Gabriela Moodaly-Salgado

I don't think anyone enjoys a penalty, but when the moment comes you need someone that's going to rise up to the challenge and be brave to take on the penalty.

As we all know, it's 50-50, anything can happen.

But preparing is practice, practicing after trainings, before trainings, so that game situations become more relaxed.

I remember taking one at the WAFCON, very nerve-wracking.

But once it hits the back of the net, the feeling's amazing.

So it's just keeping that moment, knowing when you take the next one, go back into that space, blocking out the noise.

And just you and that goalkeeper, anything can happen.

So there are a number of reasons why penalty shootouts create stress and anxiety for players.

I think first it's an extremely high pressure situation, often with millions of people watching and judging a single action.

So if a player has lower confidence in their ability and or sees the penalties as more of a lottery than a skill, that uncertainty tends to increase anxiety.

Now, that anxiety can show up in behaviours like rushing, almost wanting to get the moment over with.

And interestingly, research supports that players who take less than a second after the whistle score at around 60%, whereas those who take a bit more time increase that to roughly 80%.

Anxiety can also affect attention because under pressure, players are more likely to become distracted by the goalkeeper who might be moving and trying to disrupt them, which we see on TV all the time.

And when attention shifts like that, players...

are actually more likely to kick towards where they're looking.

So if the goalkeeper has their attention, players are much more likely to kick the ball and hit the goalkeeper, ultimately resulting in the goal being saved.

any team or any player that will prepare for the penalty shootout will have an advantage over a team or just a player that doesn't train for them directly.

So it does start with training for it physically and mentally as well.

And mentally could be done by developing a pre-performance routine.

They can be really powerful in supporting the athletes to feel under control