Using a solenoid to kick a ball

[Jak24]

Hi!

In the past few weeks i have been experimenting with my solenoid:
http://www.electromechanicsonline.com/product.asp?pid=24
12v (10% duty cycle)
I need this solenoid to kick a roughly ~250gram 75mm radius ball for 2 meters (without the ball slowing down)
Because it was rated to be 12v i first used it with a 12v ni-hm battery and activated the solenoid with a relay , with which i could shoot the ball 50cm (barely).
After a while i got tired of only getting a small kick like that, so i got busy experimenting,
first i tried it with 18 volt (one 12v and one 6v battery pack)  i got bit better kick (60cm) with 24v(2 x 12v battery packs) i got ~70cm  and with
36 volt (2 x 12v and 2 x 6v battery packs) got almost 1 meter,
i could go on and on adding battery cells but due to the weight issue i couldn't really make that work, so i am now thinking of a way to build
a step-up circiut to charge a capacitor and then use that to give the solenoid 300+ volts.
as i figure that voltage should be sufficient, so after i did some research i fount this circuit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58860084@N03/5395710031/ (inverter)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58860084@N03/5396308346/ (ac-to dc converter)
The 230v output (inverter) would go to the IN (ac to dc converter) and hopefully i will get enough power to charge the capacitor and then get
a better kick from the solenoid.
Does anyone know if this circuit would work? or are there any other alternatives to get a better kick from a solenoid?
Any advise is appreciated .

Regards
Jak24

[Valalvax]

What about having a weight that the solenoid holds up and allows to drop, kicking the ball, not sure how heavy it'd have to be or anything, just throwing possible ideas out there (and you may have requirements that don't allow that)

[G_Man]

What about using mechanical advantage to increase the speed of the blow delivered to the ball.  If the solenoid were attached to the shorter side of a pivoting arm (a lever), then the longer free end of that arm were used to impact the ball, you might get better kicking distance because of the increased speed. 

[Jak24]

Hi!

What about having a weight that the solenoid holds up and allows to drop, kicking the ball, not sure how heavy it'd have to be or anything, just throwing possible ideas out there (and you may have requirements that don't allow that)

What about using mechanical advantage to increase the speed of the blow delivered to the ball.  If the solenoid were attached to the shorter side of a pivoting arm (a lever), then the longer free end of that arm were used to impact the ball, you might get better kicking distance because of the increased speed. 

Good ideas both, but unfortunately i can't really use any of them as i have a weight and a size limit, i could only maybe put some-sort of metal part on the end of the solenoid to increase the contact with the ball , but even then i wouldn't get a much better shot.
I bought all the required items to test the circuit i posted in my previous comment.
Any other advise and suggestion on how to get a better step-up circuit is welcome!

Thanks
Regards

Jak24