subject: Coaching Soccer Drills: A Guide To Shooting Tactics [print this page] You may know this already that in coaching soccer drills, every other skill leads to one final aim, a shot at the goal. It is both a matter of skill and intuition to cultivate the art of shooting. But there is something more that is equally important and that is a persuasive attitude.
All the players must be involved in this but more importantly; it is up to the forward players to shoot the ball. When you are teaching soccer, give shooting top priority.
So many things may come out of a shoot. Shots can be positioned towards a goal. The goalkeeper might drop the ball exactly at the feet of your forward player. Directionless shots can become beautiful passes. Ground shots can get a timely rebound. You may even hit a goal through a straight shot.
At the time of soccer practice, the attacking players always try to make the most of every goal-scoring opportunity. They are accustomed to think only about scoring a goal when in the field. These attacking players are referred to as sniffers in England. It is so because they are always looking for scoring opportunities.
To them, every opportunity is the last one they will get and hence shoot ferociously. They are always present at the right time at the right place. Amazingly, they have the ability to be in the wrong place at the right time. Hence, in coaching soccer drills, you must instruct the players to hit the ball whenever they get a chance.
As a general rule, any kick that causes the ball to go towards the goal is considered as a shot. Yet, one technique that is most effective is driving the ball through the middle by use of the laces of the foot. To carry this out, the player should have his head over the ball, his toe should be extended, and his upper body should keep steady.
The players should be taught in coaching drills to shoot the ball low and wide of the goalie. At this point, low ground shots are favored over high shots. This is because goalies find it difficult to stop the ground shots as they have to stretch their hands relatively more.
While practicing with regulation sized goals, players get to score more by hitting the ball over and above the goalkeepers head. You need to discourage your players on this as this leads them to a habit of shooting high goals. This practice can be put to stop in coaching soccer drills by not allowing players to adult sized goals.
So now go teach you kids to become master shooters when it comes to scoring goals by checking the goalies position once before they are ready to shoot.
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