North Carolina Patent of the Month – April 2021
Soccer is a very involved sport, requiring skills in ball shooting, dribbling and passing. Most soccer players train as a team in order to achieve these skills. However, if a soccer player wanted to train individually they use static dummies to replace opponents and allow them to practice passing and dribbling. Implus Footcare, LLC has designed a training aid that can more readily mimic a soccer player.
Most often, the practice dummies are heavy and hard to quickly move around the field to create a dynamic practice session. Implus Footcare designed their training aid to be lightweight or similar in size and shape to an average soccer player. Rather than the traditional dummy, the training aid is made of a base stand and central aluminum pole. Symmetric on both sides, the mannequin is made of sturdy plastic for the upper body. The lower body is made of a durable and stretchy material which attaches the torso to the base stand. The body is attached in a way that allows it to rotate around the pole. For instance, if a ball strikes the right side, the torso spins to the right. The stretch of the leg material creates tension and pulls the body back to starting position. The set up allows the training aid to support itself, even when struck by soccer balls, and are light enough to easily move them around the field, creating a more dynamic individual training session.
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