How would you react to the fact that one thing that young players find truly hard is to use a straight leg to kick the ball? Both coach and the kids feel that this is by far the greatest trouble in way of coaching soccer drills. The player is required to maintain absolute balance and the leg with which ball is to be kicked at is bent at the knee. Both posture and strength to kick the ball comes out from below the knee.
In soccer practice, this is the opening pose for just about all types of kicks. The speeding up of the foot from below the knee generates a great impact on the ball. This offers great amount of power to players for carrying out different types of kicks. Yet, it is the kind of contact of the ball with the foot that decides what type of kick would originate.
For example; it could be thumped very high, driven low, turn sharply to the left, or move to the right.
There are three vital passes in soccer i.e. a side foot pass, the outside of the foot pass, and the instep drive. Let’s discuss them further.
The side foot pass: In teaching soccer, the simplest and the most commonly used pass is this. This is by and large applied to make short distance passes. While this pass can be easily predicted and is a little slow, it is extremely simple to learn and easy to carry out. The contact with the ball is made on the inside of the ankle and the foot with the foot turned outwards.
In coaching soccer drills, the players should be trained to keep their bodies relaxed all through the action. This is by far the most critical rule applicable to all types of kicking actions. The ankle and the foot should be stiffened only at the time of contact with the ball.
After the players are confident in it’s execution, their action should appear comfortable, smooth, and natural.
Outside of the foot pass: Al though a little tricky to learn, this pass needs to be taught to the kids correctly as it’s quick, unpredictable, and accurate. The ball gets into contact between the outside edge of the foot and the laces with the foot turned inward and extended. By using the foot, the pass is converted into a quick toss for short distances.
In the course of these coaching drills, players should keep their stance relaxed.
The Instep Drive: Both the versions of the instep drive namely, lofted version and the low driven version are applied to pass the ball to longer distances. After the players have learnt it, variations can be brought in to make a “chip pass” or an “in swinging pass”. Because the approach of the instep drive is angled to some extent, the non kicking foot is positioned about 12 inches toward the side of and behind the ball.
Here, the ball gets into contact in between the inside of the foot and the laces which is extended and very firm.
So now coach your kids the various techniques of kicking the ball and with variations to let them do different things with the ball.
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Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Training Drills.
Tags: coaching drills, coaching soccer drills, Soccer practice, teaching soccer