KINEMATIC STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE “DRAG FLICK” FIELD HOCKEY TECHNIQUE

Abstract

“Drag flick” is a modern technique of pushing in field hockey, developed and implemented in the game practice in the early 90s of the last century. The technique is designed for shooting, mainly in the execution of a penalty corner, where the efficiency (success rate) varies between 40-60%. In Bulgaria, these values range between 20-30%. PURPOSE The aim of our research is to reveal the phase structure of the “Drag Flick” (DF) technique during the execution of a penalty corner, as well as to provide a kinematic characterization of the main moments and phases of the movements of the body and the stick. The realization of the goal requires the solution of the following important tasks: biomechanical analysis of the DF technique and determining the key moments and phases of the movement of the body and the stick in space, considering the geometry of the boundary interphase positions. METHODS The subject of the study were a total of 10 hockey players – goal scorers and performers of penalty corners, considered to be top specialists in DF technique. In our research, we used the following methods: • Оbservation; • Video recording; • Video-computer analysis of technical actions; • Analysis of videograms and kinograms composed of the boundary positions between the different phases in the implementation of the DF. RESULTS: Our analyses have shown that the take-off speed of the ball is influenced to the greatest extent by the magnitude of the force impulse received during the joint movement of the stick and the ball in the executive phase. Second in importance is the path length of the stick and the ball, from the moment of contact to the moment of separation. CONCLUSIONS: The DF technique in the execution of a penalty corner goes through three phases: preparatory, executive, and final. The overall movement is realized by performing at least 6 steps – 2 or more accelerating ones, a rotary step, a back cross step, an executive step and finally – a support step on the right foot. The described 14 moments reflect the motor structure underlying the DF technique.

Keywords

• biomechanics
• field hockey
• drag flick
• penalty corner
• technique
• phase structure