the thumb and fingers of the basketball player's hands also each having a metacarpophalangeal joint and the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand having an interphalangeal joint, the method comprising:
 restraining the motion of both the palm side and back side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand without restraining the motion of the thumb of the basketball player's dominant hand, the restraining the motion of the palm side and back side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprising positioning a first stiffener extending from a portion of the palm of the basketball player's non-dominant hand along the palm side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand to a location distally of the interphalangeal joint of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand and positioning a second stiffener extending from a portion of the palm of the basketball player's non-dominant hand along the palm side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand to a location distally of the interphalangeal joint of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand;   allowing the movement the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand while restraining the palm side and back side of the thumb the basketball player's non-dominant hand such that the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand can move relative to one another to various spread apart positions and are movable toward and away from the palm of the basketball player's non-dominate hand;   having the basketball player repeatedly shoot baskets with the basketball while restraining the motion of both the back side and the palm side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand; and   thereafter having the basketball player shoot baskets with the basketball without restraining the motion of both the back side and palm side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand.   
     
     
         2 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 1  wherein the basketball player's non-dominant hand has a thumb with a thumb nail, the restraining the motion of both the palm side and back side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprises extending the first and second stiffeners distally of a portion of the thumb nail of the basketball player's non-dominant hand. 
     
     
         3 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 1  wherein allowing the movement of the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprises allowing the index finger of the basketball player's non-dominant hand to move away from the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand and toward the other fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand. 
     
     
         4 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 3  wherein allowing the movement of the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprises allowing the movement of the metacarpophalangeal joints of the basketball player's non-dominant hand. 
     
     
         5 . A basketball shooting method according to  claim 1  wherein the restraining the motion of both the palm side and back side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand further comprises restraining the motion of a portion of the palm side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand with a first body portion of the first stiffener and restraining a portion of the back side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand with a second body portion of the second stiffener. 
     
     
         6 . A basketball shooting method according to  claim 1  comprises wearing a glove including the first and second stiffeners on the non-dominant hand of the basketball player to perform the restraining the motion of both the palm side and back side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand and the allowing the movement the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand while restraining the palm side and back side of the thumb the basketball player's non-dominant hand. 
     
     
         7 . A basketball shooting method according to  claim 6  wherein the glove comprises an exterior and an interior, a glove opening through which a basketball player's non-dominant hand is inserted to position the basketball player's non-dominant hand into the glove, the glove surrounding the basketball player's non-dominant hand when the glove is worn, a thumb receiving portion and a plurality of finger receiving portions including an index finger receiving portion, the finger receiving portions covering the metacarpophalangeal joints of fingers of the non-dominant hand of the basketball player wearing the glove, the thumb receiving portion extending at least to the thumbnail of a basketball player's non-dominant hand when the glove is worn, the glove also comprising a glove body portion with a palm section that overlays the palm of a basketball player's non-dominant hand when the glove is worn, the glove comprising a wrist receiving opening, a palm section that overlays the palm of a basketball player's non-dominant hand and a back section that overlays the back of a basketball player's non-dominant hand when the glove is worn, the glove having a palm section to back section web cover portion that extends from the palm section to the back section between the thumb receiving portion and the index receiving portion and that overlays the web of the basketball player's non-dominant hand between the thumb and index finger of the basketball player's non-dominant hand when the glove is worn by the basketball player, the glove comprising a material that allows movement of fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand received in the finger receiving portions relative to one another such that the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand received in the plurality of finger receiving portions are movable between various spread apart positions and are movable at their proximal and distal interphalangeal joints relative to one another toward and away from the palm section;
 wherein the thumb receiving portion comprises a thumb receiving sleeve; 
 wherein the glove comprises four finger receiving sleeves with respective distal ends that are open, with one of said finger receiving sleeves comprising an index finger receiving portion of the glove; 
 the first stiffener being mounted to the glove and comprising the first stiffener body portion, the first stiffener body portion being positioned to overlay at least a portion of the palm section of the exterior of the glove, the first stiffener comprising a first projecting portion extending outwardly from the first stiffener body portion, the first projecting portion extending only along the palm side of the thumb receiving portion of the glove to a location distal of the interphalangeal joint of the thumb of non-dominant had of the basketball player when the glove is worn by the basketball player and a second projecting portion extending outwardly from the stiffener body portion and extending toward the index finger receiving portion of the glove, the first projecting portion extending at least to the thumbnail of the user when the glove is worn, the first projecting portion and first stiffener body portion do not extend across the palm section to back section web cover portion of the glove, the second projecting portion terminating in the palm section at a location spaced from the portion of the glove covering the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers of the non-dominant hand of the user and in a position that does not overlay the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers of a non-dominant hand of the user such that the stiffener and glove allows movement of the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers of a user when the glove is worn by the user and also allows the movement of the index finger of the user of the glove toward the other fingers of the user, the first and second projecting portions and the portion of the first stiffener body overlaying the palm section of the glove spacing the index finger receiving portion and the thumb receiving portion apart and holding the thumb and index finger of a user wearing the glove apart; and 
 wherein the first stiffener extends only part way across the palm section of the glove from the thumb receiving portion. 
 
     
     
         8 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the thumb receiving sleeve comprises a distal end portion that is open to expose the top of a thumb of a user wearing the glove. 
     
     
         9 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the stiffener comprises a polymeric material and the glove comprises a fabric material. 
     
     
         10 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the first and second stiffeners each comprise a polymeric material that has a stiffness between about 2,000 MPa and about 3,000 MPa when tested in accordance with ASTM D790. 
     
     
         11 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the thumb and index finger receiving portions of the glove each comprise a respective sleeve, the sleeve of the thumb receiving portion extending outwardly from the body portion of the glove to a location beyond the interphalangeal joint of a thumb of a basketball player's non-dominant hand when wearing the glove, the sleeve of the index finger receiving portion extending outwardly from the body portion of the glove to a location distally of the proximal interphalangeal joint of an index finger of the non-dominant hand of a basketball player when wearing the glove. 
     
     
         12 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the stiffener is stitched to the glove. 
     
     
         13 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the first and second stiffeners are U-shaped and with first and second opposed planar surfaces, and comprise first and second legs and wherein the each of the first and second stiffener body portions comprise a central body portion from which the first and second legs project, the first leg comprising the first projecting portion and the second leg comprising the second projecting portion, and wherein the central body portion of the first stiffener overlays the palm section of the glove and the central body portion of the second stiffener overlays the back section of the glove. 
     
     
         14 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 7  wherein the first stiffener body portion overlays the palm section and has a first edge that extends toward the glove opening from the first projecting portion and curves at a location over the palm section to extend in a direction toward the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers of a hand of a user. 
     
     
         15 . A basketball shooting training method for training a basketball player to shoot baskets with a basketball, the basketball player having a dominant hand and a non-dominant hand, each of said hands having a thumb and a plurality of fingers including an index finger, a palm side with a palm and a back side opposite to the palm side, the thumb and fingers of the basketball player's hands also each having a metacarpophalangeal joint and the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand having an interphalangeal joint, the method comprising:
 restraining the motion of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand against movement toward the index finger of the basketball player's non-dominant hand;   allowing the movement the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand while restraining the thumb the basketball player's non-dominant hand such that the fingers of the basketball player's non-dominant hand can move relative to one another to various spread apart positions and are movable toward and away from the palm of the basketball player's non-dominate hand;   having the basketball player repeatedly shoot baskets with the basketball while restraining the motion of both the back side and the palm side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand; and   thereafter having the basketball player shoot baskets with the basketball without restraining the motion of both the back side and palm side of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand.   
     
     
         16 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 15  wherein restraining the motion of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprises restraining both the metacarpophalangeal joint and the interphalangeal joint of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand against movement. 
     
     
         17 . A basketball shooting training method according to  claim 16  wherein restraining the motion of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand comprises restraining the metacarpophalangeal joint and the interphalangeal joint of the thumb of the basketball player's non-dominant hand at both the palm side and back side of the basketball player's non-dominant hand against movement. 
     
     
         18 . A basketball training method according to  claim 15  comprises repeating the steps of  claim 15  to train the non-dominant hand of the basketball player to restrict the motion of the thumb of the non-dominant hand during shooting a basketball.