Tactical Series for the Player
If you’re a parent then read this to your son/daughter. We need to find out where your child’s game is at. If you’re a player reading this, bravo! Keep reading and be sure to check out the first four self assessment questions on first touch, defending, 1v1 skills, and dribbling. Now, how do you rate your shooting?
Tactical Series will present you with a question (20 total) and you have to honestly grade yourself 1-10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). Check back daily to see your past and next assessment question.
5. SHOOTING
Help from the sideline: How well do you strike the ball? How often do you shoot the ball into the area you aimed for? How much power do you have in your shot?
I am guilty as the next person when I say that I’ve made an absolute mess of a prime shooting opportunity that should have been a goal. Not once, not twice, not three times, but countless times. It happens so don’t stop shooting.
Placement vs Power
High level players more times than not know what type of shot to take. Placement or power? What separates them is that they are skilled in both. Both shot types take excellent technique.
When we are looking for placement we use the inside of our foot and for power we use our laces. That’s fairly elementary, right?
I’ve scored a lot of goals and have used placement and power inside and around the box. I haven’t always followed the rules. It always depended on the situation. The common theme though was I knew where I was aiming. I’ve curled in a beauty to the far post and also hammered it as hard as I could from six yards out.
Who reading this has an absolute cannon of a shot? I had good power, but I’ve seen some players with howitzer’s. Shot’s you don’t want to get in front of. If you do have the power, line up a shot from outside the box and have a hit.
Find the “Shooting Window”
Soccer is fast paced and you barely have time to think. Scoring goals is supposed to be hard! When you have just the slightest of shooting windows, you have to SHOOT. You don’t have to keep dribbling until you are all alone.
Coaches love players that are ruthless and clinical in front of goal. Find the shooting window and bury it.
Shooting Fun Fact
A great way to find a better shooting touch with your laces is to juggle. You’ll learn what part of the laces you need to hit for the ball to pop back up for the next touch. Show me a player that can juggle with their laces and I’ll show you a player that can hit a ball properly.
Action:
How do you rate your shooting? Comment below or on our squad’s twitter page @soccerwithcoach with where you think you stand on shooting. Remember, 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest score.
