ABSTRACT
Kicking is the defining action of many football codes. To date, skill has been the most widely studied one from a biomechanical perspective and much practical advice exists on how to kick the ball to achieve better performance outcomes. Practically, there are several instructions for kicking the ball with power in which the importance of a good follow through has been stressed. Barfield suggested that one primary objective of the follow through is to keep the foot on touch with the ball as long as possible. To confirm the relationship between ball contact time and resultant ball velocity more precisely made an attempt to mimic the soccer ball impact under controlled conditions. The nature of the ball impact dynamics has produced a dilemma between what players try to do and phenomena actually happening on the foot during ball impact. Supportive evidence was obtained for 'kick through the ball' while contradictory results existed for 'push the ball as long as possible.'.
