Icing works…sort of

Wow, so it’s good if your team calls timeout...but NOT if the other team does? Freaky.

“The prevailing wisdom is that icing works because of negative thoughts regarding potentially missing the kick that overwhelm the kicker during the extended time period,” Goldschmied told us by email. “However, we found that an added time per se (e.g., if the time-out was requested by own coach) did not yield a deterioration in performance.

“Thus, an alternative proposition that I am advocating is that preparing for the kick is taxing by itself (when the kicker is iced – i.e., time-out is requested by the opposite coach – he prepares for the kick twice, thereby extending the preparation time). Other studies show that, in general, extending the preparation period results in worse performance.”