Reading - Part 3

Good footballers must have something in their genes. Scientists have discovered a link between the length of a footballer's ring finger and their ability as a player. They compared the ring and index fingers of top players. Players whose ring fingers were longer compared to their index finger were more likely to be elite players. Some of the players found to have ring fingers are Bryan Robson, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddie, Sir Star Matthews and Gazza.

Fitness training is absolutely necessary for a first-rate footballer. Jogging up and down the stadium a few times is not enough. What footballers really need is a quick start. Footballers can get this start running very quickly by using a training method called "plyometrics". In the 1960s, athletes in the Soviet Union used plyometric exercises to improve their results in jumping. Step by step, the method has become important for many sports that include sprinting and jumping.

In the past, footballers used to have a big fried breakfast and a roast dinner before a football match. In the new era of professional football, the menu of modern players has been radically reformed. Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, is known for his scientific method of feeding the team. When he first came to the club in 1996, he at once changed the players' dinner menus. Sugar, red meat, chips, fried foods and dairy products were out. Vegetables, fish, chicken and plenty of water.

French diet specialists heavily criticized the pre-match diet of the England players in Euro '96. Their menu of tomato soup and spaghetti was said to be more likely to produce wind than a win. Potatoes, according to French scientists, make the best meal on the day of a game. They have glucides which give the player a lot of energy. They also include useful vitamins. According to one piece of research, a player should eat 200-300 grams of mashed potatoes, boiled for 20 minutes, exactly three hours before going to the game.

Physics can explain a football wonder: the banana kick. This happens when a ball suddenly changes its direction at the end of its flight. At a certain speed, the air flowing over a flying ball becomes "turbulent". This means that the air moves irregularly over the ball. As the ball slows down, the air becomes "smooth" again. This slowdown makes the ball turn dramatically, creating the wonderful "banana" kicks that the spectators like so much.

These days, footballs are made in a design based on the "Buckminster Ball". The American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller came up with the design when he was trying to find a way for constructing buildings using a minimum of materials. The ball is a series of geometrical figures, which can be fitted together to make a round body. The modern football is in fact a Buckminster Ball consisting of 32 pieces. When they are joined together and filled with air they make a perfect sphere.