How to Improve Your Ball Striking

Jul 30 , 2018

Ron Miranda

How to Improve Your Ball Striking

Hitting everything but the back of the net? Stay calm. Well, the best strikers in world football don’t win Golden Boots by chance. We’ve got the drills to help you hit the net every time.

Listed below are the things that you really need to keep in mind.

 1.  Shoot with power

A fierce shot can be the difference between finding the net and finding the goalkeeper’s gloves – the more power on your strike, the less time they have to react. Learn to connect with the ball correctly and the power will come, especially if you add gym work to that technique training. Unleash your inner He-Man and snap the keeper’s wrists.

2. Shoot with accuracy

There’s no point having a shot like a cannon firing if you’re just going to decapitate corner flags. Nearly all goals come with a precision finish. “The key is to get your foot and head over the ball, and make the goalkeeper work,” says Jimmy Gilligan, head coach of the Nike Academy. He’s not wrong. 

3. Score from every one-on-one

It’s a striker’s dream: you’re through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. Then you miss. But not any more you won’t, provided you follow ex-Liverpool poacher Robbie Fowler’s advice. “To make it second nature you need to practice one-on-ones over and over again in training.” And having scored 162 Premier League goals, he should know.

4. Learn from the masters

If its pro tips you’re after, remember some of the best strikers ever have shared their goal scoring secrets. Whether it’s Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimović on choosing the right moment to shoot, or Arsenal legend Thierry Henry on ‘freezing’ the goalkeeper one-on-one, you can hear shooting advice straight from the horse’s mouth.

5. Copy the stars’ favorite drills

Every sharp-shooter in professional football worked on the training ground to up his strike rate, repeating drills that challenge and improve their technique. If those practices are good enough for them, they’re good enough for anyone. So grab some cones, bibs and mates and get cracking – you’ll be hitting hat-tricks in no time.

6. Score from long range

Fact: scoring a goal from distance is one of the most satisfying feelings in football. Long-range net-bulgers aren’t flukes, though. “I always look forward to shooting drills, and this is one of my favorites,” says Ashley Young, who’s scored more than a few goals from outside the box. “It replicates a realistic game situation, and practice makes perfect.”

7. Be a fox in the box

Of course, most goals come from close range – so finding space in the area to get a shot away or convert a cross is a vital skill. “Scoring is based on instinct but there are things you can work on,” explains Michael Owen, one of the game’s great penalty-box poachers, “like picking up a position where defenders can’t see you”.

8. Shoot with swerve

Keepers hate facing a swerving, curling, dipping, shot – just look Gareth Bale’s success with knuckleball free-kicks at Euro 2016. So don’t rely on the wind, but learn the techniques to put vicious curl on the ball. First: “Strike the ball in the middle,” advises trick shot expert Nani. “This makes it move side-to-side, which is very difficult for the goalkeeper.”

9. Practice only the best drills

We don’t enjoy saying it but training is the only way to improve in football, especially shooting. When you receive the ball with defenders all around you, hitting the target with power and precision needs to be second nature. As Charlie Austin says: “The goal never moves” – so learn these drills until you can score with your eyes closed.

 

Here is one of the best equipment to train for your striking and scoring.

  1. Pro Target Net

 

 

This particular equipment builds the vision and muscle memory needed to increase scoring chances ideal for practice, training and recreation. It comes with 4 grass spikes and free carry bag. A very effective equipment that is quality tested by Professionals.