[bEdhEd]

We're going with a winch pulled launcher that has a seat for the ball. The seat sits on top of a track, and the seat gets pulled back by a ratcheting winch, and when released, the seat moves along the track and stops abruptly at the end, therefore launching the ball. It's basically a ball puncher without the ball in front, but on top, if that makes any sense.

The track is on a pivot to allow for loading from the back, and aiming.

Just imagine an aircraft carrier catapult, or a crossbow, and you'll probably get what I mean.

The attachment shows a pic of an aircraft carrier catapult, and it follows the same idea.

This design was actually inspired by the linear human catapult I saw in the "Wipeout Zone" obstacle course on the ABC show "Wipeout."

Inspiration comes from the least expected places, don't they?