Soccer Drills – Teach Your Young Soccer Players to Shoot Like the Pros

What makes a great striker or centre forward? Surely it is the ability to score goals. Nobody remembers how hard a striker worked off the ball, or how they pressured the opposition defence. Everyone remembers the goals they scored, or the ones that they did not score. Traditionally as players grow towards senior ranks there will be fewer goal scoring opportunities for strikers, and so they must be able to take the ones that they get. Balance, speed, agility and power are the key characteristics that make a great young striker. The soccer drills that you use at training should develop these attributes in your young strikers.

When using shooting drills at training, the first thing I do is make clear areas in the goal in which I want them to shoot. I use hats or cones, which I usually place about 2 metres inside of each post. As players become more proficient move the hats closer to the goal posts. To start I encourage the players to shot along the ground, and as they become more proficient I encourage them to shoot into the top corners. As strikers mature I also encourage them to take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing goalkeeper. If it is a tall keeper that is strong in the air I encourage them to shoot along the ground, or if I know the keeper is not strong in the air I encourage them to shoot at the top corners.

Power and coordination are key attributes of a good striker. I use tennis balls at training to help develop these attributes. Using a small ball encourages the players to watch the ball more closely. They will find this frustrating at first and there will be some funny moments at training, but I guarantee that a striker that can shoot well with a tennis ball will be dynamite with a soccer ball. I particularly like to use a tennis ball for first time shot drills, and volley drills as I find it most effective.

Strikers will face many different situations in a game. It is important that you practice these at training with a variety of soccer drills. A good striker must know when to hit a shot first time and when to take a touch. A good striker will know when to have a shot themselves and when to lay the ball off to a teammate. Practice different types of shots including volleys, first time shots, lobs, shooting with their weaker foot, shooting with their head, and shooting on the turn are a few of the different situations that you can practice at training to improve the proficiency of your strikers.

The final element that I like to include at training is always an element of realism. Make them beat a defender and then take a shot. Make them beat the goalkeeper. I always watch my strikers closely to see how many times they hit the goalkeeper with their shot. If this is happening frequently you will see that they look directly at the goalkeeper when taking a shot. Encourage them to look at the spot where they want the ball to go and not to look at the goalkeeper. You will need to reinforce this many times at training if you have a striker that consistently hits the goalkeeper with their shot. If they are shooting over the bar consistently encourage them to keep their head down over the ball, and to place the ball into the net. Trying for too much power tends to make the head go up and the ball go over the bar. The other thing I watch for is how strong they are on their weaker foot. A one footed striker is much easier to defend against.

If you want your young strikers to shoot like pros your training drills must focus on the key aspects which make a good striker. These are power, speed, agility and balance. Teach them to shoot in different situations at training so they make good decisions on the field. Make sure the training drills have an element of realism. Give them targets to aim at in the goals, develop their power and coordination, and practice, practice, practice.