How to kick a soccer ball

Cool! Just getting started with this blog, and already we have our first question:

"Do you have any material on teaching power
kicks? Both my kids can get the ball down field to the goal with good speed but end up shooting fizzlers."

Great, great question. This happens to be the main thing I'm working on with my team right now, so I definitely feel your pain. The best advice I've found on this subject is from the "Blast the Ball" DVD website. We don't have a copy of the DVD - although maybe we should pick one up for the region - but there's some good stuff on the site, including a preview video, a forum, and the following article:

http://www.blasttheball.com/how_do_you_kick_a_soccer_ball.html

That's about the best break-down of kicking I've ever seen. Pay special attention to the concept of "the soccer hop." That's where true power comes from.

One great activity for teaching kids to find the "sweet spot" is punting. Put the kids in pairs, and have them *gently* punt the ball back-and-forth to one another about 15 yards apart. Emphasis on gently. It's going to be complete chaos the first couple of times, but after a couple of practices - when they start getting the hang of it - you can spread them out and go for distance. Make sure they're not straight legging it. They should be bending the knee and putting some *snap* in their punts. I tell them to "kick like Jackie Chan." You can "soccer hop" into a punt too.

NOTE: This activity can double as an opportunity to work on trapping (a.k.a. "collections" in official coach lingo.) Ask the receiving player to "use their skills" to collect the ball rather than their hands.

This guy has a excellent set of video clinics aimed at U11. Here's one on finishing. http://video.kudda.com/clinic/Under_11_Soccer_Progression_3_Finishing

There are a million "kids standing in a line shooting at the goal" exercises out there. Here are a few tips to keep things moving and lines short.

• Have each shooter hold their own ball in line, and chase it after their shot. It may seem more efficient to have the coach serve balls to everyone from a pile, but that breaks down after a few minutes. And chasing balls gets them moving. Last, you as coach want to be concentrating on helping them with their kicking technique; not tracking down balls.
• At least two lines. If the activity is completely new, you may start it in one line, but then it's "Two coaches, two lines." Don't have an AC that day? Grab a mom off the sidelines. You truly alone out there? It's still more efficient to serve two lines than one. NOTE: The downside is that occasionally someone retrieving their ball will get nailed by a shooter from the other line. It's surprising rare in my experience, but ask the kids to be careful, and if it's not safe, stop.
• Shooting drills can often devolve into discipline problems. Keep it moving so that no one has time to squirrel around with each other in line. Ideally, you have them moving so hard, they're huffing and puffing. TIP: The closer the lines are to the goal, the faster the activity will move.