Bend It Like Beckham

Whether or not you’re a fan of soccer, you’ve probably heard the name David Beckham before. As a famous soccer player who has done some modeling, is married to Victoria Beckham who is known for being one of the Spice Girls and owning her own fashion line, and is a philanthropist, it’s a little hard to avoid hearing his name.

David Beckham has played for various soccer teams both in Europe and the United States. The more prominent teams include Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain, and England. Any google search of top soccer players over the ages will feature David Beckham somewhere on them. Beckham is a renowned soccer player, but one of the most prominent things people remember about him is his ability to curve the ball during a free kick.  

            The phrase “bend it like Beckham” refers to the technique Beckham uses when taking free kicks. Before him, players used techniques like the “knuckleball”, “which prompts the ball to deviate unpredictably in the air and leaves goalkeepers guessing where it will end up”, or the “dead leaf”, which was seen as the act “of curling the ball, presumably like a leaf picked up by a gust of wind.” Beckham studied and altered these techniques, resulting in him stumbling “upon something new. His dead-ball technique marries the curled placement of Zico and Platini with the "dead leaf" dip of Didi and Meazza. What you get is a fizzing missile, struck at almost a right angle with Beckham's foot exerting side- and topspin at the same time.” This new technique altered the way players took free kicks. The new technique consisted of Beckham aligning himself at a 45-degree angle to the ball. As he bends backwards slightly to lift the ball off the ground, he strikes the ball with the side of his big toe, causing the ball to roll across his foot and adding extra spin to the ball so it dips and bends towards the goal. By doing this, the goal keeper and the defenders could not predict where the ball would end up, usually resulting in a successful goal for the Englishman.

                                                                                   

  How did this new technique come about? Lots and lots of practice. David Beckham’s manager while with Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, said that David Beckham “practiced with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn’t care about” and even though he was very talented, the hard work is what made him great: “David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practices with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn’t contemplate.” For the most part, he was intrinsically motivated, indirectly resulting in creating and perfecting his new technique. When asked in numerous interviews how he wants to be remembered or what motivated him, Beckham has said, “I just want people to see me as a hardworking footballer, someone that’s passionate about the game, someone that – every time I stepped on the pitch – I’ve given everything that I have, because that’s how I feel” or that he personally measures success by whether or not he had “had a good time, had fun, had reached the goals that I wanted to reach that I had when I was eight, nine-years-old.” He would practice nonstop because he wanted to become better and fulfill his childhood goals. When David Beckham was asked what his main motivation was for playing soccer, he said it “remains performing well on the pitch, rather than looking after his personal ‘brand’.” There are some extrinsic motivators in his life, but for the most part Beckham created his new technique through intrinsic motivation.

            Overall, I think David Beckham would fall in the Pro-C category. He created a new free kick technique, but he combined and adapted old ones to make his own even better. He was not the first person to make the ball drastically drop at the last second when kicked and he will not be the last person to perfect the technique. His intrinsic motivation helped him to continuously work on his skills and eventually led to the new form. This is why he is only a Pro-C instead of a Big-C creative.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1584379-pele-to-zico-to-beckham-to-ronaldo-evolution-of-the-free-kick-masters
https://www.sportsrec.com/460113-david-beckhams-freekick-technique.html
https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/football/15616558
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/david-beckham-reveals-secret-of-his-success-i-stayed-in-to-watch-match-of-the-day-rather-than-go-out-10224905.html
david beckham free kick