Selection of a sports club, racket or bat using ground pressure forces applied by the player in a stroke

A method for selecting a most suitable manually operable impact element of a set of the manually operable impact elements for use by a player for use in a sporting activity where a game element is impacted by the manually operable impact element swung by a player, where the set includes a plurality of the manually operable impact elements for striking the game element in an impact during a swing or stroke, where each of the manually operable impact elements has a shaft or body which flexes throughout the swing or stroke, prior to and post impact, where each one of the set of manually operable impact elements has a shaft or body which flexes differently from others of the set and wherein each manually operable impact element of the set is provided with a visually distinguishable code or combination of codes so as to distinguish each one of the set which flexes differently from other elements of the set;

• the method comprising:
• using a pressure sensing mat or plate upon which the player places both feet while carrying out a sample swing or stroke to measure forces applied by both feet of the player during the swing or stroke;
• the pressure sensing mat or plate providing output signals indicative of vertical forces, lateral forces, both heel to toe and side to side, lateral speed applied by the feet of the player during the swing or stroke;
• selecting certain ones of the output signals to calculate a load factor from the selected signals;
• and using the load factor to select one of the set most suitable for use by the player and to provide an output indicative of the code or combination of codes for the selected one of the set most suitable for use by the player.

A method for selecting a most suitable manually operable impact element of a set of manually operable impact elements for use by a player for use in a sporting activity where a game element is impacted by the manually operable impact element swung by a player, where the set includes a plurality of the manually operable impact elements for striking the game element in an impact during a swing or stroke, where each of the manually operable impact elements has a shaft or body which flexes throughout the swing, prior to and post impact where each one of the set of manually operable elements has a shaft or body which flexes differently from others of the set and wherein each element of the set is provided with a visually distinguishable code or combination of codes so as to distinguish each one of the set which flexes differently from the other elements of the set;

• the method comprising:
• using a pressure sensing mat or plate upon which the player places both feet while carrying out a sample swing or stroke to measure forces applied by both feet of the player during the swing or stroke;
• the pressure sensing mat or plate measuring forces applied by both feet of the player during the stroke and generating output signals dependent on the measured forces;
• and using the output signals to select one of the set most suitable for use by the player and to provide an output indicative of the code or combination of codes for the selected one of the set most suitable for use by the player.