In England the game of football was developed in 1863. In the United States, we call that game soccer and it is very popular on our side of the pond. In fact, it has been estimated that at least 284,000 boys and 209,00 girls play soccer in high school. Here are some professional soccer training tips to help you succeed in the sport.
- Always work on the speed of your play. When you are playing soccer, you should always be trying to play faster. If you are thinking about how to learn soccer, you should work on your speed. Professional soccer training experts note that the skill level is not the main difference between the pros and everyone else. The speed of play is the main differentiation between the people who play professional soccer and other players. When you are able to speed up your play, you will find you have more time to make decisions and will touch the ball less.
- Work on your footwork away from the ball. When people are working to learn how to play soccer they have a hard time with this concept but professional soccer training experts say it is critical to success in the sport. A player’s work away from the ball can greatly influence how well they handle it when they get to touch it. In between a player’s touchings of the ball, they need to prepare themselves for the next time they touch it.
- Look out for the other players on your team. When a team plays together, they all work to defend each other and this is a very important skill to hone and will lead to more wins on the field. Many players only defend themselves on the field. Your soccer team is not a group of individuals but should be one unit that works for each other all of the time. If you see someone who is being guarded by another player go into score and you can stop them, you need to. A team that works this way together has much more success than when all 11 players on a team play just for themselves.
- Be faster about shutting down opponents. This is another reason to start learning to play faster. You want to give your opponents the very smallest amount of time possible to do whatever they are trying to do. You do not want your opponents to have the time to get into position to make the shot they want to make nor should you allow them the time for their decision making process to work. The faster your play is, the easier this will be for you to accomplish.
- Help your opponents get themselves into bad positions. Direct your moves to make your opponents run into trouble say professional soccer training experts. If you see weaknesses in opponents such as having trouble kicking the ball to the left. Make them kick the ball to the left and you will get the better of them. Force them to run in a direction they do want to go in. Make them uncomfortable with their game.
- Get control of the ball as much as you can. The more time you have with the ball under your own control, the better your play will be when you have the ball. Often when a player makes a mistake with the ball, they shy away from it. This is the opposite of what they should do if they want to overcome that problem. If you have an issue or make a mistake, you need to “get back on the horse” as quickly as you can. This is how you learn soccer skills.
- Play offense and defense. When you are working on your soccer skills, playing both offense and defense you become better at playing both. You will learn to see the weaknesses and strengths of each position and can become a better player overall. You will make yourself a better attacker and defender by adopting this strategy. By becoming more involved in the play of the game, you will improve your skills much faster.
Soccer is a great sport. It is appreciated all over the globe by millions of people.
