Abstract: A shuttlecock loading mechanism with a grabbing mechanism and a pair of ejecting wheels defining a wheel plane. The grabbing mechanism receives a shuttlecock entering the loading mechanism in a vertical position and ejects the shuttlecock from the loading mechanism in an orientation parallel to the wheel plane wherein the pitch of the wheel plane about a wheel horizontal axis is selectively indexed about the wheel's horizontal axis.

Abstract: A shuttlecock loading mechanism with a grabbing mechanism and a pair of ejecting wheels defining a wheel plane. The grabbing mechanism receives a shuttlecock entering the loading mechanism in a vertical position and ejects the shuttlecock from the loading mechanism in an orientation parallel to the wheel plane wherein the pitch of the wheel plane about a wheel horizontal axis is selectively indexed about the wheel's horizontal axis.

Abstract: A shuttlecock having a base and a flight portion, the base having a semi-spherical bottom and an upwardly extending side wall, with at least one length of tape having lengths substantially equal to a multiple of the circumference of the upwardly extending wall extending thereabout, the length of tape having a first side coated with a releasable pressure sensitive adhesive material and an opposite side forming a release surface for the releasable pressure sensitive adhesive material. The lengths of tape can be added to or removed from the shuttlecock to change the weight and thereby change the flight characteristics of the shuttlecock.