Faisal’s Coaching Corner: Principles of shooting a dead ball

By Faisal Amir Khan, AFC ‘C’ Licence Coach, Ex-Manager Competitions PFF.

You have to score to win a game. Shooting the dead ball is a skill all strikers and offensive mid fielders in a team must be good at. We have also seen during the past full-backs and centre-backs who can shoot a ball into the top corner and be the extra offensive arsenal their team needs, Roberto Carlos and Thomas Vermaelen for instance.

Here are some principles following which youngsters can shoot an accurate dead ball and ultimately score loads of goals for the teams they end up playing for.

How to shoot a dead ball:

1)      Try to focus where you want to shoot in ur mind, i.e visualize the target and the shot too.

2)      Place ur non-kicking foot parallel to the ball, distance 4 to 6 inches according to players height.

3)      The knee of the non-kicking foot should be bend just a little, so that the kicking foot is adjusted to hit properly.

4)      The toe of the non-kicking foot should point towards the target.

5)      Bring ur body above the ball so that more force is generated.

6)      The toe of the kicking foot should be pointing towards the ground.

7)      Hit the ball with the middle of the foot that is where the laces are in normal shoes and hit the ball a little lower from centre of the foot.

8)      The knee of kicking foot should also be bend.

9)      Hit it with full force , for beginners who are afraid of the foot hitting the ground they can use less force.

10)   Swing ur kicking leg like a pendulum but not back again. When kicking leg contracts your hamstrings which are three muscles they expand generating  lot of energy and when they expand the quadriceps contract. (working of muscles will be discussed in detail soon)

11)   There should be follow through action.

The writer has given a few lectures to physical education students and one lecture to all PFF elite coaches aid 27 coaches in a refresher course. The writer welcomes all feedback, positive or negative, and will respond to queries of footballers!