Table 1
Criteria and categories of the observation instrument
| Criteria | Categories |
| Player behaviours | |
| Laterality | Hand the player uses to grip the stick: right-handed/left-handed. |
| Feints before hit | Possibility of player simulating a direct strike on goal: feint before hit/no feint before hit. |
| Continuity of movement | The player can execute stick and ball movements without stopping during the direct free hit: there is continuity/there is a pause and no continuity/pause and no continuity. |
| Technical skill of the player (TSP) | Technical action by the player to shoot at goal: hit/drag or stab/dribble. |
| Final direction of movement | Final direction by the ball to the player’s stick before it is struck from the taker’s standpoint in dribbling: from right to left/from left to right. |
| Finalisation zone of the action (ZFA1 and ZFA2) | ZFAF1= zone of the rink from which the ball it hit: Z1/Z2/Z3/Z4/Z5 and ZFAF2 = right zone/left zone/FD point (Figure 1). |
| Goalkeeper behaviours | |
| Initial position of the goalkeeper (PI) | Stance the goalkeeper takes before performing the technical skills: squat (SQ)/kneeling (KN)/half-screen (HS)/stretched out on the ground (SG)/other initial positions. |
| Technical skill of the goalkeeper (TSG) | Technical action employed by the goalkeeper: screen (SCR)/closing step (CS)/opening legs/arm movements (AM)/pulling the mitt from the stick (PMS)/other technical skills. |
| Final location of the goalkeeper | Location of the goalkeeper on the rink at the time of the hit: in the goalkeeper area/ the semicircle of the goalkeeper area/in front of the goalkeeper area (Figure 3). |
| Distance between goalkeeper and player | Separation between goalkeeper and player when the player hits the ball at goal: more than 1.5 metres/less than 1.5 metres. |
| Result of the action | Result of the hit: goal/no goal. |
