Soccer Practice - How To Enhance Shooting Skills

Soccer practice is very important for the players to enhance their shooting skills. There are various soccer drills and games that can help improve and reinforce the shooting skills of the players. Let me give you a brief insight into the same.

• Win The Ball And Shoot

This is a simple way to teach shooting skills. In this drill, the coach has to let the players stand in two lines ? one on his right side and the other on his left side. Make sure that both these lines are at least eighteen to twenty from the goal. Now to start the drill practice, the coach will serve the ball to the players standing on his one side and one of the players have to take the initiative, get the ball and shoot the ball while attempting to score a goal.

Initially, you need not have a goalkeeper to defend the goals, but as you realize that the shooting skills of the players have increased, you can go ahead and have a goalkeeper. Adding a goalkeeper makes the drill a little tougher for the players because now they have to shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal saving it from the hands of the goalie.

• Pass And Shoot

As the name suggests, in this drill, the players have to make certain number of passes before they shoot the ball and attempt to score a goal. The coach must go for this drill in a 30 yd x 30 yd grid with two opposing goalpost as in the actual game. There will be two teams and as per the rules of this drill, each team is supposed to make at least five passes before they attempt shooting, but again, they have to save the ball from stealing by the opponent team.

If one team loses the possession of the ball after less than five passes, they will have to again try to repossess the ball, make four passes, and then shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal. The team that does this successfully gets a point. At the end of this drill practice session, the team withy more points wins.

There are various other ways. For example, in the ?cones instead of goal? drill, the coach will place five cones instead of goalpost and the players are then instructed to shoot at these cones. The team that knocks down three or more cones wins. Goalkeepers are not required for this soccer practice.

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

Soccer Training: Teaching Shooting Drills

To become an efficient soccer coach, you need to learn numerous strategies during soccer training. In this section, we will talk about teaching shooting drills.

Quick Shooting Drills

There are various ways to train the team regarding the quick shooting drills. The players can start with having the players line up along the side of the goal. Now, you should form another line and this time, it should be at the top of the box.

Instruct the players along the side of the goal to play the ball with pace to the players at the top of the box. This way, before the charging player closes them down, they will have three touches to get a shot off. Another method is to play combinations at the top of the box.

These combinations may include overlaps, give and goes, and crosses that all lead to shots. Train the players about how to hit a moving ball and make the drills game-like. You can have the team proactive by setting up a few short combinations that lead to shots.

Other Important Things

There are many other important things as well that the coaches need to teach his team regarding the shooting drills. When the players are shooting with power, teach the players how to land on their shooting foot. This is something we call follow through.

The players must also learn to keep their knee and head over the ball. Striking the center of the ball and striking through the ball is another important thing to learn regarding the shooting drills.

The players should be taught to keep their toes pointed and their ankle locked. When got a chance, the players should strike with power or place the ball into the corners. Another important thing for the players is to keep their hips square to their target.

However, the most important thing in shooting drills is that the players should never stop shooting. They may miss the first four or five shots they take but they will certainly have the sixth or seventh shot hit the back of the net. This is something called an expert soccer training.

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