International Journal of Sport Psychology

experience and specific expertise. Thus, there was a difference in saccade
rate between goalkeepers and field players during drag flicks, but not during
the push or slap actions. Rendell and Morgan (2005) interpreted this finding
as further evidence for the suggestion that the development of expertise is
rather task-specific.
Williams, Ward and Chapman (2002) examined the influence of a videobased
perceptual training program in 24 female hockey players using a
typical pre-post-test design. The experimental group trained with video
sequences of penalty flicks while neither the control nor the placebo group
received this special training. Results revealed that the goalkeepers who
underwent the perceptual training reduced their response times significantly,
while maintaining the same accuracy level as in the pre-test. Furthermore,
Williams and colleagues included a transfer test from the laboratory to the
field. Results showed that the perceptual training group also reduced their
response time in the field setting. Thus, Williams et al. (2002) provided
evidence that perceptual skills trained with a video-based perceptual training
program transfer to the field setting.
Panchuk and Vickers (2006) examined gaze and motor behaviour of
expert goalkeepers when asked to react to wrist shots taken from 5 m and 10
m on ice. They showed that the ability to save the puck depended on the
location, onset and duration of the final fixation prior to the saving action,
referred to as the quiet eye period. Best performances where achieved when
the quiet eye was directed to the puck and stick area or to the ice in front of
the puck. Yet, the body of the shooter was rarely focussed during the quiet
eye period.
To the best of our knowledge, and despite its importance, no researchers
have looked into penalty corners in field-hockey. Additionally, in most research
on penalty situations in other sports, investigators have tended to compare
skilled with less skilled goalkeepers. However, even at high levels of performance
some goalkeepers perform significantly better than others in penalty situations
(e.g., Savelsbergh et al., 2005; Van der Kamp, 2001). Do these performance
differences relate to different visual information pick-up strategies?
In order to pick up the most useful information and to stop a penalty
corner, goalkeepers may use two different strategies. One strategy could be
to first focus on the pusher and then follow the ball to the centre of the circle
where the stopper and drag flicker prepare to shoot the ball at the goal. This
is referred to as the ‘keep the eye on the ball’ strategy (Croft, Button, &
Dicks, 2009; Savelsbergh & Davids, 2002; Whiting, 1969). Alternatively,
goalkeepers may directly focus on the centre of the circle to monitor the
behaviours of the stopper and the drag flicker. Following the ‘keep the eye on
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