5 Soccer Drills to Create Better Shooters

Originally Published in: Athletic Lift

Provided by: Amplified Soccer

This article comes from Athletic Lift. Athletic Lift is your resource for sporting tips and athletic reviews.

Getting an opportunity to score a goal is a rare occasion in soccer games. When the moment arrives, you want to be prepared and confident to kick and score the ball.

Practice can help train your body to react for this type of moment. That's why it's important to run drills during your practices and training. Shooting drills can help improve your shooting accuracy and make you more familiar with scoring situations.

Soccer drills can vary from individual drills to team drills. Since soccer is a team sport, we'll focus on team drills. This can also help build chemistry with your teammates.

1. Kicking the Keeper

This drill is effective not only for training shooting skills, but it also helps improve your goalkeeper.

Players line up like an arc around the goalpost. You can use the 18-yard box as an arc reference. Each player will take turns kicking the soccer ball and trying to score while the goalkeeper will try to block it. Most teams use this as part of their warm-ups and training camps.

2. Competing for Goal

This is a great drill for practicing situations where you scramble to get the ball. It imitates pressure situations where your team fights to get possession of the ball in the scoring zone. Here is how you can execute this drill:

1. The coach or trainer will stand 18 - 20 yards away from the goalpost.
2. The players will form two teams and stand 32-90 feet away from the coach.
3. The coach will then lay the ball down and one player from each time will sprint towards the ball and kick it to the goalpost.

You can add a variety or modify it to suit your team needs. Placing cones while they weave through them can increase their agility. You can also add a goalkeeper to increase the level of difficulty of this drill.

3. Give and Go

The give and go is a fairly easy drill that also aims to improve your passing. Here's how this drill works:

1. You pass the ball to a teammate.
2. Right after passing the ball, you then sprint towards that teammate.
3. Your teammate will then soft touch pass back the ball to you, and you kick the ball to the goal.

There are other modifications you can use. You can add a goalkeeper to the goalpost or add one or more passes as you move towards the goalpost with your teammate. Add a defender while you attempt the pass for more difficulty.

4. Turn and Shoot

Turn and Shoot is a great drill for improving ball control and attempting a shot with your face against the goalpost.

1. Make three passing outposts. It can be midfield or near the corner. The distance is all up to your team.
2. Call for a pass from one of the outposts with your back facing the goalpost. Your teammate will then cross pass the ball to you.
3. Your role is to catch and gain control of the ball. Afterward, attempt to shoot the ball towards the goalpost.

You can practice turning around with the ball and attempt to make a shot. If you're athletic enough you can even try a bicycle kick for style points. Do not attempt it if you're still not used to control the ball or you would just end up with injuries.

5. Agility Drill Shot

Agility Drill Shots are mostly done in training camps to stretch out the legs and improve the players movement around the field. Agility drill helps loosen up your leg muscles and improve your agility in the field. You can also do this if you're alone as long as you have the following items:

• Agility ladder
• Drill cones
• Soccer ball

To perform this drill, do the following:

1. Place the agility ladder 18-20 yards away from the goalpost.
2. Next, place the cones about 2-3 yards apart.
3. Start near the agility ladder and hop through it.
4. After finishing with the agility ladder, you must alternately weave through the cones.
5. After weaving through the cones, sprint towards the ball and kick it towards the goal.
6. You can have 3-5 balls standby side by side for repetition purposes.

Conclusion

Soccer drills help you get better at the game. The more time you spend in practice, the more you'll get better at soccer. Make sure you're doing the drills properly to avoid accidents and injuries.