How to - Soccer Shooting

Soccer shooting makes up for almost 70% of scoring in soccer, the other 30% being reserved to headers, own goals and the likes. As you can imagine, it's pretty important to learn how to shoot well if you’re ever going to score, especially if you're a striker or a central midfielder.

Soccer shooting can be divided into two sub categories, depending on the position of the ball and the method of striking it. Ground shots are taken when the ball is static or rolling on the ground, while volleys are performed with the ball in mid-air. There's also a third, rarer shooting option, when the ball is bouncing off the ground and you strike it when it's falling close to the ground. This technique is called a demi vollée, French for semi volley.

Let's take a look at how we're supposed to handle each of these soccer shooting methods correctly, then we'll move onto some other related stuff, such as learning how to improve your accuracy and power with shots.

Soccer Shooting - Ground Shots

There will be three main factors that you'll need to focus on when shooting a soccer ball from the ground: the position of your supporting leg, the position of your body and the way you strike the ball.

Position of the supporting leg – The placement of your supporting leg is extremely important when determining the accuracy of your shot. Together with the position of your body (which we will cover below), your supporting leg will determine the height of your shot. Actually, to a large extent, the position of your body is in turn determined by your supporting leg, so make sure you get this one done correctly.

Basically, if your leg is straight on the line with the ball, your shot will not take a lot of altitude, but it won't be as powerful either, because the extension of your shooting leg will be shorter.

The further back you move your supporting leg from the ball, the higher your shot will go, but since you'll also have room for a full movement of your shooting leg, it will also have greater power. The trick is to position your supporting leg depending on the distance you're taking the shot from, in order to combine height control with the right amount of power.

Position of the upper body – Like I said, there's a correlation between the position of your upper body and that of your supporting leg when determining how high a soccer ball will go.

The further away the leg is from the ball, the more your body will be forced to lean back, in order to allow your shooting leg to extend and hit the ball. This produces shots that take altitude easily and are usually not recommended.

In order to keep shots low and powerful, force your upper body slightly forward when taking a shot, but make sure you still leave enough room for your shooting leg to extend.

Ball striking – A ground shot can be taken by using the inside, outside, instep or front of the foot (the heel isn't usually considered in this category, since backheels have a special status in soccer shooting).

Each striking method has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, using the inside of your foot, you can imprint the ball with a curly trajectory that can often confuse goalkeepers, or avoid obstacles, such as the opposing team's wall at a free kick. Using the inside of your foot, you have the best control over the ball and its trajectory, but your shots won't be at full power.

Using the outside of your foot when shooting a soccer ball is rarely used, since you lack the control and power over the ball that an inside or instep shot would give you.

However, if you manage to master outside foot shots, they can be deadly for several reasons, the most important being that you can produce incredible curling shots going around obstacles in the other direction than is normally expected (see Roberto Carlos' 35-yard free kick in a friendly Brazil – France match for a perfect example of a curling shot with the outside of the foot).

Mastering soccer shooting with your instep is very important, since this part of your foot will give you the most power to transfer into your shots.

By striking the ball with your instep, you can perform the full body motion and leg extension to give your shot maximum power, unlike striking it with another part of your foot that has you trading power for accuracy. But don't get me wrong, instep shots can be powerful and accurate at the same time.

As long as you don't lean forward too much and keep the ball flying at a reasonable height, the opposing team's goalkeeper will have a hard time. So with instep soccer shooting, accuracy translates into "hitting the goal surface" basically. The power of the shot will do the rest from there.

You won't see a lot of soccer players hit the ball with the front of their foot from long range, although this method of striking the ball can give you some powerful shots. However, you have little control over the ball's height, so front foot shots are usually reserved for close quarters, for example a striker that controls the ball down in a forest of legs and needs to shoot.

The advantage is that striking the ball with this area of your foot requires a very small extension of your leg, so you can perform it very quickly when you don't have that extra second to extend your leg for an instep shot. In addition, the front part of the foot is also used when chipping the ball past a goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation, or when you can hardly reach the ball and you need to fully stretch your leg, ankle included.