How To Improve Footwork Soccer Skills

Anyone can improve footwork soccer skills by performing easy and simple footwork soccer drills.

Here's an example of a soccer drill to improve footwork soccer skills:

ZigZag Drill (speedwork)

Set up a series of five to seven cones, flags, or other objects as markers in a zigzag and mark the beginning and end of the course with two pylons at each end.

Step1: There should be five yards between the beginning of the course and the first zigzag marker, between each of the zigzag markers, and between the final zigzag marker and the end of the course.
Step2: Have two players run the course together.
Step3: When they start, they sprint to the each marker and they must touch beside the marker with their near foot (the left foot for P1 and the right foot for P2).
You can see a diagram of this drill here:
http://soccerdrillstips.com/footworksoccerdrills.html

You can change the angle of the turn the players make by widening out the markers, so you can have them practice turning at more acute angles.

The ability of a player to change directions quickly is fundamental to the game of soccer and this will help them learn to adjust their stride to compensate for foot placement and turning. In this drill, they need to see every marker as a ball.

Yours in soccer,

Andre Botelho

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of footwork soccer and coaching. His web site, www.soccerdrillstips.com provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on how to improve soccer skills and make training more fun and interesting.#BREAK#

How To Play Soccer- The Basics

Whether you are a novice soccer coach or parent, or a seasoned soccer player just starting to learn how to play soccer, it is always in your best interest to keep up with teaching soccer techniques, soccer drills and soccer moves so that your game will be top notch.

There are some basic steps you should focus on:

Step 1 - How To Bounce, Bend, and Curve a Soccer Ball
To bend and curve a soccer ball are incredible soccer techniques because they allow you to get the ball around defenders in order to maintain possession and take shots on goal that are concealed from the goalkeeper.

It is also useful for corner kicks and crosses into the box.

When bending the ball, you will either use the inside or outside of the foot, depending on which foot you are kicking with and which direction in which you want the ball to go.

If you are using your right foot, then to bend the ball to the left you want to use the inside of your foot to make contact with the right side of the ball. You can swivel slightly on your support foot to get a better kick.

If you want to curve the ball to the right, then you need to bring the outside of your foot in contact with the left side of the ball.

Step 2 - How To Pass a Soccer Ball
On learning how to play soccer, passing is crucial to keeping possession of the ball during a game. While any kick that ends with the ball in the possession of a team-mate is passing, there are proper techniques to use to pass effectively and accurately.

Short passes are most effectively executed by using the inside of the foot because of the large surface available for accurately aiming the ball.

If you are passing long, then the instep is the most effective kick to use. If you need to pass behind, your heel is the used.

Don't ever forget that passing involves communication between the passer and the receiver.

Yours in soccer,

Andre Botelho
http://www.soccerdrillstips.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of footwork soccer and coaching. His web site, www.soccerdrillstips.com provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on how to improve soccer skills and make training more fun and interesting.#BREAK#

Just Play Beach Soccer

One friend of mine asked me recently why all men are crazy about playing football or what is known in United States as soccer. I am sick of explaining things that you can only understand based on personal experience. But although I managed to provide her with a luminous answer, she came back stating yet another question. "Is it different to play soccer on the grass than to play it on the beach?" That was a good one. "Of course it is different," I replied. Beach soccer, as you can tell by its name, is a sport played on the beaches; preferably during spring or summer time. Although it has been played informally for decades, it was given its official name and rules only recently and specifically in 1992. Since then it managed to become a rather popular sport and I believe that if you really want to learn something about soccer you should better start playing it on the beach.

Playing soccer on the beach is considered by many fans as the paradise of the apprentice. The soft-sand playing surface can correct some usual mistakes for a beginner, as the ball often stacks on it. Actually, the element of sand does only facilitate the efforts of new players, but it is considered a heavy obstacle even for those experienced ones that wish to show off their abilities. Plus the compact pitch -measuring 28 x 37 meters if there is an official beach soccer facility- is by far smaller than the grass field and makes scoring easier, even for players who decide to try it for the first time.

A great advantage of beach soccer is the fact that one needs no special equipment to play it. An adequate size ball and the sand of the beach are more than enough for one to begin exploring this game's unique character. Even when no organized facility on the beach exists, those interested to play beach soccer need only two canes to symbolize the area of a goalpost. Canes or just a pile of clothes are preferable in comparison to heavy stones or even huge blocks of rocks, which can be very dangerous for feet injuries, as shoes are not allowed in this game. Thus, if you are on a sandy beach, it is a sunny day, and you have nine friends willing to join you, you can start playing beach soccer. When you do experience it, let me know if you liked it. Most importantly, let your girlfriend know!

When I finished my lecture about beach soccer my friend seemed excited. "I will play it every single weekend," she said. But before you ask yourselves how much time should you invest in practicing this sport, before you can consider yourselves good soccer players, try playing it for awhile. Since you cannot play beach soccer all year around, unless you move to California or Florida every time you have a beach soccer need, you have to exercise your soccer playing abilities on the actual lawn ground. Believe me when I tell you that it is not that easy there too!

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Outdoors, Recreation, and Fitness