Soccer Penalty Kick

(aka "Spot Kick"). A "penalty kick" or "PK", is a special type of direct free kick. When a player commits any of the 10 "Direct Free Kick Fouls" within his own Penalty Box, the other team is given a Penalty Kick. On a PK, a player from the fouled team (the coach can choose who, but it is nice to choose the player who was fouled) gets a free shot at goal from the "Penalty Mark" (which is 12 yards out for U-12 & older; less for U-8 & U-10) with only the goalkeeper to stop the shot. All other players must stay outside the Penalty Box & the Penalty Box Arc until it is kicked. The kick must go forward & once "in play" (i.e., once the ball moves) any player other than the kicker may then touch the ball. The goalkeeper must stay on the goal line until the ball is kicked, but he can move laterally along the line. The goalkeeper cannot take actions (such as waving his arms or yelling) to try to intentionally distract the kicker because that would be "unsporting", nor can the kicker start his run & then stop for the purpose of faking the Goalkeeper, for the same reason.

The player taking the penalty kick may not play the ball a second time until it has touched another player. (Interpretation: he MAY play the ball and attempt to score if the goalkeeper or another player has touched it, but not if just bounces back off the post or crossbar; the kicker must not touch it unless another player has touched it).

If, after the penalty kick has been taken the kicker touches the ball a second time (except with his hands, which is a direct free kick penalty) before it has touched another player, an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team, the kick to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred. However, if the kicker deliberately handles the ball before it has touched another player, a direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team, the kick to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred. (Go to www.fifa.com, "Regulations", for more details).

The Tips Below are from an email I got from Coach Tony who lives in Atlanta and is a great coach and a great guy. Some great ideas about what to tell your team before a soccer shootout. This was about a U19 team:

"We go to two 5 minute OTs and end scoreless again, but again my girls make no mistakes - 0 - 0 at the end of OT, on to the Shootout and my kids are sweating bullets. I tell them loo, I am so proud of how you played this game, if we ended it right now, I'd be happy. BUT, we have this little shootout to get through, so go out there and do like you have practiced. Don't overpower the ball. Think Placement before you think Power. Don't look at the Keeper, Don't look where you are going to shoot. Most of all, remember that Coach Tim and I are VERY proud of you and what you have done in this game, and we both love you all to pieces, so just go do your thing and do it like you have practiced a thousand times. They ask what did I want to do if we won the coin toss? I don't know about you , but I always like to score first and put the pressure on the other guy, so I tell them to "shoot if we win".