Abstract

The penalty corner is one of the most important game situations in field hockey. Women use the drag flick less than men. The objectives of this paper were to describe the kinematic parameters of the drag flick in specialist players and discover the variables determining the performance of this technical strike by hockey players. We analysed fifteen flicks by five players using 6 VICON automatic capture system cameras recording at 250 Hz. To compare means we used nonparametric one-way Kruskal Wallis analysis (subject). Those parameters in which significant differences were found were compared in pairs using a Mann Whitney U test. Players 1 (22.5 ± .9 m/s) and 3 (22.6 ± 0.7 m/s) recorded higher ball speeds from the stick (p < 0.001) than all the other players (19.1 ± 0.7 m/s player 2; 20.5 ± 0.4 m/s player 4 and 19.9 ± 0.4 m/s player 5). Player 1 bases their final acceleration on a long double support, with a sequence of speeds and distance travelled as extensive as possible. However, player 3 bases their speed on the prior swing and on a sequence of explosive movements. The individual characteristics of each player play an important role in the choice of technical strategy when flicking the ball.