Soccer: Essential skills

Soccer: four key skills

Like every sport, children can spend a lifetime learning and developing techniques in soccer. Even the very best in the world are open to learning new soccer skills. But to get started in the ‘Beautiful Game’, there are four essential soccer skills that your child needs to hone: Passing, Dribbling, Shooting, and Tackling.

passing

soccer is a team sport, and to play well, your child needs to be able to pass the ball to the other players on their team. As your child progresses, they will practice passing over larger and larger distances. To kick things off, though, this soccer skill will focus on short passes.

⚽️ Step 1 – Plant the non-kicking foot: Ask your child to place their non-kicking foot next to the ball. This foot should be pointing in the direction of the target – or person – your child wants to kick the ball to.

⚽️ Step 2 – Use the inside of the foot: Your child will likely be tempted to hit the ball with the front of their foot. Instead, we want to kick the ball with the inside of the foot, meaning that the toe on their kicking foot is pointing ‘out’. Rather, their toe needs to be pointing ‘out’. With the knee slightly bent, ask them to kick the ball.

⚽️ Step 3 – The follow-through: When your child kicks the ball, ask them to follow through with their leg in the direction they want the ball to go. This action will help to ensure it goes in the right direction.

Dribbling

Dribbling – or running with the soccer – is an essential soccer skill for every player to learn. Getting good at dribbling takes time and practice, but there are some fun drills your child can do at home.

⚽️ Step 1 – Take small, gentle touches: Oftentimes, children will kick a ball a few meters ahead of themselves and chase after it. That is (very) basic dribbling. However, we want to encourage close control when they dribble. Instead of kicking it too far ahead, ask them to try and kick it one or two steps ahead. In this way, we want their movement to be kick-step-kick-step.

⚽️ Step 2 – Using different parts of the foot: If they want to run with the ball, encourage your child to try and kick it using the top of their shoe, or the laces. This will enable them to run and dribble in a straight line.

⚽️ Step 3 – Changing direction: If your child wants to beat a defender – or dribble around the kitchen table – they need to be able to change direction. As they slow themselves down, they should use the inside or outside of the foot to turn left or right with the ball. Again, encourage close control.

⚽️ Final tip – Look up: It can be tempting for a child to look at the ball when dribbling. However, on a soccer pitch, it’s much more important for them to see what is going on around them. As they become more confident with the ball, encourage them to glance ahead of themselves rather than down at the ball.

Shooting

This is the soccer skill most kids want to perfect. Shooting means scoring goals (or trying to), and scoring goals means winning a game. You don’t need a proper soccer goal to practice shooting – ‘sweaters for goalposts’ is a common game around the world.

At this stage, we are interested in developing coordination and accuracy, but as your child progresses they will learn how to lift and spin the ball.

⚽️ Step 1 – Get ready to shoot: Like the pass, your child’s non-kicking foot should be planted close to the ball, pointing in the direction they want to shoot. Make sure their body is leaning over the ball.

⚽️ Step 2 – Shoot with the laces: Different parts of the foot will do different things to the ball. If your child wants to kick the ball hard, they should use the front of the foot (the laces) to kick through the ball. If they want to shoot with accuracy, they should use the inside of the foot, like they do when passing. Tell them to keep their eyes on the ball, then kick!

⚽️ Step 3 – Follow through: This is important. Ensure that the kicking foot swings through the ball in the direction they want it to go – this will help to guide the ball towards the goal.

Tackling

Every soccer player needs to learn how to tackle and defend. We’ll explore tackling techniques in the next level, but for now it is worth emphasizing:

⚽️ The goal is to win the ball, not go through the opponent: Explain to your child that tackling means winning the ball, not knocking an opponent over.

⚽️ Stay on your feet: In soccer, players are not allowed to kick one another, nor are they allowed to push each other over. Doing either of those things results in a ‘foul’ and a ‘free kick’ to the opponent.

⚽️ How to practice: If your child wishes to practice tackling, play gentle games where they try to take the ball off you or a friend. If they kick a leg or foot instead of the ball, stop the game and award a free kick. It is essential to enforce safe tackling from the outset of learning the game.

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