Goalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick: The dive is coordinated to the kicker's non-kicking leg placement, irrespective of time constraints.

Abstract

Traditionally, goalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick has been studied using video-based technology, in which goalkeepers watched video footage of penalty kicks and indicated perceived ball direction. By omitting the requirement to actually dive or jump to the ball, these studies overlooked how action capabilities constrain goalkeepers' actions. By contrast, we examined whether goalkeeping in the penalty kick is consistent with affordance-based control, that is, whether goalkeepers guide their dive by taking into account their action capabilities (i.e., the time they need to intercept the ball). To this end, high- and moderate-skilled goalkeepers faced in-situ penalty kicks. Time constraints were manipulated by varying the kicking distance and the kicker's run-up speed. The results showed that goalkeepers of both skills level scaled the lateral dive onset to their action capabilities, but high-skilled goalkeepers acted closer to their maximum action boundary. In doing so, goalkeepers did not take the varying time constraints into account. Instead, high-skilled goalkeepers acted consistent with a strategy in which they coordinated the onset of the dive with the landing of kicker's non-kicking leg next to the ball. Consequently, we only find partial support for affordance-based control. We propose that this is explained by reliable information becoming available (too) late within the spatiotemporal constraints of the penalty kick.