Soccer is strict about the ball being played with only the foot.
Even the goalkeepers who are allowed to use their hands can only use them in goalkeeping actions i.e. when an opponent kicks the ball to score a goal.
Once they make the save, they must switch the ball to their feet after six seconds of holding the ball.
This rule was introduced in 1998 because goalkeepers held on to the ball for some time to buy time for their teams. Soccer, being a sport that tries to minimize the use of hands, introduced the six-second rule for goalkeepers.
This is why the most basic soccer skill is kicking the ball.
There are several types of kicks: passes, shots, knuckleball, finesse shots, chip shots, etc. Now, you will discover how to kick a ball and what type of kick goes with what you want to achieve.
9 Steps to Kick a Soccer Ball
There are around nine steps to kicking a soccer ball.
1. Perfect Your First Touch
Ball control is an underrated part of playing soccer. Being able to bring the round leather to a stop at a whim with your feet is one of the fastest ways to be able to master every other soccer skill. This is why juggling as a skill is important for players to learn.
Juggling also helps with your first touch, which is the most important touch before kicking a ball. In soccer games, the ball is rarely ever stationary, which means you have to control the ball first before kicking it.
A good first touch is:
- Directed the way you want to pass or dribble
- Out of reach of defenders
- Out from under your feet to allow you to move and play at pace
2. Focus Your Eye on the Ball
Kicking is easy, but beginners in soccer make it complicated. This is because they focus on other bits, rather than on the ball.
There are two main actions involved in kicking a ball:
- The movement of the leg/feet
- The striking of the ball.
The common denominator here is that the player’s eyes have to be on the ball to be struck.
After taking your kicking stance, keep your eyes on the ball. Depending on the type of kick you want to perform, you should focus on the part of the ball which will give you the best result when you strike with your feet.
Focusing on the receiver or the goal renders the kick ineffective.
3. Pay Attention to Your Feet
As stated earlier, one of the main actions involved in kicking a ball is your foot movement.
Proper foot placement is crucial for whatever kick you want to perform. Whether it’s a shot, a lob, or a pass, how you approach the ball matters.
The trick to this is making sure your ankles are strong. Just like your wrists are important to your hands and all the actions you will perform with them, so are your ankles to your feet.
Make sure to strengthen your ankles with the right exercises so that you can plant your feet properly when you kick the ball.
Always point your non-kicking foot in the direction of the kick. If you want to kick right, your non-kicking foot, which helps you stabilize yourself, should be pointed right, and vice versa.
If you want to shoot the ball, the toes of your non-kicking foot should be planted firmly, almost like you want to grip the grass. Never plant on your tiptoes if you want more power, but the foot must be pointed toward the direction of your kick.
As you learn advanced kicking techniques, you will see how to trick your opponents with your foot placement.
4. Create a “V” With Your Shooting Leg
This simply means bending your knee as far back as you can before you kick the ball.
When your non-kicking foot is planted, your kicking foot should go up in preparation for the kick.
The more you can bend the knee of your kicking leg so that the kicking foot’s heel can almost touch your buttocks, the more power you can generate for your kicks.
In essence, a narrower “V” means more power, while a wider “V” means less power. For best results, do flexibility/mobility work in the gym.
5. Maintain Your Posture
Kicking posture is important if you want more accurate kicks. Try to remain upright before going for the kick, and don’t lean too far in one direction.
You may choose to lean forward or backward, but be careful that you don’t lean too far away from the ball.
Doing this can cause you to slip or to fail your kick. The importance of correct leaning is seen in how your foot is positioned before and after the kick. Do lots of posture workouts in the gym to correct poor posture.
6. Angle Your Body
The kicking motion also involves your body. We’ll talk more about why your body is important a little further down this article.
What you have to learn in this section is simple: kicks work well when the whole of your body is angled. A straight kick requires you to stand perpendicularly to the ball.
A kick to either side of you means you have to tilt your body—the more the tilt, the better the results.
Use your hands to stabilize yourself as you attempt your kick for the best results.
7. Kick with the Correct Part of Your Foot
This can be tricky for beginner soccer players, but with time, it becomes easy.
In soccer, your foot is divided into four parts: the heel (for back heel kicks). The sides (in and outside; used for passes and finesses shots), the top of the foot (where the boot’s laces are; used for power shots), and the “sweet spot” (between the toes and the inside of the foot; used for knuckleballs and chips).
The toes are not counted because of how prone to injuries they are, but they are also deployed in certain cases, like chipping the ball.
When you know the kind of kick you want to perform, you will know what part of your foot you should use for your kick. You will not get the result you require otherwise.
8. Follow Through Your Body
Kicking is not just an action performed with your legs.
Your legs are the primary tools, but your whole body has to move in unison. Your hips and torso, especially.
When you apply all the knowledge shared above, it is the movement of your hips and torso that generates the right amount of power for whatever type of kick you want to perform.
Little movement of your body means less power generated in your legs, which will be transferred to your kicking foot.
Do flexibility exercises for a stronger hip and torse to generate the right amount of kicking power.
9. Practice hard
Practicing is the key to any improvements in soccer.
Whether it’s kicking, dribbling, or ball control, the more you practice a soccer skill, the better you get.
Portuguese veteran soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the sport’s greatest players, perfected the knuckleball kicking technique.
His teammates said that he would stay behind after every training session to practice this kick over and over again.
With time, nobody could hit a knuckleball like him, and because of his mastery over it, he was erroneously credited as the inventor of the technique.
Practice, as they say, makes perfect.
Final Thoughts
Again, nothing beats practice.
Nobody was born with the perfect kicking technique. Every coach drills this into players once they begin their soccer journey.
The more you kick, the more you understand the kind of power you can generate and how to correct/improve it.
One thing you must avoid, however, is kicking with your toes. The toes are the most important part of your foot; you cannot play soccer when they’re injured.
Learn how to use the four main parts of your foot and understand the various kicking techniques to save yourself a trip to the doctor’s.
Now, it’s time to practice kicks!
