Today I’m going to talk to you about soccer. I’ve had a passion for soccer since I was very little. My dad and uncles had always watched soccer which made me a soccer fanatic. I always followed my dad’s footsteps in which teams he follows, till this date as well. I would say I first kicked a ball having full consciousness when I was either 3 or 4. Throughout the years my technique has obviously gotten better. Then I finally joined a team back when I was 8. Now I could say that I’m a qualified soccer expert. So I’m going to tell you how to kick a soccer ball like a professional.
Soccer was never really invented. The earliest evidence of soccer was back in the ancient years. It was back around 206 B.C to 220 A.D. At the time it was called “Tsu Chu” as it was in ancient China. Tsu Chu in English means kicking a ball. Back then it was a training exercise to kick a ball through an opening in a net. As the game has evolved so much throughout the years; as it’s also the world’s most popular sport. Everything has evolved from the ball to field, rules and strategies. Also the way players kick the ball has changed and improved so much. I’m guessing that back then they used to kick the ball using the front of their foot. That’s pretty much how every non soccer player would kick it. But that’s probably the worst form anyone can kick the ball. So, I’m going to tell you the different ways to kick a ball.
One way and the most basic way when passing the ball, it’s using the inside of your foot. That means if you’re right footed, you use the left side. That’s the most proper way to pass a football (soccer). That technique is only for passing as there’s not much power behind it. So highly recommended to not shoot using the inside or the left/ right side of foot. Another way is using your shoe laces. This technique is mainly when shooting but can also be used when kicking the ball far. When you shoot and use your laces, you generate a lot of power. Another way that is used when you shoot a ball is to hit the ball in between the inside and your laces. That’s a little more confusing but it’ll become easy with practice. With this technique you can shoot the ball with a curve. You can also curve the ball in the opposite direction by using the outside of your. Since it’s pretty hard to kick efficiently with both legs, a lot of people (including me) use the same foot for everything. Now instead of using the inside part to curve, you use the outside part to curve both directions with one foot. These techniques are the most basic kicks in soccer, now I’m going to talk about what you can achieve with the different parts of your foot.
As I said earlier, hitting with your shoe laces or top of the foot, it generates power. This is really effective for shooting. When you generate a lot of power, you can hit a pretty difficult shot called a knuckleball. When it comes to shooting with your actual toes, there’s only three methods. One is called a lob, the other a chip and the last one is a toe poke. The lob is used when you want to get the ball over a player. You would put your toes under the ball and all you have to do is lift it up. A chip is very similar but a chip has more power because you have more of a run up when getting it over a player.Then a toe poke is when people simply kick it with their toes. Also when you curve the ball with the outside of your foot, it’s called a trivela. So that’s most techniques and ways to kick a soccer ball, but I’m sure there’s way more than the ones I explained.
In conclusion, soccer is more skill-based than people think. Here I only talked about kicking the actual ball. There’s way more strategic and tactical plays that come into soccer. So hopefully I was able to explain to you how to kick a soccer ball in different ways. Maybe I even inspired some of you guys to start liking soccer or football.
Osvaldo Garcia – St. Patrick High School – DMSF Class of 2027