Teaching soccer ball skills is not an easy cake, but by using the following tips and techniques, you can take much pain out of the proceedings. But, while you use these techniques in your training session, you must show patience because players may take time to improve their overall game skills.
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Getting Control of the Ball
It is important for a coach to teach the players about how to get and keep control of the ball. For example, when they shoot or kick a ball, they should keep their head down if they want the ball to stay down. Likewise, in order to kick the ball high in the air, they should do so by leaning back and getting under the ball.
Here, it is important to note that the ball may go straight up the players do not keep their knee over the ball. To let the ball fly high in the air, the players must keep their knee over the ball while leaning back and getting under the ball.
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Teaching Accurate Shooting
In a soccer game, the team that knows how to shoot on target accurately wins. Therefore, teaching your players to shoot the ball with accuracy is very important. One simple way to improve the accuracy in shooting the ball is to give your players a margin of error between two cones.
You can start with as much as four-meter distance between the cones. Then, as you find improvement in the player’s shooting, you should slowly reduce this distance until it is zero and there is no cone. This is a very effective way to enhance your players’ focus to the shooting of the ball.
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Teaching the Free-Kicks
Your players must know how to make long free kicks. In this training session, you have to have the players of your team practicing the free kicks. But, while the players are attempting the long free kicks, make sure that you instruct the players to keep their non-kicking foot alongside the ball and pointing in the direction you want the ball to go. Instruct the players to slightly lean back and swing their kicking foot back and forth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of soccer ball skills. His web site, Coaching Youth Soccer Training Drills: www.SoccerDrillsTips.com, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles,
resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.