Kick impact characteristics of accurate Australian football drop punt kicking

Abstract

Accurate kicking is essential to team success in Australian football. It is not known how foot-ball impact characteristics influence kicking accuracy, nor is it known if variability in foot-ball impact characteristics is functional or dysfunctional to performance. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between foot-ball impact characteristics and kicking accuracy and determine if variability in foot-ball impact characteristics influenced performance variability. Ten players performed 30 drop punt kicks toward a target with an Australian football ball. Kicking accuracy (measured as the horizontal distance from the target in the perpendicular direction of the kick), initial ball flight characteristics, and foot-ball impact characteristics, including a novel method to calculate impact location on the ball, were measured. Variability was indicated using standard deviation of foot-ball impact and ball flight characteristics. Multiple linear regression analysis identified azimuth ball flight trajectory as the most important ball flight characteristic influencing kicking accuracy, not ball flight characteristics associated with ball curve. Intra-individual multiple linear regressions identified azimuth ball impact location and foot-ball angle were the two most important factors explaining variance in azimuth ball flight trajectory, the chosen performance measure. Variability existed between and within players. Reduced variability in azimuth ball flight trajectory, the chosen performance measure, was associated with reduced variability in foot-ball impact characteristics. This result indicated variability in foot-ball impact characteristics was dysfunctional for performance in the analysed task. Foot-ball impact characteristics and variability in foot-ball impact characteristics influences accuracy of Australian football drop punt kicking.

Keywords: Biomechanics of football; Dysfunctional variability; End-point variability; Football kicking accuracy; Functional variability.