Introduction: When taking a soccer penalty kick, research has shown that a number of factors impact a player`s visual search strategy. To date, there is no research investigating whether the visual search strategy during penalty kicks changes when comparing the dominant against the non-dominant foot. This was the focus of the present study. Methods: 10 soccer players were recruited and took two penalty kicks with the dominant and non-dominant foot. The study took place indoors in accordance to The Football Association (F.A.) guidelines for indoor football. A goalkeeper stood in the centre of a goal measuring 3.66m wide by 1.83m high. A football was placed 6 metres from the centre of the goal. Eye movements of the penalty takers were recorded using SMI Eye tracking glasses. Peak horizontal velocity and resultant velocity for both the dominant and non-dominant foot were recorded along with the end location of the football. Results: The football was kicked with significantly greater velocity with the dominant compared to the non-dominant foot (m=14.3±1.4m/s, 11.6±1.5m/s respectively, p=.005). Furthermore, the ball was kicked significantly wider towards the edge of the goal in the dominant compared to non-dominant foot / penalty (p=.002). The overall duration of the penalty was significantly longer in the non-dominant compared to the dominant penalty (m= 5.20s ± 1.16, 4.53s ± 0.76, respectively p=.013). When executing the penalty with the dominant foot, players showed a trend of longer relative fixation length towards the edge of the goal compared to the non-dominant foot (p=.052). Relative fixation length was significantly shorter on the ball (p=.004) with fewer relative number of fixations on the ball in the dominant compared to non-dominant foot (p=.004). In the dominant penalty, players has longer fixation in the `gap` between ball and goal compared to the non-dominant penalty (p = .030). Discussion/conclusion: Results highlight a difference between visual search strategies when executing a penalty with the dominant compared to non-dominant foot. With the dominant penalty, players fixated and kicked wider within the goal compared to the non-dominant penalty. Penalties executed with the non-dominant foot took significantly longer to complete with greater frequency and length of fixation on the ball. Interestingly, with the dominant foot, players fixated the gap between the ball and goal, appearing to utilise peripheral vision to guide the approach to the ball. These findings suggest an association of increased skill mastery on the dominant foot. Further work should address this association in professional players.
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Veröffentlicht von University of Vienna. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.