
Attack to defence – practice 1
Your team has lost the ball - these practices will help sharpen their reactions to win it back. By Dave Knox MORE
There has been a bit of a debate going on between some of our readers and on our forum, The Dug-Out, over how to coach the simple soccer passing technique. So these are our soccer coaching tips.
Key soccer coaching tip: Passing accurately and quickly requires practice.
There are lots of ways to pass the ball – with the outside of the foot, in the air, driven along the ground, even backwards using the heel – but the easiest and most accurate, whether straight to a teammate or into space for them to run onto, is the sidefoot pass.
Tips on side-foot soccer passing technique
But getting the technique right isn’t the end of the story – there are two other skills players should work on perfecting: timing and weight.
1. Timing tips
Get this wrong, for example, pass too early or too late, and the momentum of a move can stall. For example, a forward pass before a striker is ready to make their run could run harmlessly out of play, while delaying a pass too long can give defenders time to block off space and the passing angle, or mean your striker strays offside.
2. The ‘weight’ or power of a pass
Similarly, get the weight wrong, for instance, too heavy or too light, and that can also mean the end of an attack. Too heavy and a teammate could have trouble controlling the ball, while too light and the ball might not have the pace to reach the teammate, allowing a defender to intercept it.
A WELL ‘WEIGHTED’ PASS WILL ALLOW A TEAMMATE TO CONTROL THE BALL WITH A MINIMUM OF EFFORT, GIVING THEM TIME AND SPACE.
Click here for a soccer drill to coach the side-foot pass.