Penalty kick: The best action time.

For a soccer goalkeeper defending against a penalty kick it is very important to choose the right time of her/his motor action. Goalkeepers usually try to make a save by moving their legs before the kicker hits the ball. In a preliminary experiment, it has been found that goalkeepers’ performance improves as the temporal gap between their action (anticipation), and the penalty kickers’ action on the ball gets shorter. In order to investigate the possibility to induce goalkeepers to start the save at their best time, twenty goalkeepers have been tested. The experimental variable was the temporal gap between an acoustic stimulus signaling the goalkeeper to start her/his motor action and the start of the penalty kick, and it had three anticipation levels with respect to the contact between the kicker foot and the ball: Equal to the reaction time (RT) of the goalkeeper, RT plus 300 ms, and RT plus 600 ms. Results showed a difference in goalkeepers’ performance: The number of saves almost doubled when an acoustic stimulus induced them to move when the temporal gap separating the kicker from the ball was equal to the goalkeepers reaction time (F2,19=8.5, p<.005). To conclude, from our results, it seems that finding the best timing for each goalkeeper can help to improve the probability to make a save.