Jan 18, 2022

Soccer is one of the world's most popular sports, with millions of players at every level from youth to professional. Mastering the game takes years of training and practice, with players of high skill levels earning opportunities to compete at the high school, college and professional levels. Improvement over the course of one week is difficult. However, you can make progress — particularly in fundamental areas that provide the framework for future success.

How To Get Better at Soccer In One Week

Run constantly for each of your first six training days. Alternate training for endurance -- which will take you through the course of 90 minutes of competition -- and short bursts of speed. Three days of running three miles or more, along with sprints on the other three days and a day of rest, should do it.

Control the soccer ball while running up and down the pitch. Known as dribbling, this skill set is very important if you are not to be a turnover machine. Become comfortable with the ball at your feet while moving up and down the field by practicing.

Increase your power by practicing your penalty kicks. Players who score frequently on penalty kicks can be an asset for any soccer program. Take 50 practice kicks each day, working on making contact with the ball on the inside of your foot and driving it toward your target.

Pass the soccer ball back and forth repeatedly with a partner, and learn to hit your partner in stride while running down the field. This is known as a through ball, and is crucial in creating scoring chances.

Chip the ball up in the air to your partner, learning to lob it high over defenders into tight spaces. This skill can be developed in a relatively short time and is essential to helping your game to the next level.

Study the fundamentals of team defense, like clearing the ball and marking your man, and incorporate those facets into your own game. This study — which you can do by watching soccer in person or on television, or on websites with many hours of soccer video such as footytube — will render you a "student of the game," a trait that all coaches seek in exceptional players.

Tips

Practicing with a partner -- or better yet, a team -- allows you to have fun and test your skills against other players with similar goals. Focus your practice sessions on the fundamentals to ensure maximum productivity.

Original post: https://www.sportsrec.com/fun-soccer-coaching-games-kids-6713759.html

Jan 18, 2022

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." --Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky may have been a hockey player, but his quote about scoring goals is true in any sport--including soccer. A lot of students in our EduKick soccer camps and boarding schools start out with hesitation to shoot. We teach them take advantage of every opportunity. If you never shoot, you'll never score.

Here are a few tips to help you make every shot count:

Soccer shooting tips:

•     Observe the goalkeeper's position. Have they left a gap that you can exploit?
•     Select the best technique for your shot. A sidefoot shot will have greater accuracy, but an instep (laces) with good follow-through will have greater power.
•     Put your non-kicking foot alongside the ball.
•     Keep your head down and your eyes on the ball when striking.
•     Keep your body over the ball.
•     Make contact with the middle to top half of the ball.
•     Maintain your composure.

Tips to improve your chance of scoring:

•     Shoot wide rather than high. There's a better chance of getting a deflection that will wrong-foot the goalkeeper.
•     Shoot low. It's harder for a keeper to reach shots along the ground because it's further for them to travel. It's easy for them to jump up and save, but much harder to crouch down and get it.
•     Shoot across the keeper. It's tougher for them to hold these shots, and means they could divert the ball back into the path of another attacker.

Where Are the Most Shots Made?

Ever wondered if there's actually a "sweet spot" in a soccer goal? A place where you could kick the ball and it would go in almost every time?

Well, there may not be a definitive "sweet spot," but a recent study did take a look at where scored goals most often went into the net. Here are the results:

•     Top Left: 8 percent
•     Top Center: 4 percent
•     Top Right: 5 percent

Ouch. As you can see, shooting high means you have a pretty low percentage of actually scoring.

•     Middle Left: 7 percent
•     Middle Center: 8 percent
•     Middle Right: 6 percent

While you have a better chance of scoring if you shoot to the middle than up high, the odds still aren't much in your favor.

•     Bottom Left: 22 percent
•     Bottom Center: 21 percent
•     Bottom Right: 19 percent

Look at these stats: 62 percent of all goals were scored low. This makes sense because it is very difficult for goalkeepers, especially tall ones, to get down to the ground. It's much easier and more natural for them to jump high.

Also, looking at the statistics, 67 percent of goals were scored in the corners versus 33 percent down the middle. If you combine the two statistics and shoot low into the corner, you should have a much greater success rate in scoring goals.

As with any soccer technique, you need to practice if you want to improve your shooting skills. Fortunately, the techniques used for shooting are similar to those used for passing. So you can build up two vital soccer techniques at the same time.

But most importantly: If you see the goal, shoot!

This one piece of advice is important enough to reiterate: You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. If you see an opportunity to shoot, take it! The only way these tips can help you is if you implement them, both in practice and in games. 

Original post: https://www.activekids.com/soccer/articles/7-tips-for-effective-soccer-shooting