Kick (association football)

A kick is a skill in association football in which a player strikes the ball with his or her foot. Association football, more commonly referred to as football and also known as soccer, is a sport played world-wide, with up to 265 million people around the world participating on a yearly basis. Kicking is one of the most difficult skills to acquire in football. This skill is also vitally important, as kicking is the way in which passes are made and the primary means by which goals are scored.

It has been observed that the time in which kicking skill develops most rapidly in the young football player is between the ages of 4 and 6 years old, with a consistent progression in ability up to the age of ten. This indicates that early participation in football can have long-term implications for the future ability level of the association football player. Greater accuracy and ability is seen in elite football players, likely due to the decreased mechanical variability in their form, highlighting the importance of practice in order to increase consistency in executing proper form.

There are two main aspects of the kicking action to consider when developing the skills for an effective kick in football: power (velocity of the ball) and accuracy (trajectory of the ball). Multiple studies have concluded that a diagonal approach is more effective than a straight approach, with an approach angle close 45 degrees yielding the greatest power and ball velocity.Athletes with stronger and more accurate kicks and tend to put less energy into the approach (the steps taken before the kick) and more energy into the backswing and forward swing movements of the kick than do less skilled athletes. Therefore, less focus should be placed on the approach and more focus placed on developing effective kicking mechanics.

Visual focus should be placed on the ball, not on the football pitch. If lifting the head/eyes in order to determine where to shoot, which may be necessary in various circumstances, this should be done before taking the shot. The athlete’s vision should be focused directly at the ball through the entirety of the kicking action in order to increase accuracy.

Just prior to the swing phase, the athlete should land on the supporting leg with the knee slightly flexed so as to absorb some of the impact and thereby stabilize the body for more effective motion of the kicking leg. The best position of the supporting leg has been found to be 5 to 10 cm to the side of the ball (left of the ball for a right-footed kicker, right of the ball for a left-footed kicker). Skilled athletes have a tendency toward a closer ball-to-support leg side position. For forward to back positioning, there is variability based on the desired action of the ball. Placing the support leg further behind the ball will produce a greater upward direction whereas placing the support leg closer to the ball will produce greater forward propulsion. Ball flight trajectory is dictated by the supporting foot’s position. The support foot should be positioned so as to be parallel to the intended direction of the ball. Other important body positioning to be aware of is to bend the upper body slightly forward over the ball.

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