How To Shoot In Soccer

Whether you are looking to start playing soccer seriously, or just want to kick the ball around with some friends, eventually you will need to kick the ball into the back of the net and to do that, you need to learn how to shoot in soccer. There are a number of ways to shoot a soccer ball, depending on how you position your foot in relation to the ball. If you kick the ball with the inside of your foot, you have a large amount of control but lose a lot of power. If you kick the ball with the front of your foot, you generate a ton of power in the shot, but lose a large amount of control. Learning how to shoot involves learning how to position your body and foot to generate a lot of power, without sacrificing too much control. These instructions will be for right-footed players, so left-footed players should simply reverse them.

1. Place your left foot to the left and a few inches behind the ball. The exact location will depend on how long your legs are, so adjust the position as you practice until you find a comfortable placement.
2. Point your planting foot in the direction that you want the ball to go. As you improve this will not be as important, but when you are just starting out you need your entire body pointing in the correct direction.
3. Bring your right leg back to generate power. A short backswing is better while you are learning.
4. Swing your right leg forward and make contact with the ball. To shoot, you want to strike the back of the ball with the area of your foot located between the laces and your instep. Your toes should be pointed a little to the right of the ball. The further to the right your toes are pointed, the more control you will have on the ball, at the expense of power.
5. Follow through on your swing by bringing your leg across your body. Following through is extremely important as it guarantees that your swing continues through the ball. Without following through you may inadvertently stop your swing early and cause the ball to go flying in every direction.
   
6. Practice, practice, practice. The ball will not consistently fly straight until you get your muscles used to this movement. The only way to do that is to practice.