MATHEMATICS

School Bases Assessment

Which position is the best place to take a penalty shot?

Candidate Name: Joel Forbes – 100580234

Jahvaughn Coley – 100580200

Timera Foster – 100580242

Shaquanie Brown – 100590170

Kimesha Whyte – 100580404

School: Kingston Technical High School

Territory: Jamaica

Teacher: Mr. Bell

Year: 2021
Table of Contents
Project Title.....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Objective.......................................................................................................................................3-4
Method of Data Collection..............................................................................................................5
Presentation of Data.....................................................................................................................6-8
Analysis of Data...............................................................................................................................9
Discussion of Findings....................................................................................................................10
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................11
 Project Title

Which position is the best place to take a penalty shot?

1
 Introduction

In the game of Football, whenever a player commits an offense of the opposing team inside their
18 yards box of the field, the referee would call a penalty kick. This is a method of restarting the
play in football, in which the offended player is allowed a penalty shot towards the goal with
only the opposing team’s goalkeeper. The penalty is taken from the penalty mark, 12 yards from
the goal line. The purpose of this project is to determine which position is most suitable for
scoring a penalty.

2
 Objective
The main objective of this research is to conduct a research to find where on the field is the best
place to kick a penalty. As a result, an experiment was carried out to determine the best position
to take a penalty shot. Data was collected and then placed in a table from which the illustration
was made by use of graphical representation. From our analysis we were able to obtain our
findings from these findings we were able to make a conclusion.

2nd left to center

1st left to center 12 yards centered

3
 Image showing labeled Football field below

1st left to 12
2nd left to center center
yards center 2nd left to center
2nd left to center

Figure 1 Positions

4
Method of Data Collection

Amongst all participants, we came to an agreement that observation, tables and graphs would be
most suitable to conduct the experiment. After planning, all participants later met up at a
particular location and we decided to carry out the penalty activity. In the process of data
collection, we used both our visual skills including our notes books to record the number of goals
scored with the angle degrees of which the penalty was taken. All participants at the location had
got a chance to kick from a specific degree to see which position the best place is to take a
penalty shot.

5
 Presentation of Data

Data collected is presented below

Figure 1 Positions from the goal and the degree for each

Total number of shots taken

Participants 1st Left 2nd 12 1st 2nd Total Number

Joel Forbes 180% 3 0

Timera 90% 3 2
Foster

Shaqaunie 45% 3 3
Brown

Kimesha 45% 3 1
White

Jahvaughn 90% 3 1
Coley

Figure 2 showing the degrees for the different spots used in taking a penalty

6
 Graphs showing the various degrees of
which the penalties are taken from
200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
tre tre re tre tre
en en ent en en
e c e c C e c e c
th th th th
to to tt
o
tt
o
left tl
eft
ri gh
ri gh
d s t
2n 1 1s 2n
d

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 4 Series 5

7
Figure 3 showing the number of shots that were taken, scored, and missed from each
penalty degrees.

Chart showing the number of shots that were

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
re re re re re
ent ent ent ent ent
eC eC C e C e C
th th th th
to to tt
o
tt
o
ft eft gi h gi h
Le tL
2n
d 1 s tR d
R
1s 2n

Shots Taken Shots Missed Shots Scored

8
 Analysis of Data

Figure 1

The table above shows the Positions from the goal and the degree for each position. Five
participants were each assigned one position taking a total of three shots. Figure 1 also shows
you how many shots were scored and how many shots were missed in the penalty arc of those
three shots.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the comparison between the five positions that were assigned using degrees.

Figure 3

Figure 3 showing how many shots were taken, scored and missed for each position in a graph
format.

The figure shows the results of the activities that took place. The observers each got three shots
at the goal at different positions on the field. Comparison can be made by the students who
volunteered to kick the penalty. The number of shots recorded including the number of shots
scored out of three, shots taken as well as the number of shots missed. The positions the
observers used to shoot the penalty shots were 1st Left to the Center, 2nd Left to the Center, 12
yards Centered, 1st Right to the Center and 2nd Right to the Center.

The purpose of the figures was to show which position was best to score a penalty. It can be seen
by comparison that the best position to score a penalty is at the center from the goal withholding
the most number of goals scored with 12 yards centered resulting with the 2nd right centered with
the least amount scored.

9
 Discussion of Findings
The most favorable positions to score a penalty are 1st left to the center and 1st Right to the
Center. Reason being those positions have a small angle to shoot compare to the others. They can
either kick to the left or to the right depending on which position you’re at and the keeper can
easily predict and catch the ball. The Center position on the other hand has an 180 degrees angle
to score. It is least likely to miss out of all the positions. Kicking from the center is more
convenient because the keeper will also find it hard to predict which side you will shoot the ball.
From these positions, we have reviewed that the center of the 18 yard box is the most suitable
place to score a penalty.

10
 Conclusion

The aim of this SBA was to test which position which position is the best place to take a penalty
shot? Based on the results it is safe to say that the center position in the 18 yard box is the best
place to take a penalty. This is so because of the wide angle available to kick the ball. Shooting
from any other position will give you a lesser chance of actually scoring.

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