Putting your foot through a ball...

Noni Juice

Noni Juice

Noni Juice

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Joined
21 Oct 2006
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1,239
Hi there,

I play football regularly but have always lacked a good shot. I normally try to place shots but since I normally play holding positions I get opportunities to shoot but I cant seem to ever really pull off a good shot and put my foot through the ball. Are there any videos or any tips anyone has? I tried doing some training with a mate who can (really well) and either my toes would scuff the ground or I would toe punt it.

No idea if it makes a difference, but I wear Copa Mundials.

Thanks for any help.
 
Practice. That's about it. Put your laces through it and practice the technique. There's no big secret.

Also, there are players that generate a lot of power with a side foot (beckham, drogba) so try and look out for that.
 
Having a good hard shot is all well and good but it's no substitute for persistence, situational awareness and accuracy. Don't worry about thunderbolt strikes, work on the rest of your game :)
 
212 said:
Hi there,

I play football regularly but have always lacked a good shot. I normally try to place shots but since I normally play holding positions I get opportunities to shoot but I cant seem to ever really pull off a good shot and put my foot through the ball. Are there any videos or any tips anyone has? I tried doing some training with a mate who can (really well) and either my toes would scuff the ground or I would toe punt it.

No idea if it makes a difference, but I wear Copa Mundials.

Thanks for any help.
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It's all about the balance and follow through. There are a few good videos on youtube explaining the usual way to give a power shot. The accuracy will come in time with practice. The main thing is to lock you ankle and hit the ball around your lace area. Once you get the posture right, just practice.

I prefer finesse shots personally.
 
Laces through it, head and upper body over the ball when you strike it, smooth and constant kicking motion.

Best traning tip for this is to find a large wall and do nothing but kick the ball against it in a variety of ways, it will tune you into the movement of the ball, the speed it drops and improve the timing of your strike.
 
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the swing of your leg after following through the ball is apparently important. people who have a hard shot their foot goes higher after follow through. there was some doc on sky with paddy mcguinness explaining it
 
Beerbaron said:
the swing of your leg after following through the ball is apparently important. people who have a hard shot their foot goes higher after follow through. there was some doc on sky with paddy mcguinness explaining it
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Thats a side effect, the harder you hit the ball, the faster your leg will be moving on impact, a leg moving at(making up the numbers for effect) 30mph at point of contact will take less time to slow down than a leg moving at 45mph.

A harder kick has a longer follow through for that reason, its not the cause, but the effect.

Follow through is important for one reason alone, direction, your foot isn't in contact at the point of contact, but for longer than that and if your follow through slices of to the left, the ball will push off to the right. Follow through is crucially important just so you don't adversely effect the direction of the ball, unless of course, you want to effect the direction, but its still crucial.

Power is simply about being able to generate the highest speed through the point of contact.

AS a holding midfielder though, as others said, its the least important part of your game. A holding midfielder that scores 30 goals a season but can't defend, position himself, pass or tackle, is worthless, though would maybe make for a better offensive player.

You'll make bigger improvements as a player by working on the area's you use most coupled with the area's you're worst on. So if you're great at defending, and equally poor at passing and shooting, defending you have little to gain on, passing you have a lot of room to get better on and use it the most and shooting you can improve a lot aswell but you won't be doing it as much as passing.

If you're great at everything else, a better shot never hurt anyway though.
 
you still need to follow through more. when people shoot they stop just after hitting the ball rather than going that little bit further
 
Your placement foot is also very important. Planting your standing foot in the correct position will help you with the follow through and thus generate power in the shot. You have to remember to follow through.
 
As people have pointed out - it's all about technique. Scrawny players can generate a lot of pace, whip and accuracy because they (lol) know how to position and posture themselves.
 
Assuming you're right footed, does your left foot leave the ground when you shoot? I've found it to be very effective to get both power and accuracy.
 
Wow thanks for all the replies, sorry if I miss some questions but-

-I think following through is where I'm going wrong, I dont recall doing it. I'll try and concentrate on that next time!

-I've (IMO) got a good range of passing, good tackling and am strong on the ball. I occasionally make bursts up front but when your sitting back and it opens up for you I'm always hesitant on whether I should or should not hit it. Then of course I end up panicking and cue my mates shouting haha! Its great to have a powerful long range drive on you!

-Practice, practice and practice! Will need more of this too I think!

-Foot normally does not leave the ground unless we are losing and I put all my frustration into the shot haha. Or if the ball is rolling across me.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Good tip from atpbx there and spot on, head over the ball etc

One thing I used to do was practice with one of those heavy furry balls (wahey) you use for 5 a side - then when you have the lighter normal ones it's surprising how hard you belt it :p

It's not the be-all though, it's obviously useful but players get by - for example I think physically it's actually impossible for Peter Crouch to hit the ball hard but he seems to score a fair amount :p
 
Swifty55 said:
The main thing is to lock you ankle and hit the ball around your lace area.
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Lock your ankle? I only lock my ankle when hitting with my left (for nothing but standing on). My right (where all the power is) doesn't get locked during a shot at all...
 
As said, practise with a wall. I practise against a wall at the mo. when I'm bored (thin way - so only one brick) and try to get as many passes as I can with one touch before I mess up. It helps loads and I know exactly what to do with my feet to get the ball where I want it
 
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