Change Your Game in Soccer

Your greatest weapon when playing soccer is your mind prior to and during the game.

Your mindset is how you mentally approach and prepare for soccer.

When you have an effective mindset, you have belief that you can win games, or at least compete at a high level even against very good teams.

Negative thoughts will creep in for you, but the goal is to have most of your thoughts enhance confidence and have the ability to refocus when negativity creeps in.

A positive mindset reduces anxiety prior to games, allows you to play freely or intuitively on the pitch and keeps the focus on the task at hand.

A positive mindset not only affects how you approach games, but also how you approach practices and training sessions.

When you have intensity and drive, you train hard and compete in practice rather than merely being physically present in practice.

When you have a strong mindset, you are passionate about competition and enjoy playing your sport, both of which contribute to your success as an athlete.

Is your mindset helpful or hurt your game?

If your mindset is mostly negative, do you think you can do anything about it? Or do you believe "it is what it is?"

The truth is your mindset is a choice. YOU control your mindset.

Your mindset is something you foster by your decision of where to place your focus.

Focus on fear, deficiencies in your game, mistakes, comparisons or the negative criticisms of other, you will grow a negative mindset... and that negative mindset will show in your performance during games.

Focus on your strengths, effort in training, successes and your will to improve your game, and you will cultivate a positive mindset.

A positive mindset will produce positive results in games. Positive results don’t always mean wins; it means playing aggressively, playing to your potential, competing throughout the game, never giving up and making plays.

Change your mindset... change your game!

Tips For Fostering a Positive Competitive Mindset:

"Competitive" means to compete or to make a full-out effort to be successful.

You can improve your mindset by getting into the habit of competing at your peak all the time.  Start competing in practice... push during drills, race to the ball, play aggressively during scrimmages, etc.

As you start winning battles, finishing first during runs, hustling in games, you will notice that your mindset changes... and the results will be positive!

Invisible Training

Not all performance improvements are gained in the field

Have you ever stopped to think about when improvement occurs in your training cycle? You may have never thought about this, but you should. Is it right after a hard workout? Is it 12 or 24 hours after a workout?

For most people, the benefits of the work done need time to transpire, and once the body has adapted, you start to see performance improvements.

Some coaches even refer to this recovery period as “invisible training,” less obvious than the actual workout, but vitally important. You may not be doing sets and reps, but when and how you recover determines how much you’ll reap from your “real training” sessions.

Understanding when your improvement happens is crucial if you want to continue to improve your performance because the ability to recover is what changes most as you age. You do not lose the ability to increase strength or power as you age, rather your body slows down its recovery response rate. This cannot be overstated: your ability to recover from training is what changes as you age, not your ability to improve strength or power.

If you don’t adapt your training schedule and intensity to match the biological changes that your body is going through, your training will not continue to produce the effects you seek.

Anyone can train hard, that’s usually not the issue. Instead, it’s whether or not you know when to train hard and when to back off to allow your body to fully recover. If you don’t know when to retreat, you’ll slowly drive yourself into a deeper and deeper hole. This is when sickness and sub-par performances take the place of feeling healthy and seeing improvements on a regular basis. Also known as over-training, this is a lousy place for performance-focused players to reside, and it happens to many Top players who may think that more training is always better.

Though this problem is common, the fix is simple. Shift your mindset. Realize that some benefits are gained not from training harder, but by recovering better. Intensify your recovery period, and you’ll notice more gains. This might seem counter intuitive, but recovering effectively and consistently is a skill you can learn, and you’ll probably have to experiment to find the best methods for your body.

Over the years, some of the athletes I train have found one or two strategies from this list that really help. Individual variation is an important component of applying these strategies. Experiment with these strategies to see whether your performance improves.

Recovery Strategies

Consistent and sufficient sleep. Many people are chronically sleep deprived, and although it can be difficult to get enough sleep, it’s vitally important to your performance not just in the field, but across all aspects of your life.

Proper nutrition. We all seem to be eating on the run these days, but take the time to eat properly and you’ll likely see a performance increase when your body has the appropriate balance of nutrients it needs to perform at the top level.

Stretching, foam rolling. All of these activities can help release lactic acid that accumulates in the muscles during a training session. When the body can efficiently flush these toxins out and repair the training-inflicted damage done to the muscles during a workout, you will likely see bigger gains from your work in the field.

Proper warm-up and cool-down procedures. Similar to stretching, warming up and cooling down before and after a tough training session prepares your body appropriately for the work that’s coming and helps the body process the work after it’s been completed.

Icing, cold plunges, and contrast baths. Though chilly, these methods can help reduce inflammation in the body after a workout, which also helps flush out toxins and improves your body’s response to a training session.

Massage and chiropractic adjustments. Keeping everything limber and in alignment can also help your body work smoothly and may enable you to get more out of your training time.

Remember, improvement does not come strictly from actual training sessions. You improve during your recovery, that space in between training sessions when your body does important repair, adaption, and improvement functions.

Victory Soccer Club Receives 2017 Best of Business Award

Beverly Award Program Honors the Achievement

Victory Soccer Club has been selected three years in a row for the 2017 Best of Beverly Awards for Soccer Clubs and now qualifies for the Beverly Business Hall of Fame.

BEVERLY March 2, 2017 -- Victory Soccer Club has been selected for the 2017 Best of Beverly

Award in the Soccer Clubs category by the Beverly Award Program.

Each year, the Beverly Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Beverly area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2017 Beverly Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Beverly Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Beverly Award Program

The Beverly Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Beverly area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Beverly Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.


SOURCE: Beverly Award Program

CONTACT:
Beverly Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@onlineawarded.org

Feel Intimidated?!?

Playing a soccer game against a more physical team can be intimidating for some players.

A team with highly aggressive or bigger players can take the focus off your soccer game if you allow. Soon, you will start to worry about getting fouled, injured or being physically dominated for 90 minutes.

You may even enter the match with a predetermined outcome, "We are going to get crushed because they are bullies on the field."

When you allow the opposing team to steal your focus, you are doomed.

One soccer player I work with would be a shell of himself when playing physical teams.

This player was an undersized but talented finesse player.

During most games, he could weave through traffic, thread the needle on passes and score with regularity.

Unfortunately, when he played against teams with a physical reputation, he would play with trepidation, avoid contact and force passes just to get rid of the ball quickly. He would get so anxious watching his opponents warm-up and fear would course through his veins.

Even though he was skilled enough to outplay these rough opponents, he would freeze during the game and lose his confidence.

He desperately wanted to find a way to overcome this problem so he could play the way he knew he could.

Intimidation can affect even the best teams in the world.

Intimidation has nothing to do with your opponent’s size/strength and everything to do with your mentality. 

Intimidation requires consent, meaning you allow the other team to dictate how you think, feel and play. When your opponents have your focus, the game is practically a foregone conclusion.

Competing against physically aggressive teams requires both physical training and mental toughness.

It's important to prepare for all types of opponents and different types of circumstances so you are confident you can handle whatever situation occurs during a game. 

When playing rough opponents, you may need to alter your game plan but you must stay focused on that game plan and play accordingly.

When the opposing team cannot get in your head, they will start to play recklessly giving you the mental edge.

Tips for Playing Mentally Tough Against Rough Teams

First, know that many physically rough teams are looking to get you frustrated and scared to engage.

Intimidation occurs when you accept that you are intimidated and play scared. 

When you focus on the other team's tactics, remind yourself of your skill set or game plan.

Focus on your speed, agility, quickness, and other talents to counter the opponent.

Dr. Patrick Cohn

Peak Performance Sports, LLC
Mental Training for a Competitive Edge

Creating decision makers

So if we are playing a 3v3 game where the task is that we want the young players to identify and attack free space, I ask them what information should the young player be seeking out and what invitations are being sent or communicated to him/her by opponents and teammates actions?

A key challenge for coaches is to design training and create learning environments that result in sustainable motivation. Recent research in coaching is highlighting the importance of players experiencing and developing game understanding (technically, tactically, mentally and physically). This is best applied by learning to play via learning environments that contain the key information sources present in performance or match environments. This will of course have technical and pedagogical implications. By moving from an instruction led approach to a more enabling and supporting role we can meet and support the skill acquisition and basic psychological needs that underpin a nonlinear pedagogy and self-determined motivation. Adopting such an approach is not easy; perhaps not as easy as setting up static drills where little game knowledge is required by coaches. To design effective learning environments using this approach, the coach must

1. Have a good knowledge of the sport
2. Have a good understanding of learners and the learning process
3. Always take in to consideration that growth and development happens in direct contact with people (individuals) and takes place in a variety of different situations
4. Design training where decision-making is returned to the performer (The traditional passing drill A to B, B to C, C to A does not achieve this)
5. Understand that learning is not a linear process and that there will sometimes be periods of steady or sudden improvements as well as periods of regression.

The challenge for the coach is to design individual learning environments that ultimately lead to highly skilled technicians with highly developed game intelligence. It is proposed that this can be achieved by following the key principles of non-linear pedagogy, one of which is representative learning design.

Representative Learning Design

For the purpose of retention and transfer, training should be representative of the performance environment. It should be designed to contain key information sources that are necessary for the learner to become attuned to the appropriate affordance for action, that is ‘football action’ (pressing, dribbling, shooting). Affordances are about action they are invitations, possibilities for ‘football action’ in the environment. If they are to be perceived there must be information about them.

To understand ‘football action’ one must understand the big picture. A picture that dictates that no action is isolated but is nested in interactions between team mates and opponents both within the game and from previous games.

Every Football Action Involves a Decision

Every technique is functional, situation- dependent, infinitely variable and highly individual. As a consequence, isolated physical training that only focuses on specific aspects of fitness is limited in terms of developing football specific aspects of fitness. For example, how a player sprints during an isolated running drill and how that player sprints when performing the football action of pressing are not the same! Isolated strategic (11 v 0) and isolated tactical drills lack inter-individual communication of essential information. For example, the movements of team mates and opponents provides information that drives our own movements but also players require them to communicate and share information with each other verbally or with hand gestures.

For example, consider the options for an attacker when two defenders are converging and closing the gap between them. What are the possible affordances offered to the player in possession?

1. The player can dribble the ball between the two defenders
2. The player can pass the ball in depth between the two players to an oncoming or dropping forward

These are just two of the affordances offered. The information has been communicated and now a decision must be made and carried out using a ‘football action’. What determines the choice of a ‘football action’ by the player in possession is that player’s ‘effectivities’, or put another way, his or her capabilities to act on the possibilities invited by the dynamic affordance in the environment.

A fast or explosive player may see this as a possibility to dribble the ball though the gap between the two converging defenders. A slower player may know he or she lacks sufficient pace to exploit the narrowing space and pick up on the affordance to pass the ball through the gap to an oncoming or dropping forward.
How the player is perceiving and acting is very important here. Often referred to in the research literature as the role of ‘agency’. Players can choose to accept or reject invitations provided by affordances. In a dynamic sport like football it may be necessary to delay or to even stop an invitation that you have begun to address, and perceive how through another action you can change it towards another path.

The player in example 1 above may delay his action by slowing down for a split second. This was a ‘football action’ typical of the great Johan Cruyff. As soon as the approaching defenders would respond to him by also slowing down Cruyff would suddenly explode in to action. The use of creativity, deception and disguise to generate uncertainty in their opponents are all traits of top professional footballers.

The player in example number 2 may have perceived the information and decided to play a penetrating pass between the two defenders to an oncoming forward. However, due to a problem in communication the forward may have timed their run incorrectly and ran in to an offside position. Thus, the emergence of new information for the player in possession to perceive and a new path with a new decision to be carried out. A second oncoming attacker may have been perceived by the player in possession (think Pirlo) who plays a pass between the two defenders. The oncoming attacker receives the ball and attacks the space in front towards goal. The ‘offside player’ is now onside and may well provide an extra passing option for the attacker in possession. Here we are entering the realm of “the perception of shared affordances (for others and of others) as the main communication channel between team members”. 

Representative learning design is essential to develop understanding of team mates action capabilities and of course opponents. Only then can we see the through ball into the space of an oncoming forward. The weight and direction of the pass is therefore informed by the knowledge of how quick the team mate is.

Design

We promote the influence of context. The use of game forms in training sessions that ‘directly talk to the players’. Attacker, defender actions are co-adaptive. Using the principles of co-adaptability (One individual evolves the capacity to behave in a certain way. The other individual then has to adapt to that so there is a co- adaptation process going on). Through effective game design, the coach can try and “nudge” the young learners into constantly trying to adapt new ways to counteract new strategies that opponents are introducing in to the game.
Manipulation of time and space task constraints to facilitate change in the perception action coupling
Training sessions should offer affordances – possibilities for action, choice, challenge and variability to the players/learners to learn and to re-learn.

The Use of Questioning and Context in Creating a Motivational Climate

Questions are a useful tool in generating feelings of involvement, relatedness and the promotion of self- determination behaviors. Questions in learning environments, that contain the key information sources present in performance or match environments can be a powerful tool. Questions can be directed at both groups and individuals and should be formulated to open the learner up to new perspectives or information to guide their perception and action.

Football is a game of constant decision making based on communication/information. Every training session should have as many aspects of football as possible. The aspects used should interact and should also influence each other.

Creating competitive stress

The best decision-makers in sport adapt their decisions and actions to a changing environment, and perform in unstable or uncertain situations. Coaches need to emphasize adaptability and variability in training, rather than the traditional approach that focuses mainly on repetition and stability of athlete decisions and actions.

What Are Coaches Looking For?

At soccer tryouts, coaches are looking for the strongest players to make up the best team possible. Sometimes, when the soccer tryouts are held, the coaches already know who their core team is, and they are looking for a few players who can fit in. But there are a whole lot of other variables that come into play. Once you know what a coach is actually looking for during your soccer tryouts, you can show off the skills and personality that will help you make the team.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Skill

In most cases, coaches are looking at how well a player performs the skills that are necessary to play soccer. If you can't perform these skills consistently during soccer tryouts, it's hard to have believe that you will be able to during a game. Some of the skills that you must be able to perform at the soccer tryouts are: tapping the ball, controlling the ball, taking a shot, dribbling and passing. The coaches are also looking at your soccer knowledge and instincts.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Conditioning

An average player with excellent conditioning will always catch a coach's eye. And so will the excellent player who is gasping for air 15 minutes into the soccer tryout. A coach will ask himself why this player didn't bother to get in shape or keep in shape. Being out of shape at a soccer tryout is saying that you 1) don't care, 2) are lazy and 3) not too smart if you thought being out of shape wouldn't matter. If you are out of shape, you not only let yourself down, but you let your team down as well.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Attitude

Are you "coach-able?" Do you pay attention and try to perform all the tasks requested to the best of your ability every time? Or do you lollygag? Do you work on your weaknesses so you can improve your skills or are you too busy making fun of the other players? Are you intelligent enough to know that you don't know everything there is to know about soccer? Are you flexible? Are you willing to learn new skills, techniques and strategies? Will you learn another position without complaining?

Do you work hard all the time, even when the coach isn't watching you? When the coach asks the team to run four laps, do you run three laps and walk one? Or worse yet, do you run only when the coach is looking? Do you try to improve your skills away from the soccer pitch?

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Speed

There are positions for slow players, if they are soccer smart. Speed is not a static skill. If you work hard at it, you can get faster and quicker. Unfortunately, soccer tryouts are not the place to turn over a new leaf and decide to improve yourself.

If you are lucky enough to be blessed with some speed, do you respect your gift? Do you take care of your legs? Do you warm up and cool down? Do you avoid mixing it up during practice? Do you avoid doing stupid things that would put your knees at risk?

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Agility

What is your reaction time? Are you agile enough to avoid collisions during practice? Can you move forwards, backwards, to the left and to the right, as well as all angles comfortably? Can you regulate your movements from long and slow to quick and sharp. Do you lift your feet up off the ground?

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Dedication.

When a coach is building a team, it's imperative to know that the players he selects are going to show up for every single game and tournament. He needs to be confident that his players are not out partying and breaking the team rules. Do you care enough about yourself and the team that you will take care of your body? Will you respect the bodies of your teammates and not try to hurt them in practice? Will you show up for all the practices even if it's raining? Even if it's cold? A coach needs a player who will never let the team down.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Are You a Problem Player?

Are you sassy and disrespectful to the coaches and the other players? Coaches know that kind of player is a cancer. If a player is mouthy during soccer tryouts, before the team is even chosen, it's a good indication that player could be a problem. Will you break team rules? Will you break the law? Do you do whatever you want, regardless of the repercussions? Are you disrespectful to the other players? Do you like to fight - verbally and physically? Are you overly dramatic? Is there always a problem? Are you a liar? Do you skip school? Are you smart enough to keep yourself academically eligible?

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Reputation

If you have caused your coaches and team problems in the past, there is a good chance that they are going to pass on you during these soccer tryouts. If you are trying out for a high school team, that's bad news for you, because there might not be another team to play on. But even if you're trying out for a club team, soccer is a small community, where everybody seems to know everybody, and coaches share information on players.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Intelligence

Do you have enough sense to know when Coach needs you to shut up? Do you know enough to tie your shoes? Do you remember to come to soccer tryout prepared? Do you learn from your mistakes? Do you know when to push harder and when to back off? Do you know when to do what you're told? Can you read the field? Do you remember other soccer players that you play against and how to beat them? Sometimes during soccer tryouts, coaches don't tell you everything you need to know. They sit back and see if you can figure out what they want.

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: Personality

Are you a whiner? Are you a complainer? Is it always someone else's fault? Are you mean and hurtful? Do you ridicule other players? Do you like other people to fail, even your own team mates? Do you think you're better than the other players? Do you think that the team rules do not apply to you? Do you think that you don't have to show up to practice and games on time?

Soccer Tryouts - What Coaches Look For: The X Factor

The X factor is that little something extra that you bring to a team. Sometimes a coach will take a player who doesn't have the skill, the speed or the agility of the ideal soccer player. Sometimes it's because the player tries so hard and plays with so much heart, that they are an inspiration to the other players. Sometimes the coaches feel that with a little more time and training that individual can become a very good soccer player. Sometimes the player is a motivator, cheerleader and a natural leader.

Last, but not least, many times a coach has to choose a player (or not choose a player) based on gut instinct. Many times soccer tryouts cannot reveal the true worth of a potential player. Most coaches don't get the chance to know you as a person before they make their team selection. They can see your skill, but they can't know what a hard worker you are unless you show them on the field. They can't tell how dedicated you are unless you show them. You aren't going to get a chance to have a nice sit down conversation with the coach. How you handle your soccer tryouts will reveal what the coach needs to know and whether there's a place for you on the team.

So, the moral of the story is: Be on time. Be prepared. Try your hardest. Be respectful. Give it all you got. And good luck!

Overcoming Negative Thoughts And Improving Your Confidence

When athletes call themselves "losers," "chokers," "wimps" or other negative names, it's a bad sign, especially when it comes down to confidence.

Athletes who label themselves with these negative terms hurt their confidence. They've got a little voice in their head that's constantly putting them down. This causes athletes to stay stuck...

Confidence is what you or your athletes need the most to feel successful, improve and have fun.

Too often, however, athletes fall into this trap of labeling- especially if they are given negative labels from teammates, coaches, and even parents, such as "choker."

The real damage is done when athletes adopt these negative labels as the truth- it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The negative labels begin to form an athlete's self-image.

As soon as you or your athletes adopt a label, they are hard to shake and keep confidence suppressed.

If you view yourself as a slow starter, you will be.

If you think you are going to choke, you will.

If you think you're not a top scorer, you won't be.

I think you get the idea...

Overcome Negative Self-Labels

-Step one: Make sure you identify any negative labels you use to describe yourself. They could be "I'm not a pressure player," or "I'm too small," or  "I always strike out."

-Step two: Rid yourself of these negative self-labels. Rationalize with yourself why they are not true. Pretend you are the most positive coach you know. Write them down on a piece of paper, and tear it up.

-Step three: Write down three confidence-boosting labels that describe your positive talents or qualities as an athlete. These could be "I'm a great team player," "I'm one of the best rebounders," or "I'm quick on my feet."

When you enter competition, focus on these positive labels that highlight your strengths and talents.

Motor Coordination: The ability to develop into any athlete

Whenever we talk about tactics, training organization and psychology, always looking for new answers to improve the soccer we impose on our athletes in Victory Soccer Club. However, although many coaches have a better sense than I have, many coaches do not even use coordination in training.

 

Our brain works in conjunction with our muscles, functioning as a complete system. This combination, which we call coordination, allows athletes to perform the various technical and tactical actions and the more evolved for motor coordination, athletes can perform various actions with more speed and efficiency. Remember that even we in daily activities, use motor coordination to perform the various tasks.

 

For example, as I write this article, my body is working fine motor skills. I am using small muscle groups such as the hands on the keyboard. Write on computer requires fine motor coordination. On the other hand, walk, jump, run, are actions that require gross motor skills. We need proper coordination for large muscle groups.

 

For soccer players, develop motor skills, is extremely important. In gross motor skills, the player develops his movement speed and direction changes for example, while in fine motor coordination, the player develops a relationship with the ball. Passes for example, or dribbles, requiring the athlete fine coordination.

 

 

 

 

We must evolve coordination of youth, always

The great athletes began early, some of them train with 4 or 5 years. We must begin to train motor skills from an early age, mainly because your body is developing. If a body is in development, can also more easily develop motor coordination, so that the athlete can move the muscles to take to make movements more accurately.

 

For the player to make a feint, first evaluates the conditions to do it, gathers emotions that helps to make the feint like displaying courage or as an option for the game situation. Then the athlete's brain will send commands to the muscles to perform the feint. Any movement needs the correct interaction between the nervous system and muscles, and when this interaction is more evolved, faster and more accurate movements will be.

 

Motor coordination is present in all

 

Muscles have limits of speed, resistance and strength. This means that we need to extend those limits, training the muscles. But however they are strong and resistant muscles, that is not enough, because to perform movements, we need to work in an organized manner. The brain must learn to work with the various muscles to do certain movement, and this is where motor coordination comes in.

 

In a shot for example, some muscles work more than others, and a pass are no longer exactly the same muscles working or with the same intensity. The brain must learn to distinguish which are the muscles that must work according to the situation, making them work as a whole, accurately. If the brain can not make muscles move in an accurate way, things will not go well for the athletes.

 

 

 

 

 

Effective coordination equals love of sport in young athletes

 

Kids, as we all know, have that desire to make lots of goals and many feints. But if things do not go well, sooner or later, end up getting tired and not want to play soccer. You need to anchor the taste for soccer early on, so that the player likes to be on the field and really wants to evolve.

 

The role of the coach, especially for younger kids, is to teach them to control the ball, the passing and dribbling, so that when they are 8, 9 or 10 years, are ready to evolve what they have learned. What I mean here is that the manager must develop the ability of the athlete while he is young, so that, after some time, it is capable of doing a little harder and evolve as an athlete.

 

First, we must teach and then evolve. We should, while they are young, evolve their ability, so that when they reach the seniors know how to make various technical and tactical actions, know why they do it and have the will to do. Only this way we can build champions.

 

 

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When Should You Shoot in Soccer?

The art of shooting is no easy meal.

While the action seems simple enough (kick ball, score goal, celebrate with teammates), there are a lot of factors that come into play. First off, there is that pesky goalie who is likely to stop any shot that isn’t either spot on are struck with great power.

You must also consider your best options; is there an open teammate, or should you perhaps fake the shot to get into better position? And of course there are a variety of other factors like defenders in your line of fire, the current game situation, your angle to the goal, and the list goes on and on. How does a player know when to shoot the ball?

The magic answer is that shooting the soccer ball totally depends on whether or not you are “feeling it”. When you are feeling it and confident that you will make a strong shot, such a great shot will likely ensue. When you don’t know what else to do and simply heave an effort towards goal, you’ll probably miss. Sometimes goals scored seem to come completely naturally to players. Several well-connected passes leaves the ball rolling to the striker in the penalty box and he or she is able to notch the goal in stride. When things start clicking, everyone is feeling it and a goal is very likely.

But aside from that, there are other things one must consider when shooting, because overly confident players might be “feeling it” every time they touch the ball. Think about what will benefit your team the most. If you have the potential to send in a shot from 25 yards out but see a pass that will set your striker up from far closer, perhaps you should send in that pass.

This can be an especially important principle late in the match if your team is chasing a goal. Hacking away at long distance efforts really isn’t smart unless you are quite sure you can put a decent effort on target (most youth players cannot). Therefore, use caution since you are most likely going to kick the ball out wide for a goal kick and the other team will surely take their sweet time getting the ball back in play. Meanwhile your teammates will all be glaring at you and muttering mean things under their breath!

But when you find the soccer ball at your feet in a good position and get that feeling like you could totally score a goal, blast away! So often in soccer, goals come from a player simply grasping onto an opportunity. When it is done right, it looks so easy! That’s because the player is ready in that moment and simply feels magnetically attracted into kicking the ball on the goal. Such occurrences will happen in a split second and will surprise even yourself in how spot on your shot was! So play soccer smart and always look for that next pass, but when you sense a goal scoring opportunity coming your way, simply go for it!

Join the Passion!

Victory Soccer Club - U.S.A.

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