PDFE #3 "Movement Preparation"

I decided to attend the Berry Men's Soccer game versus Emmanuel College at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 18, 2010.  I have always wanted to experience a soccer game, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to attend one of the games.  I've always thought the game of soccer was quite different from a lot of the other varsity sports offered and am glad I had the opportunity to watch one of the games to understand more about the game. 



I observed a couple of examples that illustrate the idea of reaction time in skilled movements in the game of soccer.  When the ball is thrown back into play from the sidelines after the ball was kicked out, there is a slight delay in time before the players get ready to advance toward the soccer ball.  In order to position their bodies in the direction of where the ball is thrown, they must make a quick judgement of what direction the ball is moving toward.  This lag in time before the players actually start moving would be an example of reaction time.  Another example was when I observed the goalie attempting to defensively block the ball coming toward the goal.  The goalie must find exactly where the ball is coming from and move his or her body in line with the ball in order to block the ball and protect his goal.  That slight delay when the goalie must make that decision of where to move toward, would be called his reaction time. 



Soccer is an excellent example of Hick's Law, which illustrates the principle that the more unpredictable an event is, the slower the reaction time will be.  The game of soccer certainly consists of very unpredictable circumstances that require instantaneous judgments that will hopefully lead to an accurate reaction during the game.  The example is observed for Hick's Law was when the goalie moves in different directions when judging where the player will kick the ball.  The breakaway player tries to score a goal and the goalie must decide what direction this player will decide to kick the ball into the goal.  The goalie's reaction time will be delayed the more directions the player tries to aim the ball, thus increasing the options for where the goalie must block.



Psychological Refractory Period was interesting to observe among the soccer players.  An instance that fit this principle was when one player who attempts to fake or psych out another player.  The first player will try and aim and kick the ball one way and then change direction quickly.  The second player trying to steal the ball will have a delay in his reaction of trying to obtain the ball due to his second response requiring a different reaction of changing his direction. 



In order to distinguish between spatial and temporal anticipation, I tried to observe two or three separate situations.  To illustrate spatial anticipation I observed the space in between the players.  When one player does not accurately anticipate the direction that another player kicks the ball, they could potentially block the ball or kick the ball in the wrong direction.  As a result, the second player could start running in the wrong direction.  For temporal anticipation I observed a player kicking the ball with their head and another player trying to receive the ball with their head and does not accurately judge the time.  Therefore the second player could miss the ball.  A second example of temporal anticipation would be when a player does not judge the time accurately, kicks the ball too early, and ends up kicking under another player's foot instead of stealing the ball.