Reaction ball
A reaction ball , also known as a fun ball, is an octahedral or pyramid-shaped rubber ball with a diameter of 6 to 10 cm.
Because of its unusual shape, the ball, which is not inflated with air like many other balls, but is made entirely of plastic rubber, bounces in an uncontrolled manner, making it suitable for exercising hand, eye and foot coordination. A well-known agility exercise is simply throwing-and-catching in pairs with a bounce in between or just catching the ball once it hit the ground.
The term reaction ball is a translation from English, reaction ball , or more rarely reactive ball (the German term reactive ball but referred exclusively to Strike Ball ).
History and construction
The first known rubber ball with several nubs is the hollow "Massage Appliance" developed for therapy and massage , registered on November 24, 1903 by Isabel Cassidy, which replaces the therapist's palm and fingertip with the nubs and enables self-massage. The origin of the massive reaction ball for use in ball sports is the "Erratic Bouncing Ball" based on it, with 22 knobs of different uniformity, which Michael Leopold registered on July 2, 1991 for use in a new ball game with a CND logo-shaped playing field for which the pattern was also attached to the ball on its knobs.
While most models nowadays are designed in the octahedral shape with six knobs, even with 7 irregularly arranged knobs an unpredictable impact behavior is achieved or slower jumps with a larger mass. To make the reaction ball more visible, a two-color design was developed (Z-Ball), from which a color combination of blue and yellow was chosen for the hall and orange and yellow for the meadow. While the larger models with a diameter of around 10 cm are used for tennis , volleyball and other hand-played ball sports, inflatable models with a diameter of up to 20 cm have also been specially developed for goalkeepers in soccer .
There are also special reaction balls that simulate flutter balls especially for goalkeepers in soccer .
See also
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- ↑ Exercise description at Natural Health (in English): Reaction ball challenge ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A description of the exercise at Outside online (in English)
- ↑ The patent description 744718 at Google Patent Search: MASSAGE APPLIANCE
- ↑ Complete patent description 5028053 on Google Patent Search: Erratic bouncing ball
- ↑ A patent description 6443863 of a 7-knob ball, also known as a Z-ball, on Google Patent Search: Ball having unpredictable bounce
