ABSTRACT
The precision of passes and shots on goal is soccer players' most important kicking skill. Therefore, to win a game, kicking accuracy is much more important than being able to achieve maximum ball velocities. Most soccer players probably do not believe that their shoes can help them to perform more accurate short and long passes as well as shots on goal. Pressure distribution instrumentation as well as the use of an electronic target is valuable tools to improve the accuracy characteristics of soccer shoes during the design process. Katharina Althoff et al. used the instrumentation to study the day-to-day reliability of accuracy measurements with 40 male subjects and three different shoe conditions. The impacting ball transferred electrostatic charge to the circular wires, allowing the detection of its distance from the target centre. Inside kicks are used for high precision short passes. However, inside kicks are not suited for high ball velocities.
