| I don't care if you are 8 or 38 years old, a funny | | | | This is known as "storing the load". Your lower leg will |
| thing happens when we place a soccer ball on the | | | | form a V shape. Keep that V shape as long as |
| grass in front of a goal. Something in our mind seems | | | | possible and at the last minute let it extent in a |
| to 'snap' and we try and strike the ball as hard as we | | | | WHIPPING motion through the ball. |
| can. Most of us however don't realize this actually | | | | 4) Kick with the big toe knuckle. |
| slows down the soccer ball's speed. | | | | Approach the ball from a slight angle. The largest |
| We've had the pleasure of capturing literally hundreds | | | | bone in your foot is the first metatarsal which is just |
| of hours of soccer players and thousands of soccer | | | | above the big toe knuckle. This translates into |
| kicks during our research over the past two years. | | | | FORCE or energy at impact. |
| This research showed some interesting results. Trying | | | | 5) Break the pane. |
| to kick a soccer ball 'harder' often slowed down the | | | | Pretend that the ball is sitting in front of a large pane |
| speed of the ball. Why you ask? Well let's start with | | | | of glass. You want to break the pane with your |
| another sport that will help us understand. | | | | body, not just your leg or foot. This means that your |
| Talk to the "long drive golf champs" and you will find | | | | forward momentum should continue through the |
| a common thought among them. Swing at 80% of | | | | shot. This will also cause you to land on your |
| your top force. Now, why would a golf ball go | | | | SHOOTING foot, not your plant foot. |
| farther at 80% vs. 100%? It comes down to the | | | | 6) Watch your foot contact the ball. |
| "speed of the club head" which is the last part of | | | | If you can see your foot strike the ball you are |
| several body parts involved. Swinging, or "kicking", at | | | | kicking properly. Doing this also keeps your body in a |
| 100% of force often causes us to TENSE UP many | | | | slightly "bent over" position. Straitening up will kill |
| of the muscles involved in the full "multifunction | | | | some of the power release. |
| process" of the swinging / kicking motion. Think us | | | | To prove this point to younger players you should |
| this as a "whipping" motion. Staying slightly "loose" | | | | have them start VERY close to the goal. Have them |
| during the kick allows our foot to be at the end of | | | | move back little by little WITHOUT changing their |
| an accelerating chain of events. Tighten up any of | | | | kicking effort. When you see them "forcing" their |
| those events and you slow it down. Try throwing a | | | | shot, have them move back very close and feel the |
| baseball with a totally STIFF arm. The ball travels | | | | loose shot again a few times. Then have them move |
| about half the speed. Keeping a loose arm with a | | | | back out to a far point and use the same "close |
| whipping motion increases the speed greatly. The | | | | kick". Both of you will be amazed. |
| same applies to the soccer kick. | | | | On a final note I suggest you video tape the player |
| A couple of key points to a stronger, longer and | | | | kicking. You can even use digital cameras that have a |
| faster soccer kick. | | | | video recorder. Try and set the "frames per second" |
| 1) Relax. | | | | as high as you can. This will allow you to slow the |
| Allow your entire body to go limp. Shake it out. Let | | | | kick down to a frame by frame view. We have shot |
| your head, neck legs and every part of your body | | | | 100's of hours of footage, many of the cameras |
| relax. | | | | were set on 3000 frames per second. This allowed |
| The only part of your body that will have tension is | | | | us to see EVERY detail of the kick. Younger players |
| your ankle. | | | | will be amazed at the footage and trust me, if you |
| 2) Large last stride / loading. | | | | tell them they are doing something wrong they will |
| Make your last stride a long "forward hopping" load. | | | | disagree. Show them through video and they will |
| Your heel should come close to your behind. | | | | understand. |
| 3) Allow your knee to come through first. | | | | |