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« Addendum to 'Climate of Fear' | Main | That said... » Friday, April 6, 2007Penalty-kick mind gamesThe Association for Psychological Science announced this finding last month, but I hadn't seen a reference to it till now. For goalies in our audience, it's news you can use! Two academic psychologists, based in Hong Kong, have determined that, during penalty kicks, the goalie can influence which side of the net the kicker chooses to target -- without the kicker's realizing it. The trick is to set yourself up 6 to 10 centimeters to the left or right of the center point between the two goal posts. That will subconsciously prompt the kicker to favor the more open side of the net -- a bias the goalie can take advantage of. Goalies face tall odds in stopping a decent penalty kick no matter what they do. This study offers them a fighting chance for a few more stops per season -- at least until the soccer world in general learns about the Psychological Science article.  Posted by Christopher Shea at 01:17 PM
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