The image has been broadcast on TV and in YouTube clips millions of times around the world. David Beckham, the international superstar and the planet's most popular soccer player, lines up a free kick from 25 or 30 yards out and takes a moment to assess the wall of defenders lined up in front of him, as well as the position of the goalkeeper.

He takes a few steps backward, pauses for a tick and then bursts forward, swinging his right leg in a manner that delivers the ball in a rapid arc toward the goal, sending it darting at the last second under the crossbar and out of the reach of the keeper, who is rendered helpless by such a shot.

Similar scenes are repeated on soccer pitches all over the world, only the player lining up the free kick might be a high school soccer player or a gangly pre-teen with posters of Beckham all over his bedroom walls. Since the peak of the British megastar's popularity five years ago, players everywhere have been trying to "bend it like Beckham," and the phenomenon hasn't missed North County high schools.

Area players and coaches say that "bending" the ball like Beckham, Portuguese idol Cristiano Ronaldo or other international stars -- in layman's terms, imparting a spin on the ball to make it arc around defenders and make it difficult for a goalie to get his hands on -- is both an effective way to create scoring opportunities and a difficult skill to master.

"I think it's become something that teams work on and really practice now, because they recognize that it's advantageous," La Costa Canyon boys soccer coach David Cohen said. "It gives you a great chance to get a goal without all the effort of trying to make it happen. Lately I've noticed that players actually seem to be trying to draw penalties inside the box to set up free kicks."

Coaches tend to agree that bending the ball is something that generally comes into play mostly in the boys game at the high school level.

"I think boys watch a lot more soccer and try to emulate what they see," Torrey Pines girls coach Dennis Costello said. "Girls seem to focus more on power than accuracy."

While most boys teams have only one or two players who can effectively do it, coaches say there are a handful of standouts in North County for whom bending the ball is an effective and often-employed weapon. Among those are Johnny Espinoza and Zach Anderson at La Costa Canyon, Alex Henry and Zach Olow at Poway and Nick Ilich and Dule Stevanovich at Rancho Buena Vista.

Henry said it's one of the most enjoyable aspects of soccer for him, part of the artistry of what is commonly referred to as "the beautiful game." He's among North County's scoring leaders with seven goals and five assists, and said he has been working on bending the ball for as long as he can remember.

"It's a lot of fun to be able to get it around players and then have people ask you, 'How did you do that?,' " Henry said. "It requires a lot of individual imagination. You have to visualize what you want to do ahead of time. You can really be creative with the ball."

Goalkeepers are just as terrified of a bending ball as midfielders and forwards are confident having the weapon in their arsenal.

A field player can use the bender in various ways. He might bend a ball over a wall and then have it dart under the crossbar for a goal. Or he might send it sailing toward a group of teammates near the right post, only to have it make an abrupt left turn and set up another player for an easy header inside the far post.

A bending ball can wreak havoc with a keeper's ability to stop a shot on a corner kick as well. Some coaches will really test an opposing keeper's ability by sending in a left-footed kicker to take a corner from the left side of the field -- as that player bends the ball, it curves away from the end line, sometimes tricking the keeper into straying too far off his line to bat the ball away and leaving the goal wide open for an offensive player in the scrum to knock it in.

"You really can't tell what the ball is going to do," said Rancho Buena Vista's William Whiddon, one of North County's top keepers. "You just have to hope it's off target or comes right to you. Some bending shots are just unstoppable because they're so unpredictable."

Making matters worse for keepers everywhere, advances in soccer ball construction in recent years have made them lighter and less wind resistant, allowing for more dramatic movement.

It seems safe to say that the phenomenon of "bending it like Beckham" is here to stay.

"It is something that has become much more effective since David Beckham has become so famous," Cohen said. "They're all trying it."