KINETIC COMPARISON OF INSTEP SOCCER KICK BETWEEN PREFERRED AND NON-PREFERRED LEG IN HIGHLY SKILLED PLAYRES

Abstract

The kinetic differences of soccer instep kicking between the preferred and non-preferred leg were examined. The kicking motions of both legs were captured for five highly skilled players using a three-dimensional cinematographic technique at 200 Hz. The moments due to muscle force and segmental interactions were computed. Significantly greater ball velocity and shank angular velocity were achieved in the preferred leg. The preferred leg showed a significantly greater muscle moment than that of the non-preferred leg. No marked differences were found for the interactive moment between both legs. The results indicate that the highly skilled soccer players were able to produce a well coordinated inter-segmental motion not only for the preferred leg but also for the non-preferred leg. The faster leg swing observed for the preferred leg was most likely a result of the larger muscle moment.