Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/513318-foot-injuries-from-soccer/#ixzz1sjTypUNj

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1. Take a touch.

Try shooting a ball you are on top of.  It is much harder to shot, and you lose power and accuracy. Shooting a ball that is at an awkward position will take much of the power off of your shot.

How you touch the ball depends on what type of shot you are using.  You need to approach the ball at an angle when using a standard shot, for instance, while setting yourself up for a straight shot is much easier.

Additionally, your touch should be away from defenders so they cannot block the shot, or take the ball away from you.

You can either touch the ball with the inside, the outside, or the laces of your foot.  With practice, you will learn how touch the ball so you can get a shot off effectively.

Learn more by reading Looking to Shoot

2.  Look Up (optional).

Before shoot the ball, you may want to look up at the goalie to see where he/she is.  This allows you to decide where to shoot.  Only do this if you have enough time to pick your head up.  There will be many times though, where you do not have time for this.

Notice that I didn’t tell you to look up to see where the goal is.  You should develop your soccer radar, so this is unnecessary; however, if you haven’t you can take a peek at the goal, but it is best if you always know where the goal is.

3.  Look at the Ball

This is a part that beginning players often get wrong.  They naturally want to look at the ball, but with all the confusion going on around them, they look up at opposing players, at the goal, and at the goalie.

This leads to the player “just kicking the ball and hoping.”  The player has little control over where the ball goes, and so it often misses the goal.

To avoid this, you need to look at the ball for the entire shooting procedure.  Stare at the part of the ball that you want to strike and focus on hitting it there.

To do this, it is important to know the parts of a soccer ball.

4. Place your foot.

Many shooters only think about the foot that kicks the ball, but much of the power of the shot depends on where you place your place foot (the foot not shooting the ball).  You can greatly alter your shot, just by slightly changing the position of your place foot.

To place your place foot, you perform a little hop.  You probably do this already, but haven’t noticed it before.  It is important that you practice this because it is a very important part of the soccer shot.

Depending on the type of soccer shot, you should put your place foot in different positions, but in general, you should place your place foot even with the ball.  If you want some more loft on the ball, you can place your foot slightly behind the ball, while if you need to keep the ball on the ground (or you are running) you can place your foot a little ahead of the ball.

Width-wise, you should keep your foot at a comfortable place.  Many players have there place foot way too far away (width-wise) from the ball, and this results in shots that go way wide of the goal.

Place foots for specific shots are covered in the types of soccer shots article.

5.  Swing your arms.

Swinging your arms fluidly while shooting provides balance, and increases power.  This may seem small, but it will improve your shot.

Look at using your arms in soccer to learn more.

6.  Bring back your shooting leg.

You want to bring it back as far as you comfortably can.  Your leg should create a v-shape.  The farther you bring your leg back, the more chance you have for momentum.

Many players don’t go back far enough.  Just making this easy adjustment can have a huge effect on the power of your kick.

7. Lock your ankle.

When I say “lock your ankle”, I don’t mean that you should tighten it like you are flexing.  I simply mean that your ankle should be firm, and straight (like a putting wedge) for maximum accuracy.

9.  DON’T Lean over the ball.

I often hear coaches yell “learn over the ball” when a player strikes the ball over the net and “lean back” if a player doesn’t get enough loft on the ball.

Both of these are completely wrong and throw off a shot.  All you need to do is try leaning back when shooting, and you will realize how much difficult it makes it.  Leaning forward of backward decreases power, and makes shooting more comfortable.

A slight lean either way is okay, but in the end, it is what is comfortable for you.  Leaning backwards or forward only hinders your shooting ability.

So where does all the poor advice come from?  Think about this:  when you lean back, you naturally put your place foot behind the ball, and when you lean forward you put your place foot forward.  Where you put your place foot does matter.  Leaning over the ball does not, and I know that from experience.

10.  Strike it.

How you strike a ball depends on what type of soccer shot you are performing.  The important thing to work on is hitting the ball with the right part of your foot at the right part of the ball.  This takes practice, but once you get used to it, your accuracy will improve dramatically.

11.  Follow through.

I can’t stress enough how important a good follow through it.  I know personally that the power and accuracy of my shot improved greatly when I started doing it.

All you need to do is continue through the ball.  I see many players who shot the ball with good velocity, but then stop short instead of following through.  The result is the effect you would get from chipping a soccer ball.

So follow through as if the ball was still there.  Many players find it helpful to focus on landing on their shooting foot.

12.  Follow it up.

Once you take your shot, make it a habit to sprint towards it.  Sometimes, you can get your own rebound, while your fellow teammates and the opposition are staring at your shot’s beauty.

This may not seem important, but if you can score just one goal by following up your own shot, it is worth it right?

Improving Speed and Accuracy

Wow, if you went through all of that you must be dedicated to improving your soccer shot.  Here, basically, I want to clarify how to improve the speed and accuracy of your kick.

It all comes down to this; the entire technique is based on achieving this two basic goals.  This is a bit technical, but I will try to make it as simple as possible.

Shooting Speed

Basically: The faster your leg moves and the bigger the mass of your leg (and your body in general), the faster the ball will go.

It also is important that you hit the ball in the sweet spot, that is, the center of the ball, with the sweet spot of your foot (your laces).

So to improve shooting speed, you need to increase your momentum by building up more speed (the farther back your leg goes, the more you can build) and by building up your mass by working out

Shooting Accuracy

Shooting accuracy comes down to hitting the right part of the ball with the right part of your foot.  That’s really all there is to it.

http://www.completesoccerguide.com/

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The study, published in the February issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, is the first to look at soccer-related injuries in the entire U.S. population of athletes aged 2 to 18 years old.

Between 1990 and 2003, the researchers found nearly 1.6 million soccer injuries among boys and girls.

The most interesting findings were the differences in age, gender and injury rates in these young athletes.

Youngsters More at Risk

Among both girls and boys, injuries to the lower extremities, like ankle or knee sprains, were the most common — and the risk increased with age, according to the study.

Injuries to the head were less frequent overall, the study said, but among players aged 15 to 18 years, concussions were the most likely injury.

Fractured bones were the third-highest reported injury, making up nearly 25 percent of emergency room visits.

Of all injuries reported, 49 percent occurred among children between the ages of 10 and 14.

“It is possible that the middle school-aged player is bigger, stronger and playing harder, leading to an increase in the likelihood of injury,” says study author Christy Knox, a research associate for the Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio.

Girls Versus Boys

While the overall soccer injury rates did not appear to be on the rise, the number of young girls injured increased significantly over the period covered by the research.

Girls injuries were more likely to be to the ankle or knee, resulting in more strains and sprains than young boys.

“Girls may be built differently, putting more strain and stress on those parts,” Knox says.

She also suggests that a possible reason for the sharp rise in injuries to female players is the increase in girls getting involved in soccer.

Boys suffered injuries to the head, face and neck more often than female players, and the younger the boy, the more likely he was to be hospitalized for soccer injuries, the researchers found.

“These injuries could be related to how aggressive these players are,” says Knox. But she says that the researchers had no clear explanation for the findings.

Soccer Still Safe

“Despite the large number of injuries [found in this study], soccer is a relatively safe sport,” says Knox.

This study is meant to encourage parents to keep kids injury-free when on the field. Making sure children are playing with the right age group and are protected with adequate gear may decrease these numbers.

“Parents should closely supervise children, especially young kids whose injuries are harder to diagnose,” Knox says. “Injuries can happen in the backyard or in organized soccer groups. We want to do things to keep kids as safe as possible.”

http://abcnews.go.com/

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