Soccer Shooting Exercises

In our last post on Instep Drive Shooting called "Soccer Coaching - Shooting Instep Drive", we walk you through body positioning, foot positioning and body movements to strike the soccer ball with the instep of the foot (shoe laces). Now I will go over some Soccer Instep Shooting Exercises that will give you ideas to practice the instep drive with your team.

1. Start by having the players dropkick the ball into the goal from various angles and distances. The dropkick will allow the young player to get a good feel for the proper striking spot on the foot (instep) and the ball (center of ball). The dropkick will also work on timing of kicks.

2. Next, have the players shoot stationary balls from the ground from various angles and distances. The stationary ball on the ground will help the players get the feel of proper distance from the ball as well as placement of kicking feet.

3. Now that the players have progressed from the first two shooting exercises, have the player roll the ball at an angle away from their body towards their kicking foot side to strike the instep drives. Have the players start with a slow rolling ball with a slow approach at first and as they get comfortable striking slow balls, have them roll the ball a bit quicker with a quicker approach to strike the ball.

4. Next, instead of the player rolling the ball to themselves, have the coach roll a slow pass to the players kicking side and have the player strike a ball that is rolling towards them. Having a good slow pace on the ball towards the players kicking foot will allow a fairly strong kick if the players timing and body movements are correct. Make sure ankle is locked and toe is pointed down.

5. Have the players shooting moving balls combined with short and long distance dribbling, begin slow and increase speed as the player gets comfortable.

6. Have the players shoot from passes received from a teammate. You can modify the angles, number of passes and shooting distance as needed.

7. Have the players shoot from combination pass from a teammate.

8. Have the players shoot from a cross from the outside of the field.

9. Shoot while under pressure from a defender on a 1v1 plus a keeper situation. Here is a good soccer drill that is fast pace and can be tweaked to work on 1v1 shooting game.

10. Shoot from the volley or half volley from different angles and distances. This can be accomplished easily as the coach tosses the ball from their hands to the players kicking foot. This is for more experienced soccer players.

11. Shooting volleys or half volleys from flighted balls or crosses.

Here are a couple good soccer shooting drills that I found on the web:
Power Fineness with a Twist
Trap and Shoot Game
Half-Volley for Shooting Technique and Power
The Corner Shot

Teaching Youth Soccer Players to Juggle a Soccer Ball

From my last post on juggling a soccer ball, I touched on why you should teach your youth soccer players to juggle a soccer ball, and in this post I will explain you the progression in teaching juggling.

One thing I have noticed in coaching youth soccer over the past 16 years is that juggling a soccer ball is not one of the kids funnest things to do. This is mainly because at the early years they are not coordinated enough to be successful. Due to the difficulty a 6 and 7 year old has when learning to juggle a soccer ball, they lose interest in practicing something they are not good at. As a youth soccer coach, it is up to you to dedicate 5-10 minutes of the players warm-up to juggling each soccer practice.

When teaching youth soccer players to juggle a soccer ball, have the players pair up with one player sitting down with their legs in front of them. The seated player should gently toss a ball to their own feet in attempt to juggle with their instep (shoe laces). The second player will be the ball chaser if the ball gets away from the player seated. After a couple minutes, have the players switch roles.

For players just learning to juggle, have the players juggle by dropping the soccer ball to their feet or thighs in attempt to play the ball back to their hands. After the player can successfully play the ball back to their hands, have the player attempt to juggle twice before playing the ball back to their hands. As the player becomes successful, increase the number of juggles before catching the ball.

Next, have the players normal by dropping the ball to their feet or thighs. This time, do not allow the players to catch the ball when they make a mistake. Instead, if the ball is not playable before hitting the ground, instruct the players to allow the soccer ball to bounce once before being played again.

As the next learning progression, have the players start the juggling by lifting the ball with their feet. At this point, the players hands should not be used at all as all the play should happen with their feet, thighs, chest, and head. Once the players are to this point in juggling, hold a competition that encourages players to juggle the soccer ball on their own time.

Always encourage players to juggle on their own time and make it a routine to bring juggling into every training session. The soccer juggling competitions always makes juggling fun and brings out some positive competition.

Coaching Youth Soccer - Free Kicks

When coaching youth soccer free kicks, it is essential that soccer coaches know the different types of free kicks. In soccer there are two types of free kicks: 1) a Direct Free Kick and 2) an Indirect Free Kick. As a youth soccer coach, it is important to know the difference in the two types of free kicks. When taking a direct kick, a goal can be scored directly with the first kick; however, an indirect kick can only be scored with a second touch by another player that touches the ball before it goes into the net.

It is important as a soccer coach to notice the referees signals which notify us whether the free kick is a direct or indirect free kick. If the referee only points in the direction of the infraction without raising his hand, this signals to the coach that the free kick is a direct free kick. However, if the referee signals the infraction with one hand raised above his head, this indicates the free kick is an indirect free kick and the referee will only lower his raised hand once the ball has been touched by a 2nd player on the field.

Both direct kicks and indirect free kicks are taken from the spot of the violation and opponents must be at least 10 yards away from the ball. Except for free kicks that are closer to the goal line than 10 yards and in this case they must be on the goal line. The ball must be placed stationary on the ground before the ball is played. If the foul occurs within the player's own penalty area, the ball must travel outside that area before it is in play.

Some types of free kicks include: free kicks from infractions on the field (watch for the referees signals to determine whether it is indirect or direct free kick), the penalty kick (direct free kick), the corner kick (direct free kick), and the goal kick (indirect free kick). There are various strategies to each of these kicks which will be discussed in later postings.

As a soccer coach, make sure you know whether your next free kick is an indirect or direct free kick. Check back for strategies and plays for various free kicks and set plays.