CHOKING IN SPORTS

Choking in Sports



Choking in Sports

Introduction

With the increased pressure on the field of sports today, it is important that the players realize that their performance is key to the team's situation and they should be able to make sure that they perform when their team needs it. this is how great players are made and this is how thety are regarded as legends of the game by the analysts and the experts. Theere is no doubt that the pressur in the field of sports is huge and the pressure of fans is very difficult to handle, but at the same time the players should make sure that they do their best and perform in the best possible manner. This paper will talk about the article “When Superstars Flop: Public Status and Choking Under Pressure in International Soccer Penalty Shootouts.”

Discussion

In football (soccer), penalty kicks play a pivotal and decisive role in the outcome of many important matches at both national and international level. In fact, of the 145 goals scored in the 2010 World Cup finals, 22% came from the penalty spot. This article evaluates the factors of superstars missing the penalty shootouts under pressure. It discusses the situations when a top-class footballer misses the crucial penalty shootout due to pressure and choking.

According to the author of the article, a penalty kick is either awarded for various infringements that take place within the 18 yard box or a penalty shootout is utilised at the end of regulation time to break the deadlock in tied games (Jordet, 2009, 126). It is a situation where only two protagonists are involved - the shooter verses the goalkeeper. The shooter is required to take a shot and attempt to score from a distance of 11 metres from the centre of a goal. The goal area measures 24ft wide by 8ft high, giving a total target area of approximately 192ft2 for the kicker to hit.

The fact is that in penalty shootouts, the most internationally recognized players (i.e., players who have won a prestigious individual award) score considerably fewer goals than players with lower status. The examples are many. Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, and Roberto Baggio were all fantastic players - who consistently delivered within the first 90 minutes - but got it wrong on that one shot in their careers when it was most important to get it right.

Performance Success in Penalty Kicks

A penalty kick is fundamentally an aiming skill requiring the shooter to shoot the ball past the goalkeeper, who stands centrally striving to prevent the player from scoring. It stands to reason that a ball placed further from the goalkeeper's reach stands a better chance of beating the goalkeeper, resulting in a successful shot.The author presented an analysis that 286 penalty kicks in an attempt to identify the optimal area of the goal that offers the highest probability of scoring and that the top performers do not perform the same as they expected to in such ...