Kick (association football)

A kick is a skill in association football in which a player strikes the ball with their foot. Association football, more commonly referred to as football and also known as soccer, is a sport played world-wide, with up to 265 million people around the world participating on a yearly basis.^[1] Kicking is one of the most difficult skills to acquire in football. This skill is also vitally important, as kicking is the way in which passes are made and the primary means by which goals are scored.^[2]

It has been observed that the time in which kicking skill develops most rapidly in the young football player is between the ages of 4 and 6 years old, with a consistent progression in ability up to the age of ten.^[3] This indicates that early participation in football can have long-term implications for the future ability level of the association football player.^[3] Greater accuracy and ability is seen in elite football players, likely due to the decreased mechanical variability in their form,^[3] highlighting the importance of practice in order to increase consistency in executing proper form. A kick becomes illegal when a player physically makes contact with the opponent in a dangerous way. If there is no illegal contact made, no matter how close it is it is completely legal.