Math concepts are the basis for almost all sports including professional
soccer. One of the best ways to teach a student certain forms of math
is to introduce them to a fantasy sports team. This way they will
be interested in the sport while they are learning various aspects
of math without even realizing it. Students will have to understand
the various lengths and widths of different regulation playing fields,
measured in meters. Then, letting l represent length and w represent
width, describe each of these dimensions using four different inequalities.
Even if kids are not big sports fans they will still get excited about
learning and practicing math. It is advantageous for parents and teachers
alike to use fantasy sports as part of their curriculum.
Students create fantasy teams by picking real-life professional soccer
players, and then follow their players' statistics and calculate their
teams' total points using algebraic or non algebraic methods specifically
designed to complement the math skills they're learning. The task
of a goalkeeper involves geometry. If an opposing player is approaching
the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper needs to know where to stand to have
the best chance at defending the score. Usually the goalkeeper will
try to be on the angle bisector of the lines from that player to the
goal posts.
If you look carefully at a soccer ball you might notice that it is
the intersection of two Platonic solids, the icosahedrons and the
dodecahedron. The dodecahedron has 12 five sided faces and the icosahedrons
has 20 six sided faces. At this point you begin to get into more advanced
mathematics for example when you learn that a cube has 6 faces, 12
edges, and 8 corners. These are all concepts about what numbers relate
to solids. There is also a lot of probability involved with soccer
too. Players need to figure out what the probability is of an opponent
scoring a goal based on the positioning of both the kicker and the
goalkeeper. There is a great degree of relying on numbers in the game
of soccer. Players must comprehend and understand the role played
by numbers, graphs, geometry, algebra, angles, area, surveys, and
chance data in the game of soccer; for example, how a goalie relies
on the properties of angles to know where to stand when defending
the goals, and on data analysis and probability to help him save a
penalty kick.
The largest portion of number involvement used in soccer is estimations.
However, speed and velocity can be considered, like how much force
a goalkeeper should exert to get the ball away, the angle of the shot
to determine the rebound, all these are demonstrated in soccer. The
curve can also be calculated using math, at a higher level, if need
be. Soccer is a great way to drill math facts in either a home or
school setting. Regardless of the way that the sport of soccer is
introduced to the students when it is brought in and includes the
various math procedures that are involved with the sport it is a very
beneficial learning tool. Soccer is also gender friendly as opposed
to football and hockey, for most. There are so many degrees of math
that are to be learned from soccer that it can be used for younger
students for low level math basics and then can advance as the students
age to the point of learning and understanding more advanced mathematical
procedures. Teaching students is always more effective when it involves
something fun and something that students enjoy. That is what is great
about soccer, it is a game that is enjoyed by both males and females
and also includes those of all ages.