Timely Grand Final Advice - How to Take A Penalty Kick!!!

Sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/


Given the number of penalty shoot outs lately, this might be useful before this weekend.

How to take the perfect penalty

Whether playing in the park with jumpers for goalposts or at the end of a tense cup final, your players need to know how to take penalties.
Successful penalty taking is not simply a case of running up and shooting. There are a number of techniques that can be taught to even very young soccer players that will dramatically improve their chances of coping with the pressure and help them convert spot kick into goals.

A study by the University of Exeter found that penalty takers who looked at the goalkeeper during their run up often ended up shooting straight at the goalkeeper. Their advice to penalty takers was to try to blot the goalkeeper out to the point where he or she is not there at all.

Another study by the boffins at John Moores University in Liverpool offered a more scientific approach to scoring from the penalty spot. They suggested that:

• The perfect penalty is struck at 65mph from a run up of no more than six paces.
• The taker should strike the ball less than three seconds after the referee has blown the whistle.
• The taker should approach the ball from an angle of 20-30 degrees and aim high to the goalkeeper's left or right side.

An interesting study by Anna Stodter & Matt Pain of Loughborough University suggests that penalty takers can overcome the pressure of the situation and score more goals if they use cue words such as 'head' (for head down over the ball), 'centre' (strike through the centre of the ball) or 'easy' (effortless).
This study did find that while using cue words was off putting for some players in a practice situation, they did help when the pressure was on by keeping a players' mind 'on the job' and stopping their thoughts from wandering or becoming negative.

The penalty king - how did he take spot kicks?
Alan Shearer scored 54 times from the penalty spot during his league career and scored a dozen for England.
The majority of his penalties were scored in exactly the same way – he ignored the goalkeeper, took a short run and smashed the ball into the top left of the goal as hard as he could. Even though goalkeepers knew how he would take a penalty, they couldn't save them.
The lesson?

• Having a set routine helps when you're under pressure.
• Confidence and focus is the key. Don't try to deceive the goalkeeper.

 References [1] Brian Quarstad, How to Take the Perfect Penalty Kick?, http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/05/16/how-to-take-the-perfect-penalty-kick/
[2] http://www.teachpe.com/soccer_football/penalty.php
[3] Anna Stodter & Matt Pain, Taking penalty kicks under pressure - think about It!, Loughborough University