Introduction to Kicking

The mature form of the kicking skill has been characterized by an approach to the ball of one or more strides with the final stride being that of a jump, step or lunge. The placement of the supporting foot is at the side, and slightly behind the stationary ball. The kicking leg is first taken backwards and the leg flexes at the knee (called leg cocking). The motion of the swing leg initiates an action-reaction of the opposite arm (Newton’s third law of motion: if a body exerts a force on another, there is an equal and opposite force, called a reaction on the first body by the second). Forward motion is initiated by rotating the pelvis around the vertical axis (the supporting leg) and by bringing the thigh of the kicking leg forwards while the knee continues to extend. Once this initial action has taken place, the thigh begins to decelerate until it is essentially motionless at ball contact and the action-reaction causes the opposite arm to the kicking leg to reverse their rotations around its vertical axis. During this deceleration, the shank vigorously extends about the knee to almost full extension at ball contact the leg remains straight through ball contact and begins to extend during the long follow-through. The foot often reaches above the level of the hip during the follow-through and a final jump or hop can be seen when conservation of momentum continues past its point of impact.