Mirror Football : 9/11/11 by James Nursey
Meet the man who insists he can finally end England’s penalty shoot-out agony. Dr Paul Hurrion is a sports biomechanics expert who advises golf superstars Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington. And now UK-based Hurrion has turned his attentions and hi-tech wizardary to football.
Hurrion, 39, has pioneered cameras and computer software to track a football’s speed, launch angle and spin at dead-ball situations. The sports-mad boffin has successfully tested his programme on none other than Cristiano Ronaldo – the world’s most expensive player. Hurrion is now preparing to licence his system to Premier League clubs and the FA after getting a thumbs up from £80million Real Madrid galatico Ronaldo.
With Hurrion’s help, players and coaches will be able to work out optimum deliveries for corners, free-kicks and penalties to improve consistency and accuracy. And it is hoped an end is now within tantalising reach for England’s penalty shoot-out woes ahead of Euro 2012 next summer.
Hurrion explained: “It has always frustrated me seeing a corner never clear the front man or a penalty missed due to a poor strike or contact with the ball. “If you strike a penalty with enough speed, spin and with the correct launch angle, even if a goalkeeper knew where it was going, he couldn’t get to it in time. “Granted, there is the pressure that goes with taking a penalty – that is the psychology.
“But wouldn’t it be nice in training to know your optimum stats and by knowing what you have to do, it certainly makes it easier to repeat without any hassle. “Given the physical condition of footballers, if they are not hitting the ball at 28-32 meters per second or 65-75 plus miles per hour, the quality of the strike can’t have been correct. “And with just a five degrees launch angle, the ball will go into the top corner from a penalty. “With the amount of other dead-ball situations it could also make a big difference all over the pitch. “When players hit the ball now, they kind of know if it’s good but they don’t really know for sure. If you could quantify it, it would undoubtedly help”.
“For example, I would ask a player to take 10 penalties, the software would give you the average speed and analyse from the kicks, how consistent is the player? “You could could tell who hits them quick enough, and who doesn’t and go right through from England internationals to an academy players.”
But Hurrion has started at the top by getting a certain Ronaldo to test the equipment recently in Madrid. And the Portuguese ace’s performances have already set an early benchmark for free-kicks after studying his stats.
Hurrion added: “Ronaldo could see the differences in speed and spin between strikes. “Eventually he hit the shot and was able to call out some figures and they got pretty damn close to the actual recording. “His dipping shot he calls the ‘knuckleball’ because it comes out with very low spin values which is very difficult to stop due to the ball dipping and swerving. “We got some very good data from him, he liked it and asked to be kept updated as and when we are fully operational.” Now Hurrion is close to finalising the figures to prove what is an ideal penalty, free-kick, corner and even goal-kick.
He hopes it will end future nightmares and embarrassments for the likes of Chris Waddle, Gareth Southgate, David Batty, Darius Vassell and Jamie Carragher who fluffed crucial spot-kicks for England in respective exits at Italia 90, Euro 96, France 98, Euro 2004 and Germany 2006.
Hurrion, whose company is called Quintic and work in golf, athletics, rugby and cricket, said: “We always thought we could have an application for football. “There is some quite complex maths involved to work out the figures. “It is developed to a level where people are testing the software such as Manchester City academy.
“Along with Chichester University, they are helping define the coach friendliness of how it works and coming up with figures of what is acceptable at various levels and age groups.”
And the good news is Hurrion is in no rush to market his product in Germany. “That would have to be a commercial decision,” he added. “Perhaps we could add on a few zeros for them!”
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/EXCLUSIVE-Sports-biomechanics-expert-Dr-Paul-Hurrion-claims-he-can-cure-England-s-penalty-shoot-out-curse-in-time-for-Euro-2012-article828595.html