Optimum projection angle for attaining maximum distance in a soccer punt kick

Abstract

To produce the greatest horizontal distance in a punt kick the ball must be projected at an appropriate angle. Here, we investigated the optimum projection angle that maximises the distance attained in a punt kick by a soccer goalkeeper. Two male players performed many maximum-effort kicks using projection angles of between 10 degrees and 90 degrees. The kicks were recorded by a video camera at 100 Hz and a 2-D biomechanical analysis was conducted to obtain measures of the projection velocity, projection angle, projection height, ball spin rate, and foot velocity at impact. The player's optimum projection angle was calculated by substituting mathematical equations for the relationships between the projection variables into the equations for the aerodynamic flight of a soccer ball. The calculated optimum projection angles were in agreement with the player's preferred projection angles (40 degrees and 44 degrees). In projectile sports even a small dependence of projection velocity on projection angle is sufficient to produce a substantial shift in the optimum projection angle away from 45 degrees. In the punt kicks studied here, the optimum projection angle was close to 45 degrees because the projection velocity of the ball remained almost constant across all projection angles. This result is in contrast to throwing and jumping for maximum distance, where the projection velocity the athlete is able to achieve decreases substantially with increasing projection angle and so the optimum projection angle is well below 45 degrees.