The Effect of Kick Type on the Relationship between Kicking Leg Muscle Activation and Ball Velocity

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effects of different kick types on the relationship between kicking leg muscle activation and ball velocity. The muscle activation of selected knee extensor and flexor muscles of 10 amateur soccer players were measured using electromyography during the performance of six maximal soccer kick types. The highest ball velocity was achieved by the instep kick (96.2 km/hr(-1)), followed by the lofted kick, the inside curve kick, the outside kick, the outside curve kick, and finally the inside kick (81.3 km/hr(-1)). There were significant positive correlations between muscle activation and ball velocity for the vastus lateralis and lofted (0.765), inside curve (0.792) and instep kicks (0.788), and for the gastrocnemious with the outside kick (0.796). Non-significant correlations between muscle activation and ball velocity exhibited a trend such that they were positive for the vastus medialis and vastus lateralis but negative for the biceps femoris and gastrocnemious for inside-foot-dominated kicks, while this trend was reversed for outside-foot-dominated kicks. According to results, the noted trends can be explained by the change in muscle activation patterns required to orientate the foot for each type of kick; this has implications for players' training activities.