How TetherKing works
Hit the ball and it tethers around the pole, loading the latex tube at the ball. Then it recoils and comes back to you in three seconds.
The four stages
Hit
You swing. The ball takes off around the pole.
Tether
It tethers around the pole.
Recoil
The ball recoils and untethers.
Return
Three seconds after you hit it, it's back in front of you.
About four times around
A clean hit tethers the cord about four times around the pole. Hit it harder and it tethers more and comes back faster.
The cord tethers upward from where it leaves the pole. When the ball reaches the pole, the latex tube has loaded, and the ball recoils and untethers until it swings down to hitting height.
Switch-hitting is built in
Step to the other side of the ball and hit it the other way. The cord tethers around the pole in the reverse direction.
What's doing the work
The cord
A black-and-green woven cord runs from a hole near the top of the pole. It does the tethering.
The swivel
Between the cord and the latex tube, the swivel keeps the cord from twisting.
The latex tube
The last stretch into the ball is a latex tube. It loads as the ball tethers in, then recoils it back out. Its length is the difference between the models.
The ball cap
The tube passes through the ball and is capped on the far side. The cap was redesigned after a ballplayer knocked the ball off during testing.