Soccer Videos

Soccer training videos have come a long way in the form of production and availability, but has the content improved? So many people have been disappointed by their purchases it is important to understand what they contain.

There’s nothing worse than getting all excited about the arrival of your newly purchased soccer training video and then feeling let down after watching it. These reviews led Coach V and his staff to make 100% sure their new series would quickly become the new dominant soccer technical skills training video on the market today.

When Coach V set out to design the www.SoccerU.com series he did so only after talking to 1000’s of soccer coaches, parents and soccer players to find out what THEY really wanted. It was important that this series didn’t disappoint like so many others had. His goal was to create the most comprehensive series focusing on individual soccer skills and do so in method that actually taught people how to learn and teach them.

“So many people have been let down by soccer training videos that simply show excellent players performing drills. We wanted to show real life players being taught the raw soccer skills and performing them the wrong way and the right way. Coaches, trainers, parents and players all benefit from seeing average to great soccer players learning in real time. Not a staged series of drills where everyone performs the skills perfectly. I believe this is one of the true benefits that people will get out of this series.”

The series walks you through all ages and skill levels. Soccer players on the series range from 10 year old beginners to professional level players all learning the raw soccer skills.

The www.SoccerU.com series is over 8 hours long. It contains 30 chapters and many of these chapters have sub-chapters, making it the most extensive soccer training series ever released.

How many times have we heard it shouted from both the coaches and the parents? “Kick with your laces, not your toe.” Sounds like an easy request, but you must understand you are trying to change the evolution of a child. This is why so many struggle with this seemingly simply task.

While many think this is a problem for very young soccer players, 5 – 9 years old, we have seen this problem frequently in the 13 – 16 year olds as well. One of the benefits of our research while creating Blast The Ball™ is we were able to work with players at all levels from all over the world. The “not so shocking” findings to us may surprise you. There are soccer players at the most advanced levels of play that can’t perform all the different types of kicks correctly. If they can, they often can’t perform them with both feet. Understanding the EXACT and correct form is essential for the development of advancing players.

Curing the toe kick is often the first step. It really is quite easy to understand if you take the time to study the progression, the cause and the cure. We spent 18 months studying every phase of the soccer kick from 6 year olds all the way to professional players. Once we captured this “evolution” on video and slowed it down, it became quite evident why we kick with toe and the steps to cure it.

First understand how we first start to kick a ball. Very young players really don’t go into a “kicking mode”. They are simply running at the ball and when they think they are close, or their foot makes contact with the ball, they “push” their leg through the shot. They are simply trying to force the leg forward so it moves the ball. During this stage there is no “forethought” to the soccer kick. (This could be called the ‘collision’ stage.) Kicking the ball is simply an afterthought that combines with the running gate of the player.
As players mature they learn that the harder they “push through” the shot, the farther the ball goes. This seems great in their eyes, but it starts a habit that is hard to cure. Some even “push through” so hard they fall onto the ground after a shot.

Next realize another reason for a toe kick. It is the natural foot position. When we run or walk our foot changes position. At the end of our stride our toe is naturally facing down because we have just finished “pushing off” the ball of our foot or toe area. As our foot comes forward in a walking or running stride the toe naturally returns to the forward pointing position. Have someone walk across the floor. Concentrate on their foot position at the end or back of their stride and then watch as it comes forward. The toe naturally starts to swing forward and upward.
Then ask them to walk or jog with their toe pointed down as long as possible. The result is a child or adult “high stepping” across the floor like a Clydesdale horse.
The problem is that this “unnatural position” is really what we are asking them to do when we tell them to kick with their laces.
Here is a little test you can do for yourself. (Only adults are allowed to do this.)
Kick like a toe kicker. Yes, we said kick wrong. Let your foot swing through naturally just like it was a walking or jogging stride. Your foot stays very close to the ground.
Now, WITHOUT CHANGING ANYTHING ELSE, point your toe to the ground and swing your leg through again.
If you did this properly you are now cursing me. You are grabbing your foot because your toe struck the ground as you came through and you severely strained the muscles on the top of your foot. Don’t worry. There will be some minor swelling and you will limp for the next 4 days, but hey, if we ask our kids to do this, why shouldn’t we try it?

So how do we start to teach this “unnatural” movement?
We created Blast The Ball™ video and research program because much of this is hard to describe in writing. We will give it our best shot.

1- Have patience. This unnatural movement or change takes time. You will practice it and it will look good. Then, come game time, the child will revert back to the movement that is instinctive. Eventually the new kick will become a muscle memory or instinctive.

2- Start by having the child step closer to the ball. Most youth players step their plant foot well behind the ball. This causes the ball to be struck on the “upward swing” and naturally kicked by the toe. Having them step next to or even slightly past the ball forces the ball to be further back in the swing circle.

3- Practice loading the leg. We have an entire section devoted to the “soccer hop” on Blast The Ball™. It is the slight hop or large stride just before kicking a soccer ball. Just as in any sport such as baseball, golf, tennis etc, when you are going to come forward to hit a ball, you must first load or have a backswing. The entire leg will come back and with “power shooters” you will notice the load or backswing is so large that the sole of the foot almost touches their “behind”. Now instead of a “push” we are preparing to release and kick.

4- Shorten the kicking leg. No not by surgery, but by maintaining the “V” position of the leg all the way through the swing. When our leg is in the backswing and just starting to come forward, there is a strong “V” position. We want players to maintain this “V” all the way through the shot. Stand up with both feet close together. Raise the kicking hip slightly, and then bend the knee slightly. You must do both. You will notice that if you hold this position you can point your toe down and swing your leg back and forth. Your toe will not hit the ground. While the shape and size of the “V” will change through the kick, it should never totally disappear. (No locking straight leg.)

5- Start with an angle approach. We teach the many different styles of correct kicking. One is the straight kick which has no angle approach or “wrap around” leg swing. With the straight kick, the ball IS struck with the laces. However, the angle kick has an angled approach and the leg will slightly swing across and around to our front. This angle arch also allows the toe to be pointed slightly “outward” requiring less “shorting” of the leg and less chance or the dreaded “toe stub”. When working with young players, the angle kick is taught first.

6- Learn the part of the foot. When we use the angle kick, we really are NOT kicking with the “laces”. We are kicking the ball with the “first metatarsal”. In simple terms that is the bone just above the “knuckle” of the big toe. This is the largest bone in the foot and when the ankle is locked, creates a huge amount of impact force.

7- Learn to strike the ball just left of center. (For right footed kickers.) This applies to the angle kick because we are approaching the ball from an angle. Striking the ball in the center will cause the impact to be more of a “glancing blow” and create a huge amount of side spin.

One of the most important points of working with young players is to start them off in slow motion. A child only wants to do one thing, KICK A BALL HARD. Forcing them to kick slowly and gently is EXTREMELY hard. I recommend you start this exercise against a wall. If you put them 6 feet away from a wall, they will have a fear of the ball bouncing back and hitting them. This will force them to kick softer. Also, if they kick too hard they have to go chase the ball. DO NOT start this process 18 yards out from a soccer goal. Their overpowering instinct to kick it hard into the net will force them to focus on power.
Plan on this process taking 6 – 12 months depending on the child’s age. Have them practice the movements several times a week. Eventually it will become the instinct rather than the unnatural. Have patience and keep practicing.

Coach V is the author and developer of Blast The Ball™ training system and video. Their website is www.BlastTheBall.com
This article is the copyright © of Blast The Ball™ and is officially registered with the Library of Congress, Copyright Office in Washington, DC. It may not be reprinted or used without express written consent.

I don’t care if you are 8 or 38 years old, a funny thing happens when we place a soccer ball on the grass in front of a goal. Something in our mind seems to ‘snap’ and we try and strike the ball as hard as we can. Most of us however don’t realize this actually slows down the soccer ball’s speed.

While creating Blast The Ball and Soccer U we had the pleasure of capturing literally hundreds of hours of soccer players and thousands of soccer kicks. This research showed some interesting results. Trying to kick a soccer ball ‘harder’ often slowed down the speed of the ball. Why you ask? Well let’s start with another sport that will help us understand.

Talk to the “long drive golf champs” and you will find a common thought among them. Swing at 80% of your top force. Now, why would a golf ball go farther at 80% vs. 100%?  It comes down to the “speed of the club head” which is the last part of several body parts involved.  Swinging, or “kicking”, at 100% of force often causes us to TENSE UP many of the muscles involved in the full “multifunction process” of the swinging / kicking motion.  Think us this as a “whipping” motion. Staying slightly “loose” during the kick allows our foot to be at the end of an accelerating chain of events. Tighten up any of those events and you slow it down.  Try throwing a baseball with a totally STIFF arm. The ball travels about half the speed. Keeping a loose arm with a whipping motion increases the speed greatly.  The same applies to the soccer kick.

A couple of key points to a stronger, longer and faster soccer kick.

1) Relax.
Allow your entire body to go limp. Shake it out. Let your head, neck legs and every part of your body relax.
The only part of your body that will have tension is your ankle.

2) Large last stride / loading.
Make your last stride a long “forward hopping” load. Your heel should come close to your behind.

3) Allow your knee to come through first.
This is known as “storing the load”. Your lower leg will form a V shape. Keep that V shape as long as possible and at the last minute let it extent in a WHIPPING motion through the ball.

4) Kick with the big toe knuckle.
Approach the ball from a slight angle. The largest bone in your foot is the first metatarsal which is just above the big toe knuckle. This translates into FORCE or energy at impact.

5) Break the pane.
Pretend that the ball is sitting in front of a large pane of glass. You want to break the pane with your body, not just your leg or foot. This means that your forward momentum should continue through the shot. This will also cause you to land on your SHOOTING foot, not your plant foot.

6) Watch your foot contact the ball.
If you can see your foot strike the ball you are kicking properly. Doing this also keeps your body in a slightly “bent over” position.  Straitening up will kill some of the power release.

To prove this point to younger players you should have them start VERY close to the goal. Have them move back little by little WITHOUT changing their kicking effort. When you see them “forcing” their shot, have them move back very close and feel the loose shot again a few times. Then have them move back out to a far point and use the same “close kick”. Both of you will be amazed.

On a final note I suggest you video tape the player kicking. You can even use digital cameras that have a video recorder. Try and set the “frames per second” as high as you can. This will allow you to slow the kick down to a frame by frame view.  When we shot Blast The Ball, many of the cameras were set on 3000 frames per second. This allowed us to see EVERY detail of the kick. Younger players will be amazed at the footage and trust me, if you tell them they are doing something wrong they will disagree. Show them threw video and they will understand.

Most parents assume that having their child play on an advanced or travel team and attending

soccer camps during the summer means their player is getting all the skills needed to develop into a quality player when older.

This assumption has been made by many but
is simply not true.

Ask any good soccer coach what he feels is missing from his program and the answer will almost always be TIME.  One to two hours a week for 8 - 12 weeks is simply not enough time to properly train young players in ALL the basic and essential skills.  Soccer players and soccer parents MUST work on individual skills outside of normal team sessions.
However, most

soccer parents and even many soccer coaches have never been properly trained in BASIC INDIVIDUAL TECHNICAL SKILL TRAINING.  There is so much to do and so much to learn that this LONG and IN-DEPTH knowledge never gets learned or passed on.

SoccerU is designed to help TRAIN THE TEACHER. If you are a soccer player, you must become your own teacher. If you are a soccer parent, it is time to learn to teach. If you are a soccer coach, it is time to learn the true, specific forms of individual skills.