How to add POWER to your shooting!

Shooting hard is as much about technique as it is about power. 

1. Your Technique

I used to think that the stronger you are, the harder you can shoot. That was until I picked up golf. For all you golf enthusiasts out there you'll understand. As long as the contact is right, and the ball hits the 'sweet spot', your ball will fly!

Coaches always talk about these 3 steps when it comes to putting power behind your shots. 

First, support foot should be laterally in line with the ball. If you're right footed, the left foot should be about 20cm to the left of the ball just as your master foot swings down for the contact. If the support foot is too far behind the ball, you lose power coz your right foot is already on the upswing. Too far forward, and your master foot have not mastered enough kinetic energy to really smash the ball. Not to mention you'll probably sprain your foot. 

Secondly, lean forward as you hit the ball. You can help this along by leaning forward, with your body above the ball at impact. This will help you keep the ball low and hard. 

Thirdly, follow through. I prefer a full 'knee to nipples' type of follow through. Unlike the long searing Steven Gerrardesque kind of pass, where your follow through is the entire leg swinging up, for shooting, to keep the ball low, the entire follow through should only be completed at the hips to knee level. The lower leg should be relaxed and allowed to finish below the knee. 

2. Power

It's not all about the size of your quads, or how heavy you can squat in the gym. There are very specific muscles you need to strengthen in order to maximise the speed on impact. 

I came across an excellent video on the specific exercises to strengthen the said muscles. The exercises mimic the natural swing of your leg when you're about to shoot. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=1zNDn5ZKuBU

These simple steps, if followed diligently, will help you build the correct muscle memory and technique so it becomes more instinctive everytime you shoot. 

Stretching: Before or After playing?

There has been much debate recently about the effects of stretching and whether it is necessary. Studies done seemed to have insinuated that what we learnt in school about stretching BEFORE games have not prevented injuries.

http://m.runnersworld.com/the-starting-line/should-i-stretch-before-or-after-my-runs?adbid=10152487494631987&adbpl=fb&adbpr=9815486986&cid=socTP_20141224_37557287 

I came across this article today and felt the overwhelming need to give my 2cts worth. 

Before the game/activity

I was educated by the old school method of stretching before exercising. It didn't take me long to realise that trying to stretch cold muscles seemed a futile attempt. Jogging a little before stretching seemed to make more sense. A short jog around the field became my preferred warm up sequence, followed by 10-15mins of static stretching, starting from the neck muscles down all the way to the ankles. 

Over the last 2-3 years, I got re-educated again. This time after I got involved in football coaching for kids. It seemed agility exercises and drills were more important in the warm up phase, especially in a sport like football, where the nimbleness of your lower body is needed. In came the ladders, the cones, the slaloms with the ball.... etc

When I started to receive football coaching myself, I noticed we barely did the standard army style static 'head rotation clockwise 3 counts of 4'. It was just jogging up and down a 10m lane, doing knee lifts, arm swings and stuff like that. Much more dynamic and in my opinion, a much better way to warm up the body for football in particular. 

Even at the gym, my trainer never start with a stretching session. It was always straight off to the specific station, start with manageable weights and light reps. Once that part of the body is warmed up do we proceed to the what I call the 'pump the living daylights out of your damn muscles' kind of regime. 

After the game/activity

After the game, is where I feel stretching is useful. When the body is weary, all warmed up, we sit down and stretch the leg muscles. I feel this prevents the muscles from cramping up later and at the same time, gradually improve your range of motion. 

Even at the gym, we seem to do this. My trainer spends 10-15mins at the end of the session, turning me into some kind of pretzel. He knows I play quite a bit of football and he spends time making me do the sit-n-reach kind of stretching, as well as the lower back twisting one. 

So in a nutshell...

after this unusually long post, I feel that the warm up you do before the activity should be tailored specifically to the type of activity you are embarking on. The standard static ones we used to do is much better post activity as a form of recuperation and injury prevention, as well as for improving your range of motion. 

3 tips all defenders should know

Was at training the other day and while we were doing attacker vs defender drills, the coach gave a tip. One that really struck a chord with me. He shared, after witnessing some really calamitous defending, that when defending against a 1-on-1, a defender has 3 priorities:

1. First priority: Slow the attacker down. 

2. Second priority: Shepherd the attacker to the side of your choice. 

3. Third priority: Dispossess him

Defender #21 is doing a good job keeping #20 at bay, allowing his team mates to track back to support

Most of us make the mistake of trying to do point 3 first. Especially for Centrebacks, slowing down the attack and allowing your defence to regroup is priority. A mistimed tackle with inadequate backup will give fleet footed attackers the opportunity to get past you and a free shot on goal. 

I like point 2. It differentiates an elite amateur footballer from the rest. Identify the attacker's master foot, as well as your own. Then decide if you want to show him the outside channel, or the inside channel. Conventional teaching tells us to always show the attacker the outside. But experience tells me forcing the attacker to utilise his non master side can be just as effective. 

Chip is seen here getting past his marker on the latter's inside channel and onto his master foot

 Eg. As a right footed LB marking a very right footed winger, instead of letting him charge down the byline to cross with his stronger foot, close down that option and make him cut inside you. With the ball on his weaker left, his options are limited due to his lack of mastery. It's also easier for you to cut in between the attacker and the ball, using your body as a shield, then take the ball away from him using the outside of your master foot. 

Some of these practices come instinctively to those gifted with natural footballing brains. But for the rest of us, remembering the sequence of the 3 priorities will help us become better defensive players.