INCIDENCE OF THE CONTRALATERAL LEG PUSH FOR SIDE DIVES

Kinetics and full body kinematics were measured in ten elite goalkeepers diving to save high and low balls at both sides of the goal, aiming to investigate their starting position, linear and angular momentum, and legs’ contribution to end-performance. Some results showed that the contralateral leg contributed more than the ipsilateral leg to the Center of Mass velocity, both for the horizontal and for the vertical component. They advise coaches to highlight horizontal lateral skills and exercises (e.g. sideward push-off, sideward jumps), with emphasis on pushing-off with the contralateral leg, when training and assessing goalkeeper’s physical performance.

Two schematic diagrams of the experimental set-up (front and top view).

The resultant Ground Reaction Force (GRF) of each leg averaged over subjects and sides, in solid and dashed lines (refer to the figure legend), normalized over time from light to ball contact, and the standard error in shading. The time instants corresponding to maximum GRF for the contralateral and ipsilateral leg were highlighted.

Reference

Ibrahim, R.; I. Kingma, V.A de Boode, G.S. Faber & J.H. van Dieën. 2019. Kinematic and kinetic analysis of the goalkeeper’s diving save in football (Análisis cinemático y cinético del vuelo del portero en el fútbol). Journal of Sports Sciences Volume 37, – Issue 3, Pages 313-321