1. An article of athletic equipment adapted to detect a characteristic of an impact and provide an output signal representative of the detected characteristic, comprising a conventional item of athletic equipment having a body having an outer surface portion, a force detector located within said body, a circuit coupled to said detector and adapted to provide an output signal representative of a force detected by said force detector, and a transmitter located in said body for receiving said output signal from said circuit and transmitting a wireless signal representative of said signal.