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at World Cup 2010, say scientists
Focusing on the goalkeeper heightens stress and increases the likelihood a penalty will be saved in a World Cup 2010 shoot-out
Ignoring the goalie minimises stress levels and allows the brain to process the best way to place the ball in a specific part of the goal, said psychologist Greg Wood at the University of Exter, who led the research into the psychology of penalty shoot-outs.
"When players are anxious, they're more likely to worry about the goalkeeper. There's a tight lock between where we look and where the shot or any actions tend to follow: because you're looking more centrally, you're more likely to hit a central location, making it easier for the goalkeeper to save it."
Psychologists already know that looking at something tends to shift your movements towards it. "If you're driving and looking to the right you tend to veer to the right," said Wood.
People are naturally conditioned to focus on anything in the environment that they find threatening, and during a penalty the only thing that threatens the success of the player is the goalkeeper. "Our findings suggest we should try to ignore the goalkeeper and focus on where we are kicking the ball," he said.
Goalkeepers, meanwhile, would do well to wave their arms or whatever else they can, within the rules, to distract penalty-takers if they want a better chance of keeping the ball from the net. In his research paper, due to be published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, Wood cites the example of Bruce Grobbelaar, who used the famous "spaghetti legs" technique to distract players and help Liverpool beat AS Roma in the 1984 European Cup final.
"If the goalkeeper can make himself more threatening, he is likely to capture the attention of the kicker even further," said Wood. In the 2005 European Cup final, Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek waved his arms so much during the penalty shoot-out that he managed to save three out of five of the shots.
In his experiments, Wood fitted 18 volunteers with eye-tracking equipment as they took a series of penalties. For some, the pressure for success was heightened by offering a cash prize for the most goals scored in the competition. On the other side, goalkeepers were asked either to remain stationary or to try and distract the kickers by waving their arms up and down.
Afterwards they were asked to rate their anxiety level.
When the penalty-takers were most anxious, they tended to focus more on the goalkeeper. The length of time their eyes were fixed on him also increased if the goalkeeper was using some sort of distraction technique such as waving or jumping around.
When the kickers were anxious, 45% of their shots were saved by the goalkeeper. When they were calmer, that save rate dropped to around 20%.
England have a terrible record in penalty shoot-outs, losing around 70% of the time, according to Wood. His tips for the England team in the coming weeks include staying as calm as possible in the buildup to a kick. "I'd try to get them to take a penalty as they do in their normal training environment. Under non-anxious conditions, you will score far more penalty kicks than when you're anxious."
Penalty-takers could take comfort from the fact that they are in charge, he added. "Realise that you're in control of the situation, the outcome is heavily in your favour. If you hit a shot to the top corner or the inside of the post, the goalkeeper's got little chance of saving it."
Focusing on the goalkeeper heightens stress and increases the likelihood a penalty will be saved in a World Cup 2010 shoot-out
Humans instinctively focus on anything they find threatening, but this can reduce the chances of success in a penalty. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images
Ignoring the goalie minimises stress levels and allows the brain to process the best way to place the ball in a specific part of the goal, said psychologist Greg Wood at the University of Exter, who led the research into the psychology of penalty shoot-outs.
"When players are anxious, they're more likely to worry about the goalkeeper. There's a tight lock between where we look and where the shot or any actions tend to follow: because you're looking more centrally, you're more likely to hit a central location, making it easier for the goalkeeper to save it."
Psychologists already know that looking at something tends to shift your movements towards it. "If you're driving and looking to the right you tend to veer to the right," said Wood.
People are naturally conditioned to focus on anything in the environment that they find threatening, and during a penalty the only thing that threatens the success of the player is the goalkeeper. "Our findings suggest we should try to ignore the goalkeeper and focus on where we are kicking the ball," he said.
Goalkeepers, meanwhile, would do well to wave their arms or whatever else they can, within the rules, to distract penalty-takers if they want a better chance of keeping the ball from the net. In his research paper, due to be published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, Wood cites the example of Bruce Grobbelaar, who used the famous "spaghetti legs" technique to distract players and help Liverpool beat AS Roma in the 1984 European Cup final.
"If the goalkeeper can make himself more threatening, he is likely to capture the attention of the kicker even further," said Wood. In the 2005 European Cup final, Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek waved his arms so much during the penalty shoot-out that he managed to save three out of five of the shots.
In his experiments, Wood fitted 18 volunteers with eye-tracking equipment as they took a series of penalties. For some, the pressure for success was heightened by offering a cash prize for the most goals scored in the competition. On the other side, goalkeepers were asked either to remain stationary or to try and distract the kickers by waving their arms up and down.
Afterwards they were asked to rate their anxiety level.
When the penalty-takers were most anxious, they tended to focus more on the goalkeeper. The length of time their eyes were fixed on him also increased if the goalkeeper was using some sort of distraction technique such as waving or jumping around.
When the kickers were anxious, 45% of their shots were saved by the goalkeeper. When they were calmer, that save rate dropped to around 20%.
England have a terrible record in penalty shoot-outs, losing around 70% of the time, according to Wood. His tips for the England team in the coming weeks include staying as calm as possible in the buildup to a kick. "I'd try to get them to take a penalty as they do in their normal training environment. Under non-anxious conditions, you will score far more penalty kicks than when you're anxious."
Penalty-takers could take comfort from the fact that they are in charge, he added. "Realise that you're in control of the situation, the outcome is heavily in your favour. If you hit a shot to the top corner or the inside of the post, the goalkeeper's got little chance of saving it."