Are You Right or Left Footed?

The instructor for my E/D coaching license was Hans de Graef. Great guy. Must have been in his 60s at the time. He was recovering from knee surgery caused by a parachute accident. But he was still out there. I guess very little kept him from the soccer field. But I digress.

One of the questions he asked each coach during the course was whether he/she was right or left footed? I, along with most of the other coaches answered right footed and like most of the other coaches, I was wrong. The correct answer was, “both”. To this day I still remember that question and pose it to every player I coach.

Whenever I ask the question, a lot of kids will argue that ‘both’ was not an option. Had it been, they naturally would have chosen ‘both’. This may be true but on the soccer field, when young players are given the option of controlling or shooting the ball, they will often choose to play the ball with their dominant foot.

It is critical for youth soccer players to develop proficiency and a high degree of comfort with both feet. This means:

• Practice juggling with both feet
• Not running around a ball to play it with the dominant foot
• Shooting the ball with the weaker foot
• Playing on the left side of the field when the preference is the right side

Players will always have a dominant foot and that is OK. But good players will easily be able to play any ball with either foot (or leg). If you want to be a good player, always remember the preferred answer to the question, “Are you right or left footed?”

“Coach, I am BOTH.”

2-3 Goal Difference Per Game: Goal Kicks

Unless the defending team has a goalie or defender with a strong leg, an offensive team will have several opportunities a game to intercept a goal kick at the top of the penalty area with only the goalie and possibly one defender to beat. In these situations, the offensive team stands a very good chance of scoring a goal.

In this case, the offensive team should:

• Camp a few forwards just outside the penalty box
• If the player can kick the ball further, the forwards should be positioned 5 yards nearer the goal than where the ball lands. Line up the midfielders 5 to 10 yards behind the forwards. Spread the players out to cover a large area of the field.
• Since younger players tend to telegraph where they plan to kick the ball, simply have the forwards follow the eyes of the player taking the goal kick.

The rules state that a ball is not in play until it has completely left the penalty area. Therefore, there is no reason for an offensive player to stand inside the penalty area. When the ball is touched by any player inside the penalty area, the goal kick will be re-taken. Some league or tournaments allow goal kicks to be taken from the top of the penalty area. The same strategy should be applied to these kicks as well but when they are intercepted, the offensive player is further from the goal. This is a nice way to counteract teams that employ this strategy, especially against weaker opponents or team that don’t have strong kickers.

Defensive Strategy

Conversely, if you are the defending team that is not blessed with a strong leg in the back and your goal kicks are constantly getting picked off and creating easy scoring opportunities, employ one of these tricks:

• Have your strongest-legged player, even if it is a forward, taking all goal kicks, especially when kicking against the wind.
• Don’t be afraid to have your goalie take the goal kicks. If their leg is not that strong, make sure to place 1 defender in goal and possibly another defender around the penalty area. Because this player is in the penalty area, they can’t have the ball passed to them. However, they will be in a position to defend immediately.
• Take the goal kicks quickly before the offensive team has time to set up.
• Have the kicker avoid telegraphing the kick. Have them look one way but kick the other
• Kick to ball out the side of the penalty area. If the ball is picked off on the side, the chances of scoring are considerably less than when a ball is picked off at the top of the box. Also if the ball goes out-of-bounds for a throw-in, a throw-in is better than giving the ball up in front of the goal.
• Toe-poke the ball. Though it is not pretty and the ball may not always go where they want it to, some younger kids get more distance on their kicks using their toe.
• Ask the referee before the game if they will allow goal kicks to be taken from the top of the penalty spot.