DETERMINING IF THE LOCATION SOCCER BALLS ARE SHOT FROM EFFECT THE ACCURACY ON GOAL

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1 DETERMINING IF THE LOCATION SOCCER BALLS ARE SHOT FROM EFFECT THE ACCURACY ON GOAL Lyndon Wood Cary Academy ABSTRACT The purpose of the experiment was to test if the location a soccer ball is shot from on a soccer field affects the accuracy on goal. After gathering information and observations, it was hypothesized that the boys would have more luck scoring, the most goals would be scored from the center forward position and the least goals would be scored from the left back position. The experiment began by marking the locations each participant would be shooting from. The participants then one by one took 5 shots from each location. The averages of the shots for each gender were added together and averaged out. The hypothesis was proven correct for girls, in whom the most goals were scored from the center forward position (none were missed) and the left back position the most were missed (75%). The boys the center forward the most were scored, but they missed the most at the right back rather than the left back. The boys had better all-around averages then the girls. The girls had an all-around average of 70% while the boys had about 75%. INTRODUCTION The purpose of the experiment is to try to figure out if the coordinates a ball is shot from on a soccer field affects the accuracy on goal. There will be no keeper so the shooters have no obstacles to worry about. Last year, the experiment was conducted, but in a more compact area with less shooters and a smaller ball. The experiment is being expanded to figure if when expanded it keeps the same results or changes. Along with the change in size and numbers, data will be collected from not only soccer players, but

2 those who don t play soccer as well in order to create an experiment for people to be able to see results from people of their own skill level. It was noticed that the soccer ball that will be used has panels, like a normal soccer ball, but does not consist of the black and white pattern like the average ball. It is a yellow F50 ball. The circumference of the ball is 63 cm. It is a size four and is slightly battered from being kicked around. Each striker that will be kicking the ball will be wearing a different pair of either sneakers or cleats. All cleats are battered and worn down, so they are practically in the same shape. One pair of cleats is baseball cleats which are larger and go higher on the ankles. The cleats don t allow your ankle to bend as easily which may affect the shooter s shots. The field that the experiment is being conducted on slightly bumpy and has many mud spots throughout the grass. The length of the field is 83 m. The width is 47 m. The goal is 3 m high while 10 m across. Soccer started being played about 150 years ago. It was originally only played indoors in the winter. It was played at private schools, each of the rules varying between schools. With different rules at each school, some which included handling the ball, it made it difficult to play against different teams. So finally in 1843 the rules were finalized and called Cambridge Rules. They have been kept the same ever since. The soccer balls that were originally used consisted of animal skulls, stitched up cloth, pig or cow bladders, and on rare occasions human skulls and heads. Eventually, the ideas of human body parts for balls were ditched, and it was decided that the pig bladders would be covered with leather to give a more spherical shape. Soccer balls today are made of rubber then covered with leather. The game today was decided that no hands are allowed except for the keeper and throw-ins. The muscles used to move the ball are not only in the leg, but also in other parts of the body. The foot is used when contacted, where most of the height comes from. The height of the ball depends on where the foot and the ball have impact. On the bottom, the ball will go high. The middle, it will stay in the center, but give tons of power. On top, the ball with just go down and if hit incorrectly can break the ankle. Both knees are used for extension; they change through-out the kick. The right hip and left hip are also used

for extension. They control the final destination of the ball, or where it will end up. The cerebellum is located in the back of the brain. It makes it so that the body is able to remain balanced.

But not only does the cerebellum connect to the system, it also creates different paths for the movements making sure the locations are accurate and the movements are correct.

3 for extension. They control the final destination of the ball, or where it will end up. The cerebellum is located in the back of the brain. It makes it so that the body is able to remain balanced. It makes it so your body is able to maintain posture and equilibrium as well. The cerebellum is a control the muscle movement in your body by having its outputs connected to the motor system. But not only does the cerebellum connect to the system, it also creates different paths for the movements making sure the locations are accurate and the movements are correct. The cerebellum balances the body by sending neurons throughout the body to the correct locations. It controls the neurons and tells them to compensate shifts in body position or change the muscle that needs to be used. Figure 1: Classic Shooter Figure 2: Follow through of the shot After all data from observations and background research were collected, it was hypothesized for the experiment that when the ball is shot from the front, center of the field the most goals will be scored. It is thought that the least amount of goals will be scored from the top, left location will have the least amount of goals scored since it is tied for furthest away. Goals are easiest to score when the shooter is shooting with their center foot, and shooting from the top left location requires the center foot to be the left foot. Most shooters are not lefty's so it will make it difficult for them to shoot. It was also thought that the higher level the shooter the more success they will have when shooting. The shooters that don t play soccer as often as those that do will probably be at a disadvantage since they lack the coaching and training the classic players have.

4 MATERIALS & METHOD Materials: Size 4 Soccer Ball 4 Shooters 4 Pairs of Cleats/Sneakers Soccer Field Masking Tape Soccer Goal To begin the experiment, set masking tape X's 7 m away from each other on the soccer field. The center front X needs to be 10 m away from the goal. Make sure that the tape is held on to grass and won't come off. The shooters will put on their cleats or sneakers and go out onto the grass. All jackets need to be taken off so there is no drag when shooting. One by one, each striker will shoot the ball from each of the locations 5 times. Their data will be recorded and averaged out. The control of the experiment is the shooter who used to play challenge shooting from the center forward position. The independent variable is the different shooters striking the ball at different locations trying to score. The dependent variable is testing which location most goals are scored from when the balls are stationary. A safety concern that needs to be remembered is the participant could range from any skill level of shooting, so the person conducting results needs to make sure they are out of range of the ball so they don t get hit The second experiment is being conducted to try to find out how kicking a balloon is different from kicking a normal soccer ball. It is hypothesized from the results of the first experiment that the boys would have more luck when kicking the balloon then girls. The boys seem to have more control of the ball then the girls do, giving them more luck. The balloon though, may cause some different results since often it will turn around and come back a little distance. The balloon though lighter is more difficult to kick. It won't go as far of a distance. The control of this experiment is the girl shooter who kicked the

5 balloon since she is about an average soccer player. The independent variable is the boy kicking the balloon. The dependent variable is the average distance the balloon travels. The third and final experiment is being tested to try to find out the distance that an average person heads a ball at. It was hypothesized for this experiment is that the boys will have more luck heading the ball then the girls. Girls aren't normally as rough as boys. Therefore, the boys will probably put more power into it when heading. Two students, one male and one female, that were about average skill level for 6 th grade soccer players, were chosen to conduct this experiment. The experiment began by placing tape on the floor at the end of a long hallway. Have the person place their feet on the mark. Begin by tossing the ball to their head and move quickly out of the way. After the ball has completely stopped, place the tape on the final location. Take the ball back to the participant and have them kneel. Toss the ball to their head and let them hit it. Let the ball go as far as possible then record the data. Finally, make the participant lay on their stomach. After they hit it down, all results will be recorded and averaged. The control for this experiment is the boy heading the ball, for he is an average skill level player who can head the ball decently. The independent variable is the girl striking the ball, who is pretty good but doesn t really play soccer. The dependent variable is the distance the ball goes after being headed. For a safety concern, the participant needs to make sure they are heading the ball properly so they don t hit it unnaturally which can sometimes cause pain and/or headaches.

40% 20% 0% Center Forward Right Forward Left Forward Center Back

6 Percent Scored Figure 3: Prep for heading the ball Figure 4: Follow through of heading the ball RESULTS & DISCUSSION 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Center Forward Right Forward Left Forward Center Back Right Back Left Back Location Figure 4: Girls results from different locations

7 Perecnt Scored 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Center Forward Right Forward Left Forward Center Back Right Back Left Back Location Figure 5: Boys results from different locations The first experiment consisted of different strikers all shooting from the same location 5 times to see how many they can score. There were 4 shooters, 2 of each gender, all of which varied from never playing before to the highest you could be. The boy s results show that their results were scattered from 100% to only 50%. One of the shooters was a classic player who scored all of his shots except two. This tremendously affected the results, showing that he was a big impact on the result of the boys. The other boy had never played soccer before and isn t amazing at it. He can kick a ball, but had on baseball cleats giving him a disadvantage. He missed over 50% of his shots which lowered the results of the boys. With the goals scored by Boy 1, it made the results higher, but not by much. The boys only got 100% on the first location since it was the easiest location. It is right in front of the goal in the center and there was barely a distance. The results of this experiment were scattered, with no relationship, and no slope. For the girl s results, they had a clear disadvantage with none of the shooters being classic players. They re skill level consists of never playing soccer before (except for just for fun) and a retired challenge player. They results seemed to dip as time went by. It s hypothesized that the results dropped either because they got tired after a while or because the locations got increasingly more difficult giving them not as good results for further locations. The girls outfits were also might have changed the results since they are dressed nice then the boys. The boys were wearing t-shirts and shorts with their cleats while the girls had to wear nicer clothes such as J-Crew shirts and skinny jeans.

8 Distance Kicked (m) One also had their hair down which could have affected the results. The results of this experiment were decreasing, negative and inverse Girl Boy Striker Figure 6: Results from kicking the balloon When kicking the balloon, the boys and girls both kicked it reasonable distances. Kicking the balloon was more difficult than kicking a soccer ball since it is lighter and cannot travel as far of distances. Both participants kicked the ball very close locations. The boy got an average of His first kick was only 0.95 m, which hurt his results. He got a 2.65 m. His third kick he got around 3.5 m, which greatly improved his results. He originally had 3 trials, but whenever the ball touched the wall the experiment was reconducted. The girl had an average of 1.79 m, only.1 m difference from the boy s. The boy was a classic player who should have gotten better results. With a girl who plays just for fun following so closely behind, it shows the girl is good. It took her many tries to not hit anything, let alone kick the balloon. Her results came from three scattered shots. She was right footed and can kick a soccer ball but cannot get it in the air. She kicked two of the balloons very far, which figured to give her higher results. But her first kick she hit it and it went up and back down, keeping her from receiving any length on her kick. The results of this experiment were increasing and direct, while the slope was positive.

9 Average Distance (m) Average Distance (m) Standing Kneeling Laying Body Position Figure 7: Boy's results from heading the ball Standing Kneeling Laying Body Formation Figure 8: Girl's results from heading the ball For the third experiment, one boy and one girl were each chose to take place. They were instructed to head the ball standing, on their knees and lying on their stomach. The ball was tossed to them and they had to head it as far as possible. The boy s results were better than the girls, but only by a little bit. He had difficultly on his knees and his stomach. He got the same results from those positions. The standing

10 location which is most natural he got a very good score on, the highest of all locations for both participants. He does not play soccer but used to a while back ago. The girl had decent results considering she doesn t play soccer and never has. Her best results came from the kneeling locations with a little over 14 m. Her standing was surprisingly the worst. It didn t even reach 4 m, which is the lowest for both participants. Her lying was decent with a spot on 6 m. When heading the ball, she pogo sticked (jumped up and kept her body straight) instead of arching back and getting power. Both experiments did not have any relationship or have a slope. CONCLUSION The hypothesis for the experiment was proved to be correct in the fact that most goals were scored from the center in front of the goal. Boy and girls both, the most goals were scored from this location. None of the shots were missed here with a rounding total of 100%. The other hypothesis in how the least amount of goals would be scored from the back left locations. This hypothesis was shown to be true for the girls, but not the boys. The back left location for the girls was by far the least scored location with only 25% of the shots taken being scored. The boys on the other hand prove the hypothesis to be partially wrong since 80% of the shots were scored from this location. For the boys the back right had the least amount of goals scored. The only had 55% of their goals scored from this location. For the second experiment, the hypothesis was barely proven correct. The boy s average beat the girl s average by only 0.1.Though the hypothesis was proven correct, it was very surprising for these results to occur with the consideration of the girl never playing soccer before and the boy playing on the top level team for a year older then he really is. For the third experiment, the hypothesis was partially correct in the fact that both got far distances, but for the different body positions. The boy got the furthest distance on the standing position with good form and had good distance. His kneeling and laying did not do as well and stopped at the same location. The results show how the hypothesis was partially proven correct because all around the participants had about the same results.

11 It is thought the first experiment turned out this way because the boys were definitely more athletic than the girls. The girls were athletic but the boys were more. The boy that had never played soccer before is incredibly athletic, so that gave him an advantage. The girls were athletic but don t normally play soccer. The results for the girls seemed to have dropped as time went by. It is thought that this occurred because they either got bored of shooting after a while, wanted to go inside or they got cold and weren t able to focus. The boy s results were very scattered which created an uneven table keeping there to be any change in participation. The second experiment occurred the way it did because the boy knows how to kick the ball properly unlike the girl. He didn t give it all he had, so he had lower results than predicted. He is also a righty who kicked with his left foot, lowering his results. The girl got higher results then predicted. It is predicted that he had better results with kicking the balloon because she was forced to put more power on it, giving her an leading score. For the third experiment, the results were almost the exact same. The boy and girl both don t play soccer, giving them less of an advantage when heading. The boy had more luck when standing normal, he was tall so he was able to get more power into the hit with his height coming to his advantage. The girl was more successful when kneeling. She was able to fall forward when heading giving her the power needed to move the ball the distance required to raise her results. Furthermore, to improve upon the original experiment, possibly more participants could be selected to participate. Also, spray paint would be good to have available to mark the locations so the masking tape didn t move as easily. For another experiment to extend upon this one, the strikers could take six shots and be required to shoot three left foot and three right foot. Also, there could be a goalie present forcing the shooters to shoot either away from the keeper or hard enough so the keeper can t block it. For the second experiment, it might have improved it if the participants were both wearing the same type of clothes. It would have improved their movement and made the results more even. Also, the skill level should have been modified so they were at the same level. The experiment could be expanded on by having the participants kick balloons rapidity and seeing how the results stand. The third experiment could be

12 improved by having students be approximately the same height. The height disadvantage may have affected the girl s results in normal heading because she couldn t get as good of results and for the boy while kneeling because it was harder for him to get down. The experiment could be changed by having the participants jumping when heading the ball and turning and things relating to other body movements giving them a more difficult time, but the participants would also be people who have played soccer before. REFERENCES Britannica, Publishing. "The Britannica Guide to Soccer." New York: Gill, Harvey. The Usborne Completer Soccer School. London: Print. John Hopkins University,. "Anatomy of the Brain.".Baltimore, Minnesota. Web. 31 Jan McKay, Jenny. Science Behind Sports: Soccer. Detroit: Print. Robinson, Farrel. "The Study of How the Cerebellum Works.". Seattle, Washington. Web. 31 Jan Sports Injury Bulletin. Biomechanics of Soccer: The soccer-style kick - a slow-motion commentary on one of the most common sporting actions in the world." Web. 24 Jan 2013.

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