Soccer Exercises - How To Kick Harder And Run Faster

Here, let me share with you some of the effective soccer exercises that can help your players learn the skills to kick harder and run faster so that they could utilize every single opportunity coming their way to win the match. Explosive running speed and powerful kicks are something that you must help your team players acquire.

In soccer, if you want to make your contribution in the game, you need to get the ball and do something with it. This is where your running speed and powerful kicking skills come very handy. No one but a soccer coach can help the players sprint faster and kick harder and farther.

Making The Muscles Faster

It is not the strength of the muscles but the fact that how fast they are that determine how harder you can kick and how faster you can run. Running long distances or training for longer periods are some of the effective ways to make the muscles of your players faster. Some coaches train their players by instructing them to lift weights. Well, you must understand that lifting weights can make the muscles stronger, not faster.

Specific Training For Muscle Speed

This is something most coaches do not pay heed to. It is very important to organize specific training sessions where the players could only focus on making their muscles faster. One of the best ways to develop muscle speed is to use a program of isometric exercises with resistance bands. When you teach isometrics using the resistant band, it can develop blazing speed and quickness in your team players.

Abdominal Exercises

? Normal sit-ups also make an ideal exercise. Keeping your abdomen fit and in good shape is very important and it will help the players run faster and kick the ball with more power. While the players are doing the normal sit-ups, make sure that they keep their chin off their chest.

? Another good abdominal exercise is to alternate elbows to knees. But, you have to count reps on one side only.

? Alternating hand to foot is another good abdominal exercise. In this exercise also, you have to count reps on one side only.

Along with the above exercise, you can also have your players do straightforward cardiovascular training in the form of running, rowing and stepper's. However, when you are running the training sessions for soccer exercises, you must keep in mind that it is important to give the body a chance to rest and recover for key matches.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of soccer exercises. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.

Soccer Skill Drills: Trapping

Trapping is one of the most important elements when it comes to caching about soccer skill drills. Let me give you a brief insight into the same.

The Foot

It is very important for the coach to teach players how to use the foot to ?capture? balls descending, near or on the ground. For this, the players should get in front of the ball.

They should learn to extend the leg and foot forward of the body, anticipating the arrival of the ball. When the ball meets the foot, the coach needs to teach the players how to pull the leg back to slow the ball, or ?cushion? the ball.

The ball will carom off the foot and out of control of the player if they do not pull back their foot. If you are coaching a team of younger players, it is better to start with the inside of the foot.

An expert coach knows that this is the largest and most forgiving area of the foot and it will make the younger players learn the things more comfortably.

However, if you are coaching a team of more advance players, you can practice trapping with the instep or top of the foot and both inside and outside of the foot.

You should teach the players how to eventually advance to using the shin and ankle for higher or wildly bouncing balls.

The Thigh

The thigh has a larger size and contains higher fatty tissue. Therefore, an expert coach knows that thighs could be a very effective method for trapping both slow and fast airborne passes below the chest. Have the player get in front of and square to the incoming ball.

Teach them to stand on one foot and raise the other knee and thigh to meet the ball. Once contacted, the players should quickly drop the knee, allowing the ball to shortly ?stick? to the thigh. This practice should be continued until the ball rolls from the thigh to the feet.

When it comes to teaching trapping while coaching soccer skill drills, the theory for the chest theory is the same as the thigh, but execution is slightly different.

Andre Botelho is a recognized authority on the subject of soccer skill drills. His web site, Youth Soccer Drills, provides a wealth of informative soccer articles, resources and tips for soccer coaches, parents and players.