"Snap-kicking" in elite Australian football: how foot preference and task difficulty highlight potential benefits from bilateral skill training. (4th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moore, Benjamin B.; O'Dwyer, Nicholas J.; Adams, Roger D.; Cobley, Stephen
• Is Part Of: International journal of performance analysis in sport. Volume 17:Number 1/2(2017)
• Page Start: 109
• Page End: 120
• Publication Date: 2017-03-04
• Subjects: Expertise -- motor skill -- laterality -- Australian football; Sports sciences -- Periodicals; Sports -- Physiological aspects -- Periodicals; 796.015
• DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2017.1304030
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2474-8668

Abstract

Abstract: "Snap-kicks" in Australian Football (AF) occur when players can potentially score but are facing away from the goal, necessitating a kick across the body or over the opposite shoulder. In games, situations arise for both right- and left-foot snaps, but players often strive to use their preferred rather than non-preferred foot. We consider whether such a strategy is optimal and in this study examine whether foot preference and task difficulty affect snap-accuracy. Accordingly, 27 elite AF players (19 "right-footers", 8 "left-footers") were tasked with executing snap-kicks at easy and more difficult (acute) angles using both feet. As expected, accuracy was greater with the preferred (76%) than the non-preferred foot (57%) and greater for easy (78%) than difficult kick angles (56%), however there were no accuracy differences due to player footedness. Surprisingly, given the relative difficulty, snap-kicks from the more difficult angle with the preferred foot could be made with a similar level of accuracy (67%) to kicks with the non-preferred foot from the easier angle (69%). Results suggest that using the non-preferred foot for snap-kicks at goal in appropriate situations during games could increase scoring affordances, and that training on the non-preferred foot may benefit individual and team performance.