Goalkeeping Ability Comes Down To Your Fingers?

Able to leap tall defenders in a single bound? Check.  Super human cat-like reflexes to dive for, and save any ball with ease? Got that too. So how do you do it? "It’s all in my fingers"! Huh? A recent study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine has indicated that the difference in ratios between the index and ring finger of women athletes can dictate how athletically inclined some women may be. Now I’ve heard it all, but definitely food for thought. Here are some findings from the study:

"Researchers at St. Thomas’ Hospital say their study results suggest that a low second/fourth ratio is related to increased female sports ability.

The researchers base their findings on X-rays of the right and left hands of 607 female twins whose average age was 53.

The second/fourth finger ratio was calculated by dividing the length of the index — second — finger by that of the ring finger.

Study participants were also asked to rank their highest achievement in a wide range of individual and team sports since the age of 11. Participation levels were highest for swimming, cycling, tennis and running in descending order.

The researchers said that the second/fourth finger ratio is a predictor of potential sports ability, with men tending to have a lower ratio, according to the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine."

I don’t see how effective the above study could be, especially from a goalkeeping perspective. How valid can a study based on x-rays of middle aged twins’ fingers be? I believe that a good measure of goalkeeping ability based on the above study would be to gather groups of middle-aged goalkeepers and measure their ability through the level of their sporting achievements…doesn’t make sense does it? It’s funny what scientists do if they have a lot of time on their hands. I believe that a measure of goalkeeping ability is in how hard you train, and how much guts and determination you have to get to the best of your ability.

On the other side of the coin, the study could be pointing at an interesting trend in genetic potential that may have previously been unrecorded by scientists. The article certainly could be pointing to genetic permutations that are inherent in athletes as opposed to sedentary populations? Just like measuring an athletes somatotype to gauge genetic structure, maybe getting everyone to give sports scientists the finger, could help measure goalkeeping ability. Also, (and again no pun intended), it seems that girls can now give us guys the finger when it comes to genetic potential in soccer too!