| Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game -> Monitor Keywords |
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Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping gameRelated Patent Categories: Games Using Tangible Projectile, Playing Field Or Court Game; Game Element Or Accessory Therefor Other Than Projector Or Projectile, Per SeSoccer (or association football) goalkeeping game description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060189416, Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/452,805, filed Jun. 02, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/385,408, filed Jun. 03, 2002. [0002] This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/645,628, filed Jan. 21, 2005. [0003] All the foregoing specifications are incorporated herein in full by this reference. BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0004] The invention relates to games, amusement pastimes and athletic competitions, and more particularly to a sporting competition and/or event having rules and down-sized playing areas to challenge one's interdisciplinary mastery of various soccer positions, including predominantly the goalkeeper position. A number of additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following discussion of preferred embodiments and examples. [0005] Youth soccer camps, among others, are known to hold one-on-one goalkeeper drills. The known drill provides two goals within easy throwing distance of each other. The two players are confined to just a few steps in front of their respective goals. A coin toss decides who starts. The players alternate turns throwing the ball at their opponent (more accurately, their opponent's goal). First player to score seven (or whatever) goals wins the drill. [0006] This prior art drill has none of, or is none of, the following. That is, it has no formal rules, no playing-field boundaries, nor other demarcations. It has no time limit on the drill, no shot clock on possession, nor unrestricted shot-taking (at least, no freedom to the extent permitted by standard soccer rules for goalkeepers). It is no test of any soccer skill other than keeper save skills under narrowly-tailored penalty-kick like conditions (ie., from about the same range and direction and with correspondingly ample time to get ready). [0007] The prior art drill has no fouls, no penalty kicks, nor refereeing. It has no partisan off-field ball handlers. It consequently has no need for more than one ball. It has no race-start and no offensive rebounds (nor defensive either because, the ball is dead after a shot/save). It has no offsides, no neutral zone, no tie-breaking/overtime rules, and no partisan coaching. [0008] In contrast, a soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game in accordance with the invention preferably has or is the following. That is, the inventive game has codified rules of play and a demarcated playing field, with not only boundaries but also zones within the boundaries. The inventive game is played against a game clock, possessions are played against a shot clock, and the only restrictions on propelling the ball are those recognized by standard rules of soccer for goalkeepers. [0009] The inventive game more broadly tests soccer skills other than just testing goalkeeper save skills, therefore it is more interdisciplinary, more open to soccer players of any field position, not just goalkeepers. Indeed, the inventive game promotes more ball movement, and fitness appropriate to the more ball movement. In clear departure from the prior art drill, the inventive game involves position strategy, indeed heavily so. Namely, the inventive game involves position strategy something like in tennis, where volley after volley, endlessly, there is the choice whether to rush the net or else lay back along the baseline. [0010] The codified rules include fouls, penalty kicks, and refereeing. The rules are distinctive by, among doing other things, authorizing the game time participation of partisan, off-field ball handlers. These parties serve a vital, off-field teammate role to the on-field player, as will be more particularly described below. One consequence of ball handlers is that, they best fulfill their roles by stocking up with spare balls. Although only one ball in-play at a time, play is resumed immediately after a score or out-of-bounds miss in the manner as having the rightful player signal for immediate re-supply from any of his or her ball handlers. These ball handlers fulfill a role something like ball retrievers in singles tennis, except the ball handlers are partisan (ie., teammates of their one player) and they can re-supply their player immediately after the in-play ball is scored or out-of-bounds, indeed in order that the on-field player can take advantage of fleeting opportunities, like opponent mis-position. Unlike tennis, where players are always afforded time to get ready before an ensuing serve. [0011] The rules favor starting each game with a race. The rules allow offensive rebounds, ie., a player in-possession of the ball (unless offsides) is allowed to recover the rebound from his or her own missed/blocked shot. The ball is live (or in-play) and not dead after a shot/save, so long as the ball remains on the field of play. [0012] The rules include offside rules, and the playing field is correspondingly demarcated with offside zones. In addition to offside zones, the playing field is preferably demarcated with a neutral zone. And so on with other distinctions, like the rules additionally include tie-breaking and/or overtime provisions, as well as authorize partisan, game-time coaching (from the sidelines). [0013] Overall, the soccer (or association football) goalkeeper game in accordance with the invention is distinguished by speed and movement in combination with strategy and urgency. The inventive game is a test of skill and endurance. It promotes recovering one's rebounds and other factors consistent with the play of soccer (association football). Altogether, the inventive game is one of excitement, not just for the players or their ball handlers but also, importantly, for spectators and fans. [0014] Given the foregoing, these and other aspects and objects are provided according to the invention in a method of playing a soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game comprising various combinations of the following steps. [0015] Two players compete against each other on a playing field having a soccer goal at two opposite ends. The playing field is also preferably demarcated with respective offside zones as well as respective goal areas. The players have as objectives (i) offensively to "distribute" a play ball into the defender's goal from anywhere on the field as long as not violating the defender's offside zone and (ii) defensively to save attempts on goal and/or acquire ball possession in order to switch around and commence offensively. "Distribution" is a concept used in a technical sense, wherein a permitted distribution of the ball can be restricted to any one or any combination of the following: [0016] throwing by hand, and restricted to the distributer's goal area, [0017] rolling by hand, and restricted to the distributer's goal area, [0018] punting, and restricted to the distributer's goal area, [0019] drop kicking, and restricted to the distributer's goal area, [0020] kicking, and [0021] heading. [0022] It is preferred to provide a rule of play whereby time of possession is limited by a time-limit such that ball possession in excess of the time-limit results in expropriation, and scores from distributions after the applicable time-limit are not counted. "Expropriation" can be envisioned as either a referee supervising the transfer of the play ball from the violator to the opponent or, alternatively, obligating the violator to send the play ball off the field immediately, or risk being assessed a penalty-shot violation, and granting the opponent immediate entitlement to acquire a succeeding live play ball such as by personally retrieving any left-over ball idle in his or her goal, or as receiving an infeed of a spare ball from an off-field teammate. The second alternative favors uninterrupted play. [0023] It is also preferred to provide a rule of play whereby there is a weighted point scale for scores, such that favored or preferred methods of scoring are given higher point value than others. One way to incorporate this aspect of the invention is to award two points for scores made from the scorer's goal area, in contrast to the normal 1 point for all other goals. Hence there is an incentive to reward goals made by distributions (or simply shots) taken from the goal area. It might be reckoned as rewarding players for taking more challenging shots or else rewarding the audience with a more thrilling game. This point scheme has the effect of encouraging a faster paced game, almost a volley-like game such as tennis. [0024] It is moreover preferred if there is a rule of play wherein any player crossing into the offside zone of the opponent is assessed a penalty-shot violation. Again, in the interest of uninterrupted play, preferably the game is played over one or more regulation periods, each period being played against a clock which generally runs without stoppage for taking penalty kicks. That way, all penalty kicks can be postponed until after time runs out on the period. The field of play has a center mark, equidistant from both goals, and preferably the penalty shots are taken from the center mark. The rules of play can be drawn such that during time of possession, each player is restricted to one distribution and not two or else possession is lost and that player is assessed a penalty-shot violation. [0025] Given the preceding one-distribution rule, preferably there is another rule allowing a distributing player to have endlessly successive possessions if obtained by way of offensive rebounds. That is, as long as that player's distributed ball rebounds off any of the following, namely, the defender, the defender's goalposts or crossbar, the referee (if any) or defender's corner flags (if any). Any such player who takes a successive possession by way of offensive rebound will also get an allowance for an additional distribution and a reset time of possession time-limit. [0026] It is an aspect of the game to provide each player with one or more off-field teammates who are restricted from crossing into the field of play but permitted to surround parts of the field. When the play ball goes out-of-play (such as if scored or otherwise crosses out of the field of play), there is a provision of the rules that establishes which player is entitled to next possession. That player is authorized player to acquire a play ball by any of: [0027] he or she personally retrieving the most recent scored ball (if any), [0028] he or she personally retrieving any left-over ball idle in his or her goal, or [0029] he or she receiving feed of one spare ball from any one of his or her off-field teammates. [0030] The field of play might also comprise a mid-field neutral area, exclusive of the offside zones or goal areas, and in which the players can vie directly against each other for possession or stealing possession of the play ball. [0031] The rules of the game might be entrusted to on-field referee, who would also supervise over any off-field staff, if any, like a statistician and/or timekeeper (again, if any). That way, the time-limit for limiting time of possession may either be accurately monitored by an off-field timekeeper or be generally reckoned by an on-field referee. It is desirable to start play at the beginning of any period with a race. That is, on cue, the players race from starting positions behind their own ends of the field toward the play ball at rest on the center of the field. Continue reading about Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game... Full patent description for Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Soccer (or association football) goalkeeping game patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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